Leadership changes for fall
Madden, Lyons new FHS skippers; Pendleton on 2nd stint as Admirals cheer head coach
While one of the three returns to the same position she held just last year, another discovered what Farragut was all about — at least in girls soccer — from her club experience as a star defender with Oak Ridge Krossfire in competitive club soccer for six seasons.
“You always could pinpoint a Farragut soccer player ... they were always very skilled, very athletic, very fast,” said Kristen Lyons, who comes to Farragut as new girls soccer skipper.
Meanwhile, in what would be her fifth season at FHS this fall, Jo Madden has been promoted as new Lady Admirals volleyball head coach.
Nicole Pendleton begins round two as FHS cheerleading head coach.
Madden-FHS volleyball
A varsity assistant to long-time head coach Susan Davidson beginning in the fall of 2016, Madden will assume her first high school volleyball head coaching job.
Meanwhile, she praised her former volleyball boss.
“Coach Davidson is the one who actually brought me into Farragut as the JV coach,” Madden said. “... I learned how to have a lot of patience with kids and just basically to treat them with respect at all times.”
As for building a passion to coach, “I wanted to coach volleyball when my youngest (daughter) started playing,” Madden said about her first coaching experience, which came at the local CBFO program in 2007.
“And I have a passion to help change young girls’ lives,” she added. “... This opportunity is huge. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach. I’ve actually been a head coach for Club Unite (Volleyball Club, 13-under)” in her fourth season.
Receiving the E.V. Davidson Volunteer Award for her volunteer work at Vine Middle School in 2013, Madden said she started playing volleyball in middle school, and was a standout outside hitter at Pasco High School (Washington state).
The mother of three daughters, this Eastern Washington University graduate first moved to Knox
County in 2003 “because of my husband’s job,” she said about Charles Madden.
Pendleton-FHS cheerleading
Having been the program’s head coach for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, Pendleton will return in 2020-21 to assume that role after leaving for this current school year.
“I really missed coaching,” this KCS homebound teacher said. “I missed being with the kids. I told them multiple times they’re just like family to me.”
Moreover, “I’m really excited to be back at Farragut ... we have an amazing coaching staff,” Pendleton added.
“I’m looking forward to setting high expectations and then watching the girls reach those.”
As a coach, she began “at an All-Star gym ... competitive cheer” in Florida in 2000.
Growing up in Fort Myers and beginning as a cheerleader at age 3, Pendleton earned a bachelor’s degree in social science education at the University of Central Florida (2003).
Earning a master’s degree in teacher education and social science education at UTK, Pendleton began her teaching career in 2004 at Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples, Florida.
Lyons-FHS girls soccer
Having played soccer since age 9, Lyons was an All-Region/All-District midfielder-defender at Roane County High School (Kingston, Class of 2001)
Her next stop was Tennessee Wesleyan College (now University), where she was a standout defender.
Graduating from TWC with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in 2005, Lyons took over at her high school alma mater straight out of college, serving as head coach for the Kingston Lady Yellowjackets for five seasons (2005-2009) — reaching substate round her first season.
Lyons began as head coach for McMinn United Futbol Club in Athens in 2010, coaching U9 to U18 age levels.
In 2016, she also served as a volunteer assistant for a very successful McMinn County high school team.
Coming to Knox County in 2017 when husband, Stephen Lyons, was named head coach of the Carson-Newman University Men’s Soccer team — having served as TWU Men’s head coach for nine seasons — Kristen began coaching the Knoxville Crush U-12 and U-13 girls teams.
