Central High School football coach David Barger has resigned and will return to Lake County High in Tiptonville, Tenn., where he began his head coaching career.
Barger coached the Purple Pounders for three seasons, guiding them to the Class 4A playoffs last year, their first postseason appearance since 2003. Central had finished 2-8 each of the three years before Barger took over.
“I think he misses that small-town community atmosphere like he’s had before,” Central athletic director Brent Cooper said. “I know from talking with him that it was a tough decision to leave Central, but he felt like this was the right move for his family.”
Barger, 35, is a Bledsoe County graduate who was an assistant at Marion County for five years before taking over a Lake County program that had gone 0-10 the year before he arrived. In his four years with the Falcons, Barger took that program to the playoffs three times, compiling a 28-17 overall record.
“I think he misses that small-town community atmosphere like he’s had before,” Central athletic director Brent Cooper said. “I know from talking with him that it was a tough decision to leave Central, but he felt like this was the right move for his family.”
Barger will replace Bert Snow, who coached Lake County for only one season, finishing 7-5, before taking the offensive coordinator’s job at Henry County.
Barger’s wife, Dawn, will take over as head boys’ basketball coach at Lake County, replacing Jimmy Whitby, who had coached the Falcons for nine years and guided them to the state sectionals twice. Dawn Barger is currently a teacher and assistant girls’ basketball coach at Ridgeland. She had coached the boys’ middle school program during her husband’s first stint at Lake County.
“As much as anything, this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up because my wife gets the chance to be a head coach again,” Barger said. “I hate the timing of it, and I hurt for the kids at Central, but my wife has sacrificed her coaching career and now this is a chance for both of us to be head coaches at the same school.”
Interested applicants for the Central football job should contact Cooper at 344-1447, extension 253.
“We need to get the right person hired more than we need to get somebody hired quick,” Cooper said. “The biggest thing we’re looking for now is stability. We have to find somebody who wants to be here for a while.
“I support David’s decision. He’s putting his family as his top priority, and this was a good situation for them. He’s done a lot of work to get things turned around here, and now we have to move on and find somebody to keep us headed in the right direction.”