There are two new faces – Brent Easton and Caleb Collier – on the athletic staff at Hixson High School, and two holdovers have taken new positions.
Easton will coach girls’ basketball but also is assisting Dan Duff in football, working with receivers and defensive backs. Collier replaced Charles Weems as Duff’s defensive coordinator.
New athletic director Garrick Hall, who will continue to be the wrestling coach, also announced Ashley Harper will take over as softball coach while continuing as an assistant for girls’ basketball. She’s in her third year at Hixson.
A former Bledsoe County player, Collier has lived in the Hixson area while coaching football at Boyd-Buchanan (four years under Grant Reynolds) and then at Rhea County (one year under Mark Pemberton).
An English teacher, Harper played soccer and softball at Central – she was a catcher, outfielder and shortstop – but beyond the classroom her Hixson duties involved only girls’ basketball. She has been an assistant soccer coach at Central the past two seasons and helped former Hixson softball coach Kaiti Kelley last year.