East Ridge coach Tim James
photo by Dennis Norwood
When the 2015 high school football season came to a close, coach Tim James, then an assistant at LaFayette (Ga.) High School, thought he had closed that chapter of his life’s work.
“I was actually getting out (of coaching),” James said following another practice and stadium clean-up work under a brutal sun. “I was done with coaching. I was headed toward administration.”
Oh, brother was he mistaken.
Turns out the football program at James’ alma mater, East Ridge, had run into a snag.
And East Ridge has a special place in James’ heart.
He played for the Pioneers and was coached by his father, Raymond James. Raymond James coached at East Ridge for decades before his death at age 53.
Tim James coached the Pioneers from 2001-07 and the stadium is named for his dad.
Frankly, the high school, the community and the James family are inseparable.
The East Ridge coach, Tracy Malone, suddenly resigned under pressure in February after leading the Pioneers to a 12-1 record, the best in school history. East Ridge had a 10-0 regular season, first for the program, won two playoffs games and then lost for the only time that season to Notre Dame in a disappointing 28-point setback in the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
Not only was Malone gone, the stadium’s home-side concrete stands had crumbled so badly they were condemned on Aug. 31, 2015. Within a few weeks the stands were demolished.
Grass is now growing where the old stands once stood.
In the span of six months, the program went from the best of times to stadium demolition to watching the football coach leave in controversy.
So, East Ridge’s administration put out a 911 call for coaching prospects and James answered. In mid-March, he was hired for the second time as the Pioneers’ head football coach.
“I felt an obligation,” the 52-year-old James said. “I wouldn’t have done it for any other school, but this is home. The stands and press box had been torn down and the locker room, coach’s office and meeting room and locker rooms were also destroyed. My family’s name is on the stadium and to see it like that was tough.
“I wanted to come back to make sure the players and East Ridge High School had what they needed because that’s what my dad would have wanted.”
James’ hiring reassured a restless community that the exhilaration of the team’s run to the playoff quarterfinals, the unspoiled 12-0 start and having running back Traneil Moore named the Mr. Football, could survive a coach’s unplanned departure and the condemnation of half the stadium with a well-received plan to bring an alumnus home.
James played football at East Ridge and spent one year at UT-Chattanooga before serving in the military from 1983-86. James coached the Pioneers seven years and went 41-35. His best season was his first as the Pioneers posted a 10-2 record and lost to Rhea County, 35-34, in the second round of the state playoffs.
That was the school’s best mark since the Pioneers notched an identical record in 1997.
In 2008, James became the first head football coach at newly-opened Heritage (Ga.) High School and the Generals struggled mightily, as most fledgling programs do. His only winning season was in 2011 when the Generals opened with four straight wins, outscoring opponents by 175-49, and went on to finish 7-3.
The Generals also had two winless seasons and a pair of one-win campaigns under James.
From Heritage, James moved to LaFayette and served as the Ramblers’ defensive coordinator for two years before returning to East Ridge.
James has been back long enough to send the Pioneers through spring practice and preseason work while trying to return a positive outlook to the program.
“I don’t want to dwell on the negatives because we have a lot of good things going on here,” he said. “I actually think the stadium condemnation became a rallying point for our kids, the community and a lot of our alumni, who are again showing interest in East Ridge High School and financially supporting the football program.
“I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of support, people congratulating me on coming back and asking what we need.”
As of last week, James said he’s hopeful of new home stands being in place by mid-October. The Hamilton County Department of Education has allotted money for the stands and press box.
An alumni association, formed in late September last year, has raised $15,000. The group held a golf tournament, plus a silent and live auction last weekend where such items as a Pat Summitt basketball, a Blake Shelton autographed guitar, a signed Bruce Springsteen poster and other “high-ticket items were on the block.
If the association can eventually raise $50,000, an anonymous donor plans to match that amount, pushing the total to $50,000. That money will go toward a separate facility that will house a weight room, locker room, coaches offices and meeting rooms – all of which were lost when the stands were torn down.
Meanwhile, James and the Pioneers are focusing on their appearance in this weekend’s prep jamboree at Finley Stadium. East Ridge will play Soddy-Daisy on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
The Pioneers’ regular-season opener is set for Aug. 19 at home against Polk County at 7:30 p.m.
Problematic for the Pioneers, at least early on, will be questions about the availability of last year’s Class 3A Mr. Football Back of the Year, Traneil Moore, who’s trying to bounce back from a knee injury.
Moore, a 2,000-yard rusher as a junior, hopes to gets his senior season started by late September or early October. In his absence, James will utilize Lorenzo Stewart’s running ability to spearhead the Pioneers’ ground game.
“Not having Mr. Football in the backfield right out of the gate is a concern,” James said. “That’s the 500-pound gorilla in the room, but it is what it is. Still, I believe we’re going to be competitive with everybody we play.
“Not taking anything away from last year’s team, but it seemed like the stars aligned perfectly. Watching film, they’re a pick-six away from losing to Polk County. They’re three minutes away from getting beat by Brainerd. They were in some tight ballgames, but the more they played the better they got.”
A year ago, the team’s offense generated a lot of points, but the defense, in James’ perspective, was the team’s indomitable unit. The Pioneers gave up just 14.4 points per game, including the punishment dished out by the Irish in the finale.
This year’s defense, led by coordinator LeBron Williams, was quite stingy in a recent scrimmage at Bradley Central that also included Soddy-Daisy. The Pioneers gave up one touchdown, James said, and that was to the host Bears.
“The kids were flying around with their hair on fire getting after the ball, which is what we want,” James said.
The key defensive cog is linebacker Stewart, an All-Region 3-3A pick in 2015. He led the Pioneers with 100 tackles last season.
(Reach Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)