By now, no doubt, you’ve likely seen the video. Surrounded by his Boyd Buchanan players and staff on one end of their home field, legendary high school football coach Gary Rankin — Tennessee’s all-time leader in wins and state championships — was congratulating his team on an impressive shutout win in a TSSAA Division II-AA quarterfinal on Nov. 14.
Without checking his surroundings to make sure there were no cameras or phones pointed in his direction, Rankin was recorded wrapping up his postgame speech by painting Battle Ground Academy, the Buccaneers’ opponent in the following round, as just another hurdle to clear along the way to a return to the BlueCross Bowl state title game at Finley Stadium.
It was a message meant to tone down some of the hype surrounding a loaded BGA team so his players didn’t feel like the massive underdogs that in reality they were going into their semifinal.
The video, posted on X by a “media personality” who is not affiliated with any credentialed Chattanooga-area outlet, showed Rankin saying: “They ain’t a physical football team. You have to make them tap out. At some point in time, they have to say: ‘That’s it, I’m done.'”
It was posted just after 9 p.m. on Nov. 16; by 7:30 the next morning, there was no question BGA coaches, players and fans had seen it. The Wildcats’ official social media account responded by posting highlights of their own quarterfinal blowout win, along with the hashtag “Violent & physical.”