In the span of just three months, two of the Chattanooga area’s most revered prep football programs have undergone major changes.
It began in November with Wayne Turner’s exit from Tyner after 30-plus years, and on Monday South Pittsburg’s Vic Grider – one of the most successful coaches in state history – announced his retirement from his alma mater.
The area’s prep football landscape will have a different look this fall with those two veteran coaches patrolling the sideline for new programs. Turner has already been hired as an assistant at East Hamilton, and Grider, who was recently one of two finalists for the head coaching job at Dalton High, acknowledged that he also intends to look at other coaching opportunities.
“You get to a point in your career, and at my age, where you have to look at what’s best for your future and the time was just right for me to go ahead and retire,” said Grider, who is also the school’s assistant principal and athletic director. “This is the only place I’ve ever known so even though I knew the time was coming, it was still a hard decision for me.
“I’ve been blessed to spend the last 30 years of my life at a place I love, getting to make more great memories than I can ever name in a community that I love and that has always supported us.”