Coffee County head football coach Doug Greene has resigned his position as head coach, effective Thursday Aug. 31.
Defensive coordinator Roger Haynes will oversee the day-to-day football operations for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Players began texting Thunder Radio sports Thursday afternoon that Greene was telling them of his intention to leave the program.
Coffee County athletics sent a short press release at 3:13 p.m. Thursday confirming that Greene was resigning.
“On behalf of the athletic department and the CCCHS administration, we thank Coach Greene for his dedication and time to our football program. Coach Greene will continue teaching at CCCHS,” the release stated.
Thunder Radio Sports spoke with Greene shortly after he spoke to the team Thursday. He said he is taking a “medical leave of absense.”
“I have loved what we have been able to do here at Coffee County,” Greene said. “I love that we were able to bring a playoff win to this community last year.
“But I’m working 16 hours a day and my doctor wanted me to stop doing this earlier,” added Greene. “I thought I could make it through the season, but I need to do this now for my health.”
Haynes, who served as defensive coordinator for a stout Raider defense in two of the past three seasons (three of the past four if you include this year) will continue to handle defensive duties. Offensive assistant Stephen Graves, an alumni of the Raider program, will handle play-calling duties on the offensive side of the ball moving forward. Greene previously called the offense.
Doug Greene took over as head coach at Coffee County in the 2019 season – taking a program that was a dismal 6-25 over the previous three years. From 2019 through 2022, the Red Raiders steadily improved from 2-8 to 4-6, 5-6 and then 9-3. The Raiders eventually won the program’s first ever TSSAA state football playoff game in 2022, beating Stewarts Creek in overtime.
Coffee County’s 1-1 start to the 2023 season makes the Raiders 21-24 during Greene’s tenure (46.6 winning percentage), the most wins for a head coach at Coffee County since Bill Price won 25 games during a 5-year span from 2003-2007. Price finished 25-29 (46.3 wining percentage) as CHS head coach.
The last head coach at Coffee County with a winning percentage north of 50% was LD Carden, who won 62% of his games from 1951-1969. Among coaches with more than 2 years as head coach, Price and Greene have been the closest to get to 50%.
“What I want for this community is for everyone to work together – something special can happen if that is the case,” added Greene.
Greene was suspended for two games during the 2022 seaason for allegedly becoming physical with a player. He was not on the sidelines for the Spring Hill and Warren County wins last year, two blowouts. Haynes served as interim coach during those two games.
Coffee County is 1-1 this season and will play at Shelbyille on Friday, Sept. 1. Pregame starts at 6 p.m. with the Friday Night Thunder pregame show. Kickoff starts at 7 p.m. Listen live on Thunder Radio 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com
