Ooltewah High School defensive coordinator and interim head football coach Doug Greene resigned Wednesday morning to accept an offer to join the staff at Carson-Newman College. Greene had been appointed interim coach two days ago after Benny Monroe retired, and was thought to be the leading candidate to take over the program.
“I got the offer late Monday night and only had a few hours to think it over,” said Greene, who will coach the secondary for the Eagles. “It has been a very stressful decision. It hasn’t been fun at all weighing these options. I just felt like the Lord was leading me in this direction, and I honestly felt this type opportunity might not come back around.
“I know I will become a better football coach by working with Ken Sparks and his staff.”
Greene, 40, has been the Owls’ defensive coordinator since 2006, helping the team reach the semifinals twice. He played for Monroe at Cleveland, and came to Ooltewah after two years as an assistant at the University of West Alabama. He has also been an assistant at Cheatham County, Coffee County, Riverdale and Blackman High, serving as defensive coordinator at all but one of those. He helped Coffee County and Blackman qualify for the first time in those school’s history.
Greene taught United States History at Ooltewah, but the job offer meant he had to leave immediately in order to begin coaching Carson-Newman during spring practice.
“He’s an exceptional coach,” Monroe said of Greene. “He handled a lot of the responsibilities in terms of dealing with college coaches coming here to recruit our kids and was a really good on-field coach as well. I think he’s ready to move up and coach at that level.”