CHURCH HILL — Volunteer High School will turn to veteran coach Mike Castle to lead the Falcons into battle this fall on the football field.
Castle’s new role as the interim head coach was officially announced Monday morning in a meeting with players, who are just coming off the TSSAA’s mandatory two-week dead period. Castle takes over for Jesse McMillan, who resigned June 17 to accept an assistant coaching and teaching position at Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport.
“We have confidence that Coach Castle’s placement will provide continuity within the program and continue the development that we saw in the spring and early summer sessions,” said Volunteer athletic director Jeremy Bailey. “Coach Castle has coached championship teams in the past and brings years of experience to the program.”
“Pops,” as most of his players call him, is best known for being a man of great character and integrity, Bailey said.
“We know that his vision and core values will be shared and reinforced collectively amongst his staff and the team. It’s a new era of Falcon football! We want to embrace this change, with positivity geared toward the development and growth of every individual as our focus,” the school said in a press release issued Monday.
Castle came to Church Hill from Twin Springs High School in Nickelsville, Virginia, in 2015. Since he arrived at Volunteer, he’s served as an assistant football coach, an assistant baseball coach and the head baseball coach (2019-2021). Prior to coming to Volunteer, Castle was an assistant football coach on championship teams at Gate City High School before taking a job as the baseball coach at Twin Springs.
His Volunteer coaching staff will include former Church Hill Middle School head coach Jeremy Jones, Jeremy Somers, Wes Bowery and Josh Kincannon.
Castle and the Volunteer administrators will interview assistant coach candidates this week with the plan to introduce the complete 2024 staff in an information parent/community meeting next week. More information about that meeting will be released in coming days.
Volunteer had already started the process of hiring an assistant football coach after the resignation of former assistant and head track and field coach Sam Barton, who also took a teaching and coaching position at Dobyns-Bennett.
The Falcons, looking to rebound from an 0-10 season a year ago, are scheduled to kick off the 2024 season on Aug. 23 at West Ridge. The first official day of high school football practice in Tennessee is July 29.
Castle will serve one season as the interim. The position of head football coach will be filled at the conclusion of the season, with both internal and external candidates considered.
“The pool of candidates will likely vastly change when it opens at a different time of year,” Bailey said. “There are opportunities for the current staff to show development this season and be considered as well for the long term. It’s going to be a process either way.”
Current Volunteer students interested in playing football are encouraged to attend open workouts this week. The workouts will be held Monday through Thursday at 7:30 a.m. this week and next. The heat acclimation period will start on July 22, with the first official day of practice in pads slated for July 29.
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