Tennessee High elected to go with a trusted sidekick to fill its wrestling coaching vacancy, promoting assistant coach Tim Smith to the top job after Andrew Beck stepped down to focus on football.
“Tim’s proven over the last couple years that he’s a quality young man,” said Vikings athletic director Paul Pendleton.
Smith, a math teacher at Vance Middle School, served as a Vikings assistant for the past six years, including the last five under Beck.
Although the Tennessee High job will be his first head coaching position, Smith said he worked closely with Beck during their time leading the program together.
“We kind of really went at it as one,” he said.
“It’s just continuing to add on to what we’ve already got. I’m pretty comfortable with the transition.”
Smith may be a novice head coach, but he’s got a lengthy background in wrestling.
During his own high school days, Smith was a Virginia state champion wrestler at Patrick Henry, winning the Group A 130-pound title as a junior in 1996 and finishing second in the state a year later.
Prior to his time at Tennessee High, Smith also served as a Science Hill assistant wrestling coach.
“For me, it’s just an exciting journey,” he said.
Pendleton said Smith’s character was the main factor in elevating him to the head coaching job, but added that his familiarity with the team and his own success as a high school wrestler were welcome bonuses.
“The fact that he was a state champion himself and his knowledge and background in wrestling, it’s something special for him,” Pendleton said. “It’s something special for our program.”
But more than focusing just on wins and losses on the mat, Smith said his goal is to instill values in his wrestlers that will help them become “good men, good husbands [and] good fathers.”
He added that he plans to set a teamwide target of each wrestler achieving at least a 3.25 grade-point average.
Smith also said he hopes to continue the high school program’s strong relationship with the Viking Wrestling Club, an area AAU team that helped many of the current Tennessee High wrestlers get started in the sport.
While Smith said next year’s Tennessee High squad will have plenty of youth, he said the underclassmen that come onto the high school team from the Viking Wrestling Club already know how to compete.
“I have some big expectations for them in the coming years,” Smith said. “It’s a group that’s young, but I think they’re going to do well in time.”
Pendleton said Beck’s decision to relinquish his position was a voluntary move by the former head coach in order to have more free time with his fall seasons already tied up with football. Beck will continue on in his roles as a Tennessee High assistant football coach and social studies teacher.
nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543
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