Boyd-Buchanan football coach Carter Cardwell, center with headphones, was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach In February. Cardwell will make his head coaching debut on Aug. 26 when the Bucs host King's Academy.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Carter Cardwell’s coaching career has been a criscrossed path between college and high school jobs on the vast landscape of football.
It started in his home town at Loudon High School. Then he was off to Clemson University on Danny Ford’s staff, worked for Pat Dye at Auburn University, spent time at Catawba (N.C.) College, and Virginia Military Academy and UT-Chattanooga before returning to the prep circuit at McMinn County.
Cardwell was at Maryville College for five years, returned to UT-Chattanooga and had a stop at Red Bank High before going to the top of Monteagle Mountain for five years with the University of the South, or Sewanee, as it’s also known.
He had one more swing at the college level at UT-Chattanooga and has been at Boyd-Buchanan School the past six years as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator.
“I started off in high school and looks like I’ll finish at the high school level,” the 57-year-old Cardwell said.
The personable Cardwell is now his own boss as he assumed the head coaching position with the Bucs after Grant Reynolds left for a job at Alabama’s Madison Academy.
It is Cardwell’s first head job as a football coach, although he’s directed the Bucs’ tennis program and the golf team at Sewanee, plus the freshman football squad at Loudon.
“I was a 22-year-old guy who had the entire freshman team at Loudon,” he said. “I was by myself, but it was as good an experience as could be. I had to learn everything. Back then freshmen didn’t start football until school started. We didn’t have a (preseason) camp. I had nine practices and then went to play Alcoa.”
During his stay at Boyd-Buchanan, a solid program with annual championship aspirations, Cardwell could have left, but always decided to stay.
He also had opportunities to resist the high school calls and stay in the college ranks.
But Cardwell chose job contentment with a good thing over the risk of uncertain collegiate situations.
“Sometimes you have to step back and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a good job.’ The old grass is greener thing, the more you’re in a profession; I knew I was on a pretty green field already. I was content to stay exactly where I was.
“I’ve talked to guys who took head jobs that didn’t work out and it was always about the administration and support. The people here are great, the community is great and the administration support is solid. I’m happy here.”
Cardwell coached his oldest son, Jim.
His middle son, Jack, is a freshman tight end/defensive lineman on this year’s team.
And he’s got a third-grader, John, who just might become the fourth generation Cardwell associated with Boyd-Buchanan athletics.
“Maybe I can hand around to coach him,” Cardwell said. “That has been the best thing about all this.”
Carter Cardwell’s football story began at Loudon High School. His father, Jim Cardwell, coached the Redskins and Carter played ball for Chig Ratledge – the elder Cardwell hired Ratledge in 1955 – in the 1970s and the school won back-to-back state championships in 1974-75.
Once Carter Cardwell graduated college, Ratledge hired him as an assistant coach. Carter coached David Blackburn, the current UT-Chattanooga athletic director. Carter worked for Henry Blackburn following Ratledge’s retirement.
“I have a picture of David Blackburn sitting on my knee,” Caldwell said.
Fast forward several decades.
One day in February, Cardwell is the Bucs’ offensive coordinator and within a matter of hours he becomes the head coach. School administrators offered the job – they didn’t need to interview Cardwell – and both entities were completely gratified with the way things worked out.
“They had enough faith in me to say, ‘Here’s the job.’ I returned that faith by saying, ‘Yes, I’ll do it.’ I felt good about that.”
Cardwell, after all, was a known – a well-known – commodity.
There would be only minimal change with the program, and even some of that won’t be noticed.
“I’ll be the same person they hired as a teacher a few years ago,” Cardwell said. ‘I’m not going to change. I’m still going to be teaching U.S. History. They just added a little more responsibility to my job description.”
Cardwell has kept a notebook on “coaching stuff” over the years. He has the blueprint. He watched. He learned and paid attention to coaching legends like Ford and Dye and even how first-year guys like Donnie Kirkpatrick (UT-Chattanooga) and Robert Black (Sewanee).
The top lessons learned: treat players like you wanted to be treated, let assistant coaches do what they’re hired to do and tell those coaches you trust them.
“I’ll be there to help,” Cardwell said.
Boyd-Buchanan will this year be playing on an artificial surface. That’s different from all the prior years. But the philosophy of Boyd-Buchanan football won’t transform into something strange.
Bucs football has always been about running the ball, stopping the run, playing tough and playing with effort and emotion.
“We’re going to be different because we have a lot of different kids now,” Cardwell said.
Oh, yeah. There’s one more thing.
The Bucs will practice at a quicker pace, have shorter periods of work, keep moving to sustain the quicker tempo and get off the field faster.
That’s how Cardwell operates.
Take his first meeting with returning players after his promotion to head coach, for instance.
Cardwell talked about a few changes that would be implemented and about things that will remain the same: Boyd-Buchanan is a faith-based school that stresses excellence, regardless of the Xs and Os.
“That team meeting that morning last about four minutes,” he said. “I’m not a fiery speech guy. I’m right to the point. At a second meeting in the afternoon, I jumped right in and we were in the weight room in only a few minutes.”
There was one change for the season that Boyd-Buchanan had no control over. Middle Tennessee Christian, the Bucs’ scheduled season-opening opponent, disbanded its football program. So, the team will begin its 2016 season against King’s Academy on Aug. 26 and inaugurate their new turf field at the same time.
Cardwell spoke to his players about the cancellation following a scrimmage at Whitwell. As usual, he was brief with his remarks.
“I told them it’s nobody’s fault,” he said. “Don’t feel sad because we won’t be playing. Feel sad for the seniors at (Tennessee Christian) that don’t get to play this year. If you feel bad, feel bad for them. That’s life.”
There was something different about the Whitwell scrimmage in that Cardwell wasn’t calling the offensive plays, which had been his major assignment for six years.
He was the boss, this time around.
“I took the head phones, just listened and let the coordinators communicate,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that was going OK. The real key is for a coach to have coaches who can coach and talented players on the field.”
That thought took Cardwell back several years to a chance meeting with former coach and NFL player Bill Curry at Baylor School, where Cardwell’s wife, Allison, was working at the time. Cardwell was coaching at Sewanee.
“Bill asked if I was leaving and I told him I was heading out to recruit,” Cardwell recalled. “Here’s this philosophical guy, a sage and he said, ‘Let me tell you something about recruiting.’
“I’m waiting to hear a real Bill Curry nugget. And he says, ‘Go get real good players.’ ”
For a high school coach, Curry was, in so many words, saying know you’re personnel, know what you have and be realistic about what they can do and know where the fit in.
That’s a big deal.
Carter Cardwell knows where he best fits.
That’s at Boyd-Buchanan School.
(Reach Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larrfyfleming44)