Ridgeland High SchoolWesley Tankersley is one of those people who has always known the path his professional life would take. The 33-year-old’s high-rising football coaching career is taking another step forward with his hiring as the new head coach at Ridgeland High School Wednesday.
The former Gilmer County coach will replace Mark Mariakis, who resigned after 11 seasons in which his teams won four region titles and finished as the Class AAAA runner-up in 2012. Tankersley, an Ellijay, Ga., native who was a player and graduate at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, says the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“It’s an opportunity to be in a program with a ton of potential in an area my wife and I love,” said Tankersley, whose final four Gilmer teams had a combined 32-12 record, the final three ending in the playoffs. “They’ve already had some great successes, so it’s a chance to build on that success. It will be an opportunity for my wife, too. She’s been a stay-at-home mom for our three kids (ages 9, 7 and 4). Our youngest will be starting school soon so my wife will have a greater opportunity to find a job in Chattanooga.”
Ridgeland athletic director Rob Stinson said Tankersley was chosen out of a group of applicants that numbered over 100 in what he called an extensive search.
“Coach Tankersley excited a lot of people when he came here to be interviews,” Stinson said. “He’s very articulate, and he will electrify the area. It was an extremely thorough search that involved over 50 people. We had a committee of 10, and all the candidates met with community leaders as well.