Silver with son
Courtney begins 25th season as FHS Admirals skipper, 41st overall here, alongside son — 1st of a two-part dad-son series
Having the pleasure of working alongside his son, offensive coordinator Geoff Courtney — who played for his father as a standout Admirals receiver/defensive back (Class of 2006) — the elder Courtney will begin his 25th regular season as Admirals skipper Friday night, Aug. 21.
Barring a last-minute coronavirus surprise, Farragut will host Bradley Central to open what could be a wild regular season of canceled and postponed games across the state due to the pandemic (opening kickoff is 7:30 p.m. See COVID-19-prevention protocols on this page).
Overall at FHS, Courtney has begun his 41st season of coaching and teaching.
During those 25 years as skipper, “I think the biggest thing that’s changed is how to communicate in the coach-to-player and coach-to-coach relationships,” he said. “Today, to communicate, it can be a challenge to get everybody on the same page.”
However, with Geoff, “He’s done a great job of understanding what it takes to communicate with kids,” the head coach said.
Background
An All-District linebacker/center at Fulton in the early 1970s (Class of 1971), this Farragut coaching legend was a standout linebacker at Mars Hill University, Mars Hill, North Carolina.
As for catching the coaching bug, “Early on I got influenced when I was in high school. I really enjoyed playing at Fulton High School and really respected my coaches,” Courtney said.
“I loved the game of football,” he added.
But it was following an accident at Mars Hill that Courtney started at the infant level of his profession.
“I was actually injured in a car wreck my senior year, that’s when I got started coaching,” he said about becoming a student assistant coach in 1974.
“Then I went to East Tennessee State as a graduate assistant (eventual master’s degree earned in physical education), then I went to UT as a graduate assistant,” Courtney added.
To Farragut
His journey to Farragut began in the late summer of 1978 “coaching linebackers” under a local coaching legend, the late Ken Sparks, Courtney recalled.
Working his way up to becoming defensive coordinator, he kept that role along with being head coach “until about four years ago,” the Admirals skipper said.
Father-son: player years
“He’s always been a great leader and he’s always been a person that you can watch and example yourself after,” Geoff said about his father. “And he’s always even-keel.”
Yet, “He’s mentally and physically tough, having gone through certain health issues in his life,” the son added.
When Geoff was a player at Farragut, “We could still be father-and-son and I could still be the head coach and he could be the player,” Eddie said. “But I didn’t have to specifically coach him every day of practice because that would have been hard.
“You expect your son to do everything right and be an example and all of that,” he added. “But (receivers) coach (Ryan) Shoup really did a great job back then with Geoff, allowing him to grow as a football player, to kind of keep things balanced.”
Though his father was an extremely positive overall influence on and off the field, “I think it was also good for us that he was spending most of his time coaching the defense, and I was primarily a wide receiver up until my senior year,” Geoff said. “We didn’t have many moments when he was directly coaching me.”
Overall, “It was a very good experience, a very good relationship,” Geoff said about being coached by his father.
Though admitting he occasionally slipped up and was too hard on Geoff, Eddie said that was limited because of learning from others’ mistakes.
“Early on in my career, I probably coached five or six guys who coached their own son, and I saw the difficulty early on,” he added. “… I wanted to make sure I didn’t travel down that same road and make it to where it wasn’t fun for Geoff.”
Father-son: coaching years
Upon learning Geoff wanted to be a coach/teacher similar to himself, “I know growing up he always enjoyed being around it, going to clinics and everything,” Eddie said.
“Being around dad doing it for so long, and spending a lot of my days growing up in the summertime at practice (as a child), I was always around it,” Geoff said. “I’ve always loved the game.”
Moreover, “He’s always told me, ‘I want you to be happy doing what you’re doing,’” the younger Courtney added. “He told me about the time commitment, that it’s not your typical 9-to-5 profession.”
However, as a young Admirals coach when Geoff and his sister, Megan Courtney, were children, “He always made time for us as a family,” Geoff said, also including his mother and Eddie’s wife, Anita Courtney.
Dating back to late middle school or his early years as an FHS student, “I felt like I wanted to stay in the game and coach,” Geoff said.
After his time as a walk-on wide receiver/kick holder at UT, Geoff started as a coach (defensive backs) and teacher (business) at his alma mater in 2010. He also served as receivers and special teams coach before becoming quarterbacks coach.
Geoff took over as offensive coordinator in 2017.
The bottom line: “For me to watch Geoff and observe him grow as a coach has been fun,” Eddie said.
