Josh Edmondson, who has helped multiple high school wrestling programs in the Chattanooga area win TSSAA state titles, is eager to help Hixson become a championship contender again after being hired this week as head coach of the Wildcats.
The 40-year-old Edmonson, who wrestled at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and was a two-time Southern Conference individual champion for the Mocs, most recently coached as an assistant for Soddy Daisy’s 2023-24 team that set the Class A state record for most team points at a state traditional tournament.
Edmondson was a standout at Medical Lake High School in Washington, where he went 28-0 as a junior to win a state title, and went on to win a junior college national championship for North Idaho. He transferred to UTC for his junior season and won back-to-back 184-pound titles at the SoCon tournament in 2007 and 2008, years in which the Mocs also swept the conference’s regular-season and tournament team championships.
He has spent more than a decade putting that experience to work as a high school coach, and for Edmonson, it’s not just about making better wrestlers.
“My passion is to teach young wrestlers discipline and get them ready to go out and face the challenges that life is going to throw at us,” Edmondson said. “When a former athlete comes back and says you were a big reason why they were able to fight this fight or get a job or be this parent, that’s what keeps me going. That is the passion I am looking forward to putting into these kids.”