After a very sweet 16 seasons, Gary Rankin's tenure as Alcoa High School's head football coach is over.
Rankin, Tennessee's all-time winningest prep football coach and the only one in state history to compile more than 400 victories, stepped down Thursday from the program he guided to 13 state championships. However, he also said he still has the desire to coach if he can find the right fit.
"This was decided before the season even started, and it all started because of family," said Rankin, who will be replaced at Alcoa by longtime defensive coordinator Brian Nix. "I do want to make it clear: I'm resigning at Alcoa, not retiring from coaching. Wherever I coach again, it'll be somewhere close to the Chattanooga area because I have family around there. I have one son and a grandbaby living in Chattanooga and another who's in school in Murfreesboro, so my wife and I would love to be somewhere that's closer to both of them.
"The program at Alcoa is as good as it's ever been, it's on solid ground, but it was time for a change. The scary thing for the rest of the state is that with Coach Nix taking over, I'm being replaced by somebody who I believe is a better coach than me."
For his 39-year career, Rankin has a 467-78 record, including 120-19 in the playoffs. When it comes to playoff wins, only two programs - Maryville with 133 and Alcoa with 126 - have more than Rankin's total, and his 17 total state championships are also the most by any coach in Tennessee history.
Alcoa won state titles in each of Rankin's first five seasons, and after quarterfinal losses by a combined three points in 2011, 2012 and a runner-up finish in 2014, proceeded to win each of the past seven Class 3A titles, including last season's decisive 45-14 BlueCross Bowl victory over East Nashville at Finley Stadium. That capped a remarkable run of outscoring four playoff opponents by an average margin of 51-7.
Rankin's win total currently ranks fourth nationally among all active prep football coaches, four behind third-place Jim Roth of Pennsylvania's Southern Columbia Area. Rankin was No. 12 in a recent article by stadiumtalk.com listing the 40 greatest high school coaches of all time.
His total number of wins is also 106 more than Ken Netherland, who ranks second in state history and coached at four west Tennessee programs. Legendary former Central and Baylor coach E.B. "Red" Etter (321-109-14) is the only coach from the Chattanooga area who ranks among the state's top 10 for career wins.
The Tornadoes won seven state titles before Rankin's arrival in 2006, and the program now stands atop the state's list of total championships, regardless of classification.
Rankin began his career as an assistant at Warren County in 1976, then took over as head coach at Smith County, his alma mater, in 1982. His first team there finished 0-10, but in his second season he guided Smith County to the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. He followed with four more postseason appearances in a row before being hired at Riverdale, the Murfreesboro program where he would win titles in the state's largest classification in 1994, 1997, 2001 and 2004, finishing runner-up in five other seasons.
Rankin has reached at least the semifinals 24 times in his career, losing in that round only twice, and he has failed to win at least 10 games only once in the past 30 seasons. He has coached 18 winners of the state's Mr. Football award and is a member of multiple halls of fame, including being inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 2011.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.