Red Boiling Springs football coach Kyle Shoulders has left the program to be an assistant at Oakland.
Red Boiling Springs High School’s football team broke a 61-game losing streak (2009) and also reached the playoffs for the first time in school history (2014) during Kyle Shoulders’ term as head coach.
On Monday Shoulders left the Bulldog program to become an assistant coach at Oakland, and that might not be the worst news for RBS fans.
The team is battling numbers problems and may be forced to forfeit the 2016 season.
“We are concerned,” said Red Boiling Springs principal and athletic director Don Jones. “To field a team on Friday nights, you need at least 18 to 20.”
When asked how many players the team currently had, Jones said 14 to 15.
“We’ll (make a decision) within the next two weeks.”
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Former assistant Michael Brown has been named interim head coach, Jones said.
Red Boiling Springs currently co-ops with neighboring Macon County in boys and girls soccer and track and field.
However, TSSAA rules state that a school must have gone without a particular athletic program for five years before being eligible to co-op with another school in that sport, so unless an exception was made there would be no football for the few remaining RBS players, should a team not be fielded this season.
Shoulders went 19-53 in seven seasons at Red Boiling Springs. The Bulldogs were 4-6 in 2015.
“He’s sharp,” Oakland coach Kevin Creasy said. “He’s been an offensive coordinator at two different schools. He’ll help out the program. He’s a good teacher as well.”
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Shoulders will coach running backs and oversee the Patriots’ special teams,
Gannett Tennessee’s Tom Kreager contributed to this report.