Legendary high school basketball coach Robert HighMURFREESBORO, Tenn. – You can count on one hand the number of breaking news stories that could trump anything happening on the fields of the BlueCross Spring Fling state tournament.
The call I got around noon Friday saying that Robert High was no longer Brainerd’s basketball coach was at the top of that list.
The word “legend” gets tossed around too easily when discussing successful high school coaches, but that’s the best adjective to describes High’s standing among his peers. Simply put, Robert High is the face of Brainerd High School and has been for years. Mention Brainerd to any TSSAA official or the most casual prep sports fan around the state, and hiss name is quickly identified as synonymous with the school.
In his 37 seasons as the Panthers coach, High is one of only 13 coaches in the nation to earn more than 1,000 wins, and his staggering total of 1,001 is tied for second-most in state history. His teams won at least 20 games 31 times, and he had eight 30-plus win seasons and three Class AAA state titles.
No other school in the area has more than one championship in the state’s largest classification.