South-Doyle High School completed its search this week for a head football coach. And the Cherokees’ new guy has a championship on his resume.
Zack Gibson, an assistant coach on Powell’s 2021 Class 5A championship team, will be the next head coach of South-Doyle, the school admin confirmed.
He replaces L.A. Headrick, who coached the Cherokees the past two seasons before he and South-Doyle parted ways in mid-November.
A 2010 Halls High graduate, Gibson was an all-region football player in high school and played collegiately at Cumberland University.
After coaching as an assistant at Halls for a spell (2014-17), he joined the coaching staff at Powell in 2018 and ultimately worked his way up to defensive coordinator by the 2024 season. He was Powell’s pass-game coordinator in the 2022-23 seasons and a defensive assistant for the Panthers from 2018-21.
Powell coach Matt Lowe told 5Star Preps on Wednesday that Gibson has long had his eye on being a head coach someday, and that the right opportunity at the right time came along.
“I’m just extremely excited for him,” Lowe said.
“He has all the blessings I can give him.”
Gibson said becoming a head coach was something he began envisioning in his future once he got on staff at Powell.
“That was one of the things that Matt Lowe taught me early on and helped me with the most,” Gibson said. “I’m just eternally grateful to him for helping me become a head coach and preparing me for this moment.
“When this opportunity at South-Doyle came open, it was something I just had to jump at. It’s a tremendous opportunity when you look at the whole big picture — from the administration to the program to the community. There’s just so much this opportunity has to offer. I’m just ready to make the most of it.”
The 34-year-old Gibson takes over a program that last had a winning season in 2021 and hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2020 run to the state semifinals.
South-Doyle started strong this past fall, jumping to a 4-2 record by the midpoint of the season, and one of those losses came in overtime.
But the back half of the season proved to be filled with injuries to key starters, which didn’t help the Cherokees’ cause in October contests against region foes Alcoa and Anderson County.
Gibson wants to get South-Doyle back to what he saw out of it in the 2010s and early 2020s.
“I’ve coached against those teams. I’ve seen them compete. I’ve seen them go to the semifinals. I’ve seen packed-out stadiums here,” Gibson said. “I’ve seen their athletes go play college football and the all-state honorees, NFL-type-caliber athletes. I know what this place is capable of. I think if you get the right people in place to make that happen then it’s definitely possible.
“I think I’m the right person to do that, as long as I have the right people around me.”
Gibson also spearheaded the strength & conditioning programs at Powell and even at Halls.
That will be a big piece of what he instills at South-Doyle from the start.
“That’s one of my strongest passions. That’s really where I got my start at,” Gibson added. “In 2014, as a 22-year-old coach who didn’t know what he was doing, I was fortunate that (then Halls coach) J.D. Overton, kind of, turned the keys over to me from Wes Kitts leading that (strength) program at Halls High School. Wes and J.D. helped me with that transition process.
“That’s something I’ve always prided myself on. I think that’s going to be the biggest definition, in tale, of what your football program is, what it’s capable of, and how your kids are going to five, 10 or 15 years from now when they’re not playing football for you.
Article written by Jesse Smithey/5Star Preps. To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc., visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code New2025 for 30% off your first year or month subscription.
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