Former Brainerd High School girls basketball coach Tyrus Ward pictured Dec. 16, 2014. Ward is returning to his alma mater to coach the football team. After several years of waiting his turn for an opportunity to become a head football coach here in his hometown, Tyrus Ward has accepted an offer to take over the program at Nashville’s Whites Creek High School.
“I’ve been pursuing this opportunity for a long time, so it feels great to finally get the chance,” Ward said. “It is kind of bittersweet because my top goal was to have the chance to coach here in Chattanooga, but that never presented itself, so I’m really excited to have this opportunity in Nashville.
“I feel like I’ve been building toward this for some time, and I’m ready to see what I can do as a head coach now. I know there’s a lot of work to do, but I’m going to get there as soon as possible and get started trying to build something good and bring back the pride to a program I understand has quite a bit of tradition.”
Ward, who is the girls’ basketball coach at Brainerd and has been an assistant football coach for the Panthers, will finish out the basketball season before moving to Nashville with his family to begin preparing for spring practice. He has worked as a football assistant at both Brainerd, his alma mater, and Red Bank, having been offensive and defensive coordinator for the Panthers at different times.
He was a finalist for at least two head coaching jobs in Chattanooga within the past two years.