Staffs adapt to cuts
Staffs adapt to cuts
0 Comments | Chattanooga Times Free Press, Jul 25, 2010 | by Gossett, Ward
By Ward Gossett
wgossett@timesfreepress.com
When school starts and his football program falls into a daily routine, Hixson coach Houston White will first run his Wildcats through defensive practice every day.
The schedule is by necessity more than preference. The move will allow precious minutes for offensive coordinator Daniel Hearn and running backs coach Kelly Hardeman to scurry from their day jobs as teachers at East Hamilton and East Ridge.
Hearn had taught at Hixson for four years. He had built relationships with players in the classroom as well as on the football field. With teacher cutbacks at almost every Hamilton County school, Hearn was forced to move, and he would have surrendered close to $10,000 a year from a supplement if he didn’t keep coaching.
“When I found out I was cut I was thinking I would have a job, that it was almost a certainty that I’d be placed,” Hearn said.
With Hixson dismissing students at 2:30, Hearn would have been out of coaching if he had gone to a school that didn’t dismiss until close to 4. East Hamilton lets out at 2:15.
“If I couldn’t coach I would take a serious pay cut. I was near panic,” he said. “It would have been a tough pill to swallow. If the worst case is driving, then I can swallow that. When you think about hardships, I’m still in pretty good shape. I wasn’t mad at anybody in particular. I just felt I got the shaft.”
Hamilton County’s school system is rife with such tales for teachers and coaches.
“It’s that way across the U.S
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