Nine high school football programs in the Chattanooga area will enter this season under the direction of a new head coach, four of whom are leading a team for the first time.
Those first-time head coaches, already faced with the usual adjustment period, are also trying to get their programs established during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some veteran coaching staffs put their players through the same process every year from the end of one season until official practices begin for the next one, new coaches are just trying to establish anything they can right now.
"It's a struggle right now with all the uncertainty," said Dade County coach Jeff Poston, who was an assistant for the Wolverines last year under Dale Pruitt - now in Tennessee as the head coach at Marion County - and has been on the staff with the northwest Georgia program since 2013.
"I feel like offensively we are OK. We bought some software we can use to work with the kids virtually to get them up to speed, so we're ahead of the game as far as where we could be considering the pandemic. Defensively, we're way behind because you can't do much on that side of the ball right now."
Including Poston, five of the nine new coaches at least have a fairly recent history with their current program. Southeast Whitfield's Todd Murray was an assistant for the Raiders the past 16 years, Coahulla Creek's Danny Wilson was the Colts' defensive coordinator the past three seasons - the same span in which Hixson's Josh Owensby was the Wildcats' offensive coordinator - and Whitwell's Jake Cabell was the Tigers' defensive coordinator from 2013 to 2015.
Pruitt, a veteran of the Alabama high school scene who was at Dade County for just one season, previously coached at Marion County 15 years ago.
For guys like Trion's Sean Patrick, who came from south and middle Georgia after a successful run as an offensive coordinator at several high-profile programs, the transition to head coach also brought with it a necessity to become familiar with his new school and community - all during a pandemic.
"When I first took the job, we had to meet virtually for eight or nine weeks," said Patrick, who was able to move to Trion in late May. "Those meetings were huge for us. We met with every kid three to four times a week, and we were able to introduce them to our playbooks, which are on Hudl.
"That first day of summer workouts in June was the first time I met the kids face to face. But those meetings made it much less awkward because they recognized my face and I recognized theirs. We will be in our 20th workout tomorrow, and we've come a long way, even in this COVID environment."
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / South Pittsburg coordinator Shawn Peek gathers his defense during the fourth quarter of a TSSAA Class A semifinal at Greenback on Nov. 29, 2019. Peek is now a head coach in Georgia at Chattooga.That environment has made it difficult for even the most veteran of coaches. Pruitt, who has 292 wins, has seen a lot in a nearly 40-year coaching career. Trying to prepare Marion County for competition has, he admitted, been an unprecedented challenge.
"Let's face it, I don't think anybody has been through something like this," Pruitt said. "The biggest thing is not to panic. If you've coached as long as I have, you just roll with the flow and learn to stay as fluid as possible as things change.
"I would advise younger coaches not to overcomplicate things. I know it's frustrating when you haven't seen your kids in pads and don't know what they can do, and you want to be able to do that so you can start making plans, but this is just something that's totally different, so understand we're all sort of in the same situation. You can adapt to about anything, but the unknown is always worse than just about anything."
Each of the first-year coaches, a group that includes Chattooga's Shawn Peek and Silverdale Baptist Academy's Mike Connor, is also having to raise money with the thought the football season could be postponed, canceled outright or played with limited financial support from fans.
"There's a lot of financial worry right now," Dade's Poston said. "It's hard to raise money when businesses are struggling. And, honestly, the kids are terrified they are going to tell them they can't play. I just tell them we can't control what we can't control. They are doing everything we ask, and I hope they get rewarded for their hard work."
Sports editor Stephen Hargis contributed to this report.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.