After seven successful seasons, Mark Mariakis has stepped down as head football coach at Chattanooga Christian School.
Mariakis announced his resignation Friday morning, citing the need to focus more time as the primary caregiver for his elderly mother.
“My father passed away five years ago, and my wife and I took my mother in to live with us,” Mariakis said. “At age 85, she requires significant daily attention and care. It has become a difficult task to juggle work and the increasing needs of my mother. The amount of physical and mental energy it takes is simply too much.
“I would not be able to devote the time needed to continue as head coach. I love CCS and the kids and school community too much to allow the program to drop off. “
Mariakis has overseen an impressive seven-year growth process at a program that began in 2009. Since he took over in 2015, the Chargers’ roster has gone from 34 to 65 players, and the staff of assistants has doubled from five to 10 coaches.
He also helped in the transition from competing in the TSSAA’s public school division to Division II-AA in 2016, and the team reached the playoffs in six of Mariakis’ seven seasons as coach, twice losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champion. Also under Mariakis, the program had its first eight-win season, won its first playoff game in 2015 and also hosted a postseason game for the first time in 2019, a win over Christian Academy of Knoxville.
“Mark has done an outstanding job of building our program here,” CCS athletic director Daniel Russell said. “He has a unique ability of not only teaching the X’s and O’s of putting a quality team on the field each Friday, but also being able to disciple young men.
“The last seven years have provided a lot of memories, and I’m thankful for that time to spend with such a quality coach and person. We will now begin the process of looking for a coach with the same type of qualities, who also can continue to press the gas to move us forward and take the program into the future.”
Last season, after having to replace 96% of its offensive production from the previous year as well as its two leading tacklers, and despite starting five freshmen, seven sophomores and having only five seniors on the roster, CCS had a 5-5 record. Two of those losses were to larger private school powers Baylor and McCallie, which went on to win its third straight DII-AAA state title.
“We wanted the program to have an impact in our community,” said Mariakis, who was 32-29 at CCS and is 121-112 overall in a career that has spanned 37 years and includes helping turn around Georgia programs Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Ridgeland, which he guided to a GHSA Class AAAA state runner-up finish in 2012.
“We didn’t want to just be respectable in football. We wanted to build it to be a legitimate program around the state, while also keeping our mission as a school to disciple kids,” said Mariakis, who turns 60 next week. “It’s nice to be at a place where the administration trusts your vision and works to make that vision happen. It’s been a fun process to see it grow into something people are proud of.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.