JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (May 3, 202) – ETSU Football will have some familiar faces and some new faces on the sideline this fall, one of the new faces will be the head coach: George Quarles.
Quarles, a former player himself, graduated from Furman in 1989, following a national championship in 1988, and knew that he didn’t want to leave this game behind after graduation. “Once I had a little taste of [coaching], I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” said the head coach.
An illustrious high school coaching career earned Quarles a spot in both the Tennessee Football Coaches
And TSSAA Hall of Fame:
18 seasons, 11 state championships, going on a 77-game winning streak from 2004-08, and a record of 250-16 in his time as head coach at Maryville (HS).
Quarles would find himself back at his alma mater in Furman wearing multiple hats as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach from 2018-21, before taking over at ETSU following former head coach, Randy Sanders’ surprise retirement last December.
“Getting the opportunity to be a head coach of a phenomenal program…that was an opportunity that you dream for,” said Coach Quarles on his hiring. “You’re always gonna put a lot of pressure on yourself to be successful and not let the program slip in anyway…we’re gonna try to strike while we are hot.”
The Bucs football program was able to keep much of Coach Sanders’ staff, “Billy Taylor is a huge key for me…defensive coordinator, he’ll be the associate head coach…he’s done such a great job for a long time. Keeping him was huge.”
While there is much to look forward to in the fall, depth issues continue to haunt the Bucs that lost several key players in the offseason, “I think depth in a few spots is a concern. We’re thin in a couple of spots,” said Quarles.
With some questions regarding the QB1 position, Coach Quarles said, “We got some guys back that played, and played well…and they know this, but we’re probably gonna bring somebody in from the portal.” When asked if the starting role is open for competition Quarles replied, “Absolutely.”
Looking forward to the 2022-23 football season Coach Quarles is very optimistic, “These guys, they want to win. They got a taste of what winning was like last year…that is something that’s hard to teach kids sometimes and they got it. There’s a toughness about these guys that not everybody has.”
“I will be really, really, really disappointed if we’re not competitive next year. I think there’s too good of players on this team to not be,” said Coach Quarles.
As summertime approaches, that only means that we are that much closer to kick-off in September and the return of Bucs Football.
