Coach Joe Gaddis’s Oak Ridge Wildcats won 21-14 over the Farragut Admirals on Blankenship Field in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By MIKE BLACKERBY
Oak Ridge’s Joe Gaddis is one of a handful of high school football coaches in the state of Tennessee to win more than 300 games during his career.
At age 68, he shows no signs of slowing down or having a desire to do anything else but coach football.
His first high school coaching gig was in 1974 as an assistant at Ripley in West Tennessee.
He is in his second stint at Oak Ridge, where he has compiled a 182-46 record and is the school’s all-time wins leader.
Gaddis guided the Wildcats to the 1991 Class AAA state championship.
Gaddis has also been head coach at Tullahoma, Pascagoula (Miss.), Decatur Austin (Ala.), Henry County, Lexington (N.C.) and Peabody in West Tennessee.
His career coaching record is 320-134.
As we head into the 2020 season, 5Star Preps afforded Gaddis the opportunity to reflect on his career and look ahead to the future.
Q: This will be your 38th season as a head football coach in high school and 46th year overall. Tell us what remember about the first time you set foot on the field as both an assistant and head coach.
A: The first time I set foot on the field as an assistant coach in 1974 at Ripley High School in West Tennessee. I was a wild man and almost out of control! …
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