Tracy Malone is facing another new challenge, but it’s one that he embraces and accepts with open arms and a smile on his face.
He’s been a football coach as long as he can remember and will be entering his 11th fall as a head coach.
He began that head coaching stuff with three years at Ardmore, Alabama before three years at White County and four years at East Ridge.
Last year was one more unforgettable experience for the veteran coach and followers of the Pioneers as they made a little history along the way by going undefeated in the regular season for the first time ever and winning 12 straight games before getting beat in the third round of the TSSAA playoffs.
And while there were positive memories that will last a lifetime, there was also an unfortunate situation that changed everything.
Due to circumstances that will not be discussed in this space, Malone resigned his teaching position and his head coaching job at the same time. He was at a crossroad in his life and had to make the decision to continue in the education field or not.
In the interim, the 42-year-old husband of Kim and father of youngsters Reed and Tate became a real estate agent here in Chattanooga.
But as the old saying goes, when one door closes, often another one will open in its place and that’s certainly what happened as Malone was quickly singled out as the man to take the head coaching job at Whitwell.
R.C. Helton resigned his position with the Tigers after leading them to the playoffs in both years as their head coach and that just opened the door for Malone. It didn’t take long for him to make the decision to accept the Whitwell offer.
“This job is totally different from the other three as it’s not a complete rebuilding job. These guys have been to the playoffs the last two years as coach Helton woke up the program. We just want to maintain that standard,” said Malone one day recently before a mid-afternoon weight lifting session began.
Malone has the benefit of 15 returning starters, which is a huge bonus at a school that plays in the state’s smallest classification. There are only two seniors in that group, including Ethan Skelton and Matthew Carter, and both are offensive linemen.
Seth Cumby, Garrett Gass, Austyn Vandegriff and Trey Green are the other four seniors on the Whitwell roster and all are being counted on for positive production this fall.
“We can look good at times and we’re really good, but when we don’t, we’re really bad. We’re just trying to be more consistent in every phase of the game,” Malone continued.
“I got this job in March so we were able to have spring practice. Our summer workouts were okay, but we’re not in great shape yet. We’ve moved a bunch of kids around and we’re trying to identify depth at every position, but that and limiting injuries are my biggest concerns so far.
“There’s a high football IQ with these kids as they want to be coached. All are hard-nosed kids, but fit is important around here and that’s hard to understand at times. We just have to find all the pieces to the puzzle if we expect to be playoff contenders.
“We have a good staff here. Last year at East Ridge was a great time for me as he experienced a lot of firsts. Nobody ever gave them a snowball’s chance of accomplishing anything and I want nothing but the best for those guys, but it was time for me to move on.
“There are three important lessons that I learned last year. The first one is that attitude matters. Another one is that our effort can never be questioned while the last one is that success breeds success.
“What we want to do here at Whitwell is win our way. We just need to be dependable and not beat ourselves. We’re extremely blue collar in all that we do. I’ve never felt any pressure at any school I’ve ever been the head coach, but I was brought here to do a job.
“I just want us all to be headed in the same direction, but we have some people in this community really excited about the upcoming season. We want them to be extremely involved. This team has been the region runner-up the last two years to South Pittsburg, so our goal is to compete for the region title again and to make the playoffs.
“Those are both achievable goals,” Malone concluded.
The Tigers, who were 6-6 a year ago, start the new season at Grundy County on Friday night before playing at home for the next three weeks against Sequatchie County, Davidson Academy and Bledsoe County.
Perhaps the biggest game of the season will take place on Oct. 7 when Whitwell hosts South Pittsburg in the final regular-season home game.
The regular season will conclude with three road games, including Sale Creek, Columbia Academy and Copper Basin.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)