Cobble Resigns to Join Quarles in Maryville

In a team meeting Tuesday morning, Jefferson County football players got some unexpected news; Kenny Cobble, head coach, announced that he had accepted a position to serve under George Quarles at Maryville High School.

“He spoke to me on Monday about what was going to happen,” Randy Rogers, Athletic Director for Jefferson County High School, said in an interview with the Jefferson County Post Sports on Tuesday. “We felt like it was good for the team to hear from him, and not through social media, so this morning at 8:00 we told the team.  It was, of course, emotional. He puts his heart and soul in to everything he does.”

A couple of weeks ago Cobble got an unexpected text message from Maryville Rebels head coach George Quarles, asking him if he’d like to join.  After much prayer, and discussion with his wife, Meghan, Coach Cobble decided to go interview for the job last Tuesday over spring break.  It was then he made the hard decision to move on to the Maryville Rebels as their defensive linebacker coach.  He was formally approved for the position on Sunday.

Cobble hopes this will be an opportunity to spend more time with his boys.  “Meghan and I have  been  praying about an opportunity to spend more time with our boys; we’ve only got them for 7 and 9 more years before they’re grown, and we wanted to make it count.” Cobble says he wanted to scale back his duties and “just be a dad.”

“This was a tough, gut wrenching decision,” Cobble stated.  “It’s never easy to tell people you love something that they don’t necessarily want to hear, and change is never easy.” Cobble will be finishing up the rest of the school year, and also will be helping gear up for spring practice.

“I just want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to be here in Jefferson County.  This community has made Meghan and I better people.  I’m grateful that Dr. Walker saw something in me.  We love Jefferson County and the people here, and this was not an easy decision.”

In his five years at the helm of the Patriots football team, Coach Cobble went 24-29, and last season went 5-6.  Coaching the Jefferson County Patriots was his first experience as head football coach.  As far as his future tenure serving under Coach Quarles, Cobble hopes to go fit in and get on the same page as the coaching staff already in place at Maryville.  He’s hoping to invest in relationships with the players, much like he did at Jefferson County.

Rogers had high praise for Cobble:  “He wasn’t out looking. They [Maryville High School] came looking for him.  I think that speaks volumes to what kind of person Coach Cobble is, that someone of the stature of George Quarles would say, ‘Hey, come help me.’  I can’t say enough about what Kenny has done here the last five years.  He’s been a great presence here, both on the field and off the field.  The kids respect him, the community respects him, and I respect him.  He and his family are going to be missed not only in the football room, but also in the community.”  In the team meeting Tuesday morning Rogers told the boys, “No matter what happens from here on out, he’s still going to be your coach. You’re still going to call him Coach Cobble, he’s just going to be somewhere else.”  As Rogers tells all his coaches, “it’s about seeing the big picture,” and he knows this was a family decision for Cobble.  There was no pressure from the school to move on. “We didn’t want him out,” Rogers said.  “This was a gut-wrenching decision for him, but he felt like this is where God was pushing him and his family.”

Now, the hunt begins for Cobble’s replacement.  Currently, there are no candidates for the position that the school has in mind.  The open position will be posted on the school site, and also on TSSAA’s site.  Rogers stated, “We’ll be looking for the most qualified candidate all the way around. We are looking for someone who can not only coach, but, of course, they also have to be able to teach. This isn’t the type of place where you go coach and don’t teach. We’ll look at those subject areas and see where to go from there. Not only are we looking for the best candidate, but also the best fit for here.  We want someone who is going to be a valuable member of this community, both on and off the field, and feel like high school sports should be an extension of the classroom.  We will give a grace period of 2-3 weeks.  Dr. Walker and myself will go through the applications, and we will have a committee to interview the candidates we would like to talk to.  We hope to have someone in place the last week of April, or first week of May.”

Rogers doesn’t think that this will hold back the program, only being a hiccup until they have someone in the position.  “We have quality assistants and staff that will keep the ball rolling and help pick up that load if need be, until we get someone in.  It’s not unprecedented; we’ve had it happen here a couple of years with baseball. At the last second, a coach decides to leave and we’re in turmoil, but we had assistants here and we told them ‘Hey, you’re running the show until we get someone in place,’ and they did it. I anticipate the same in this case.”

Spring practice, which will begin the second week of May, will go on as planned.  Coach Cobble will be at Jefferson County High School through the end of the year, and still will be in the weight room, pushing as if he were still the coach.  “We’ll just be having somebody else running the show next year. Other than that, everything’s still going to be the same,” Rogers said.