It took just three weeks for Soddy-Daisy High School to find its new head football coach, and he's one of the program's own.
Carter Cardwell, a defensive assistant and the team's assistant head coach the past three seasons, has taken over the Trojans.
"I didn't come here with the intention of being a head coach again, but this is an unexpectedly great honor," said Cardwell, who also has extensive experience at the collegiate level. "This whole community is great and supports everything about the school.
"I consider coaching to be a calling to help develop young men, and this place is a good opportunity to do just that. When you're called to coach and the opportunity arises to make an impact, you jump at it."
Cardwell takes over for Justin Barnes, who stepped down in late January to become the offensive coordinator at Riverdale in Murfreesboro. Barnes had been the Trojans' coach for nine seasons, guiding them to consecutive Region 4-5A titles in 2018-19. Those accounted for half of the four region championships in program history.
"Over the last nine years we've had some good seasons and we've struggled some too, but we had stability," Soddy-Daisy athletic director Jared Hensley said. "That's what a program needs, and that's what Coach Cardwell brings. He will allow us to continue having that stability, and he knows this community and the things the program needs to do to get better so it can reach the next level we all want to get to."
A Loudon High School graduate, Cardwell began his career at his alma mater before stepping into the college ranks as a graduate assistant at Clemson, followed by stints at Auburn, Catawba College, Virginia Military Institute and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After working on John Mullinax's staff at McMinn County, Cardwell worked as an assistant at Maryville College and then went back to UTC, where he remained for six seasons before one year as an assistant at Red Bank, then five seasons in the collegiate ranks again as the offensive coordinator at Sewanee.
Prior to his time at Soddy-Daisy, he spent 10 years coaching at Boyd Buchanan - the first eight as offensive coordinator and the final two as head coach.
"I recruited and signed Justin (Barnes) to UTC, so we've had a relationship for a long time," Cardwell said. "We were on the same page about a lot of things, which made it easy to work together and I believe will make it a smoother transition for the players and our staff.
"That comfort level is a big deal. It felt right to come here and this feels right to make this move now. To be able to coach and teach somewhere that you feel comfortable, that's a blessing."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.