Jeremy Austin has been denied tenure and will not be back as Moore County’s head football coach according to Moore County Director of schools Chad Moorehead.
“In all honesty Coach Austin is a victim of a Tennessee law that forces a teacher out of a system if the school board is not comfortable with granting tenure. Teacher tenure is a significant investment for a school board to make in a teacher in any size school system,” Moorehead said . “The law states that once a teacher becomes eligible for tenure the Director of Schools must either non-renew the teacher or recommend the teacher for tenure. If the board of education is not willing to grant tenure, the teacher can no longer be employed in the school system. Coach Austin became eligible this past fall based on the Tennessee teacher evaluation model. The school board struggled with the decision to grant tenure, tabling the item the first time it appeared on the agenda in December. Ultimately they voted unanimously to withhold tenure in this instance”.
Austin is a 1997 Moore County graduate and was the head coach of the Raider program for the last two years as they were 10-11 in his time there. Moore County is coming off a 6-5 record and a trip to the Class 1A playoffs where they were defeated by Whitwell 19-7.
“I would like to say I’m very grateful to former principal Buddy Smith for giving me the opportunity to have been the head coach at Moore Co. the past two years,” Austin said. “I have truly enjoyed my time with the players and the coaching staff over the past six years but as this door has been closed I’m anxious to see what doors will open in the future. I know God has a place for me in coaching and I am excited to see what he has in store for me and my family.”
Before being promoted to head coach in 2014, Austin served as Defensive Coordinator since 2010 and the Raiders are coming off four straight Class 1A playoff appearances. Austin started his coaching career at Cascade High School in 1999 as a volunteer assistant and moved his way up the coaching ladder.
He served as the Champions defensive coordinator from 2004 to 2008.
He left Cascade to became the Defensive Coordinator at Dade County High School in Trenton, Georgia in 2008-2009 before coming back home to Lynchburg in 2010.
There are 12 schools that are currently looking for a head coach they are: Cumberland Gap, ECS, Ravenwood, USJ, Centennial, Father Ryan, Sunbright, Sullivan Central, McNairy Central, West Creek, White County and Westwood.
Email Donovan at donovans1222@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at Examine_Stew
