Grant Reynolds shouts instructions to Boyd Buchanan football players in a September 2015 game against Tyner. Reynolds was the Buccaneers' head coach at the time, and now he's back in Chattanooga as coach of the East Hamilton Hurricanes.Grant Reynolds is coming back to his prep coaching roots. The former Boyd Buchanan football coach resigned Thursday morning at Madison Academy near Huntsville, Alabama, to officially accept an offer to become the new head coach at East Hamilton.
"Our family is so excited to be coming back home to Chattanooga," Reynolds said. "My wife (Cindy) is from Chattanooga and her mom still lives there and has some health issues, so we had been looking to get back. We weren't willing to take just any job just to get back home, but when the East Hamilton position opened I was wowed because I know the type opportunity that's there.
"Wherever I've gone I want to win championships, and nothing changes for me now. I believe you can win championships there. They've got the resources to win big. There's a new middle school being built and you're surrounded by good, high-character people, so just the overall direction of the school has me excited."
Reynolds informed his Madison Academy team Thursday morning before making his way to Chattanooga, where he was introduced at East Hamilton just after lunch.
In three seasons at Madison Academy, Reynolds compiled a 28-8 overall record with two region championships and a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 2016.
During his 11 seasons as head coach at Boyd Buchanan, Reynolds guided the Buccaneers to nine region titles and 10 playoff appearances, reaching the quarterfinals five times, the semifinals three times and a state final in 2009.
He also was the Bucs' defensive coordinator for a three-year stretch of state title-game appearances (2002-04) that included a 1A championship in 2003.
He has been named region coach of the year by various media outlets four times, has had 23 former players earn college scholarships, including a pair of Mr. Football award finalists, and has an overall head-coaching record of 117-48.
Reynolds succeeds Ted Gatewood, who stepped down in mid-December and had been the only head coach in the program's 10-year existence. Under Gatewood, the Hurricanes compiled a 53-58 overall record, reaching the playoffs in his third season and advancing to the quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons, including a region title in 2012.
Gatewood's football tenure with the Hurricanes was second in Hamilton County in seniority behind Tyner's Wayne Turner, who has been in charge of that program since 1990.
"When we were faced with the task of having to fill our head football coaching vacancy, we set out to find the coach and not just a coach," East Hamilton principal Brent Eller said. "Throughout this process, Coach Reynolds' name continued to surface as possibly being that guy.
"Getting to know him over the past few weeks allowed us to determine that he would be the coach that East Hamilton needed to continue successes already established and build upon those successes to take us to new levels. We are very excited about Coach Reynolds and the future of the East Hamilton football program."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.