Coach E.B. "Red" Etter won 324 football games at Chattanooga Central and the Baylor School. That's quite an achievement and more than any coach in the Chattanooga area. When I first came to Chattanooga, Coach Etter was the area's most respected high school football coach. Though a few of his rival coaches were a bit envious of him, all of them had a great deal of respect and admiration for him, and rightly so.
When I was working at WDXB radio as the station's sports director in 1975, we did a prep football game of the week every Friday night.
I interviewed Coach Etter numerous times that year as we had Baylor featured on our game of the week broadcasts on more than one occasion. He was different, very different. While most coaches at every level used emotion and excitement as motivational tools for their teams, Coach Etter was more even keeled. He depended upon game preparation and focusing on the opponents' weaknesses to get the job done.
Coach Etter had the most analytical mind of anyone I ever met. Once when I went to the Baylor School to record a pre-game interview with him, we went back to his office and sat for what seemed like several hours and talked football.....even before I ever turned my recorder on. He loved to talk about football and he loved every single aspect of the game. I left his office that day thinking to myself, that's the most brilliant man I have ever seen.
He watched a lot of film and exposed many, many weaknesses of practically every team he faced. In 1978 when I was doing football games on WDEF radio, we were set to do the class triple A state championship game between Red Bank and Gallatin. My good friend, the late Bill Nash had been doing the games with me all season, but had another engagement that night and I needed a color analyst. I immediately thought of Coach Etter and he graciously agreed to do the game with me. I told him before the game to wait until I had finished calling the play , then he could analyze what had just happened and how the play developed. Wow, did he ever analyze each and every play. It was like his mind was a virtual computer, feeding and spitting out information on each play.....why it worked or why it didn't work and it was amazing to have worked an entire football game with him.
After he retired from Baylor, we remained friends and when I saw him at a dining establishment I would always speak to him and vice versa. When a new high school football season comes around each summer, I always think of Coach Etter. I think of what a great coach he was who was even a better gentleman. It's really easy for me when someone asks me who was the best high school football coach I ever saw. I always say Coach Red Etter and I never get an argument.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com