Gary Rankin
Gary Rankin may have had the football’s most secure job outside of Tuscaloosa or Manchester City. The man won his seventh straight state title at Alcoa in December, his 13thin 16 years. Before that, he won four state titles at Riverdale, giving him a state-record 17 state championships. There are few things that could have pulled Rankin away from his throne at Alcoa, but the man had one of those when he retired from the job in early 2022.
“It had nothing to do with football.
You can throw football out the window,” Rankin says. “It was a family decision. If our kids hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have been looking, because you don’t leave Alcoa. You don’t walk away from Alcoa football except for a few different reasons, and I had one of those reasons.”
Rankin was ready to move closer to the rest of his family, who resides in the Chattanooga area. Of the available jobs in Chattanooga and north Georgia, Boyd Buchanan made the most sense for Rankin. His son John Tucker is the strength and conditioning coach for athletics, and it is a program ready to be rebuilt.
“It was almost a Godly thing that it became open because my son was here,” the man with a 467-78 record says. “I met the people and AD and saw everyone, and thought this was a place I needed to be.”
Boyd Buchanan went 4-6 in 2021 and dropped their first round DII-AA game to CPA last season. It’s a ruthless division, boasting teams such as Silverdale and CCS in the area, and machines such as Lipscomb a bit further down the road. Turning the program back into a consistent winner will be dependent on the coach’s ability to instill discipline.
“Jumping offsides on defense, that’s inexcusable for me. That’s coaching right there, and it shouldn’t happen,” Rankin says as he furrows his brow in disappointment. “I saw Boyd jump offsides so many times and that’s something we have to coach. The product we put out there on Friday nights will be what we do in practice every day.”
For Rankin, that discipline extends into the locker room and into every other aspect of life. Toward the end of practice, he implored his players to dress in Boyd Buchanan colors and gear whenever they went out as a group. He says that will help grow cohesion throughout the team.
“I think there were some issues here that I’m going to approach differently,” Rankin says. “We are going to be disciplined, and I can tell you there’s not going to be a piece of trash left in the locker room when we leave every day. I’m probably too detailed at times, but I think kids need and actually want that.”
As Boyd Buchanan’s players ran through their drills, the emphasis was on the “ran” part. They sprinted in and out of their sets, and that was no accident.
“When we go to practice, that time is important,” Rankin says. “We don’t have time to play around or throw balls. You better concentrate and have your mind on your business. I’d rather go and have 20 minutes of good and concentrated practice than go an hour of half of the team messing around. We’re going to use our time wisely.”
Even though Rankin and Boyd’s players and supporters would love to compete for a state championship, making a huge jump in a single season may be asking for too much. Rankin says the team will compete to win on the field, but adds that the Buccaneers will also be competing to be that disciplined and well-rounded team he envisions in every aspect of life.
That doesn’t mean Boyd Buchanan will be a pushover on the field though. He says that there is no carry-over from last year’s schemes to this year’s, but also says that means nothing in terms of how ready the team will be.
“Most of the time, that’s just a coach’s excuse, the guys who say it’s going to take a year to put in their system,” Rankin says. “If you’re one of those guys, you’re probably not a very good coach anyways. We’ve almost got our system installed offensively and defensively.”
Alcoa and the western part of Chattanooga may be quite different culturally, and Boyd Buchanan is a private school while Alcoa is public, but Rankin says that hasn’t impacted the way he coaches his players.
“If there’s a difference, I haven’t noticed it yet,” Rankin says. “I’m coaching these kids the same way I coached at Alcoa and Riverdale. I believe that’ll be good. I don’t think there’s a difference between kids here and kids at Tyner or Howard or Alcoa or McCallie or wherever.”
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