When Boyd-Buchanan student-athletes return to school, they’ll meet three new members of the Buccaneers’ coaching staff and get their first look at a multipurpose athletic field.
The new coaches are Shane Turner (wrestling), Daniel Gilbert (boys’ basketball) and Nancy Culver (volleyball). They’ll join new football head coach Carter Cardwell, who moved up on the staff after Grant Reynolds resigned to accept a position in Alabama.
Each of the quartet has experience at the college level or in the TSSAA’s Division II, which Boyd-Buchanan will join in 2017.
“There is tons of potential there. We’re excited to see what happens,” athletic director Joe Pope said. “Moving into D-II, we were trying to find the right people to fill these roles. All are great additions from that end of it.”
Turner rebuilt the Red Bank wrestling program and took the Lions to the A/AA state duals championship and also has worked for perennial D-II state wrestling power Baylor. Gilbert played and coached at Covenant College and spent the past three seasons as an assistant to longtime Baylor basketball coach Austin Clark. Culver, who played at Tennessee, has coached at Iowa State, Houston, South Florida, Illinois-Chicago, Bradley University and Indiana.
Cardwell has served on staffs at Clemson, Auburn, Catawba, VMI, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Maryville and Sewanee.
The multipurpose field, featuring AstroTurf, should be ready for the football team’s first game Aug. 19 against Tennessee Christian Prep, Pope said. It also will be used for soccer and lacrosse.
“I think we’ll be on it the first week in August. It’s Nike grind instead of crumb rubber, and it’s bigger than a standard football field,” Pope said. “I don’t think we’ll have the water-drainage problems we’ve had in the past.”
The field measures 80 yards wide and 156 yards long.
“We’re actually thinking at least two and maybe three teams could practice at the same time, and we got the kind of (football) goal posts that can be removed,” Pope said.
Cardwell will be among the first to use it. He has been a head coach in other sports (tennis at Boyd-Buchanan, golf at Sewanee) and was on staffs with first-year college football head coaches (Donnie Kirkpatrick at UTC and Robert Black at Sewanee).
“I got to learn and then took notes. There’s always a surprise, but you can at least be aware of things you need to do,” Cardwell said.
He has been immersed in the day-to-day operations from budgets to purchasing, the turf project and the upcoming transition to Division II. He has made Jeff Stone the offensive coordinator and Bryce Davidson the defensive coordinator.
Turner said he was happy at Red Bank but felt a move to Boyd-Buchanan was too good to decline.
“I liked it at Red Bank – the school, the faculty and my boss – but this opportunity for my children, to have a chance at an education like they’ll get at Boyd-Buchanan, is something I’ve prayed hard for,” he said. “And when I went through the interview process the administration made it clear to me they’re serious about making a strong commitment to building a competitive wrestling team.”
Though she has never coached at the high school level, Culver has 20 years of experience as a college coach.
“I wasn’t looking to get back into coaching, but I knew I’d look if the opportunity came open at Boyd-Buchanan,” she said. “Boyd has been a very successful program, and I felt it was the right fit for me.”
Gilbert, who also coached at Silverdale Baptist, started and continues to direct the Chattanooga Area Basketball Club, which offers year-round skills training.
“I wanted to be at a place where I’m a good fit,” Gilbert said. “There are five things – faith, academics, athletics, environment and excellence – that I see as their foundation, and those are things I strongly believe in.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.