Taylor Harvey tapped to lead the Eagles

EVENSVILLE — Rhea County is hoping that new coach Taylor Harvey can lift the Eagles to new heights.

Rhea County has picked Harvey, until now the defensive coordinator to district rival Walker Valley, to take over the football program. The Sequatchie County native has had a highly successful career as an assistant coach and now, at age 32, is ready to lead a program.

The fact that it’s a program with the potential that Rhea County has is very exciting to Harvey.

“Coming from a small town in Sequatchie (County) you kind of getting that vibe of football being important,” Harvey said. “You get an opportunity like Rhea County where the facilities are featured and you get that small town feel — football means a lot here — I love that. I’m jumping on the opportunity to be part of it.”

One reason Rhea County is an attractive place to coach is the facilities, which includes a large stadium and an indoor facility.

“It is second to none,” Harvey said of the facilities on campus. “These are the best public school facilities in Tennessee. You’ve got so many resources and so much backing. That’s a big thing. The school board backs it all the way down to the janitors. It’s a football community. The stadium is beautiful, the backdrop is beautiful, the indoor facility, the multiple weight rooms, everything is at your fingertips. It’s just unbelievable.”

Harvey comes with plenty of accolades. He was the statewide 5A Assistant Coach of the Year in 2023 and was the 2020 and 2023 District 4-5A Defensive Coach of the Year. He was the Special Teams Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for District 4-3A while at Sequatchie County.

Harvey was an assistant at Sequatchie and then moved to Walker Valley the last five years, and he’s been part of nine straight playoff appearances and two state semifinal appearances. As the defensive coordinator at Walker Valley, the Mustangs allowed only 9.4 points per game in 2023 and he led three of the top five defenses in Walker Valley school history.

Rhea County has won two district titles in the last four years, but the last two years have not been as successful as they went 2-9 in 2024 and 5-6 last season. Harvey wants to get the Eagles back on the winning track.

“I want to get a culture back here where the kids are competing every night,” Harvey said. “The numbers have got to grow, that’s a big thing for me. Playing them the last few years, you’ve seen the numbers go down a little bit. We just want to grow the interest in the game football here.”

After years of running the wing-t, and the I-formation last year, the Eagles will likely install a new offense. Although the type of offense he wants to run will partly be dependent on the type of players he has, he wants to run a more wide-open offense that still has some characteristics of the wing-t, sort of a combining of wing-t and spread principals.

“I think we will be in the gun,” Harvey said. “Obviously, everything will be based on personnel, but my vision is to be in the gun, with one back or two backs, with that same wing-t concept with power and discipline, playing hard and playing fast. Somewhat similar to how we were at Walker Valley... We will use a lot of those traits and bring them over here where they have the wing-t philosophy. I think you will see a little more of the spread, but you will still have that power and hit you in the mouth football.”

Harvey hopes that a new type of offense will help entice more players to put on the pads. The number of players playing football has dwindled the last couple of years.

“I think its a little bit of the new-age, new-face, make it fun for the guys again,” Harvey said. “That attractive deal where kids watch NFL, they watch college, and see certain kids doing certain things on Friday night and now they get to go out and do the exact same thing. You kind of change the culture here a little bit, I know they have historically been wing-t. You can keep those principals, but do it from the gun and feature athletes more.

“I think you will see numbers jump when you can get kids can get the ball out in space in more. You’ve got a younger coach and you’ve got to call a spade a spade. The kids love dudes that care about them and the previous staff definitely loved them and cared about them. I’m going to continue to do that, but just do it in different ways.”

While a lot of the focus will be on the new offense, Harvey knows the importance of a great defense. He noted that Walker Valley’s defense allowed 50 points a game before he arrived and last year it the Mustangs gave up under 10 points a game.

“We are very multiple defensively,” Harvey said. “Typically we base out of a three-down (linemen) look on the d-line. We are basing our defense is based on your formation for the most part, but we are going to put athletes on the field that play fast, that play hard, that overwhelm our opponent with our effort. That’s who we are.”

As a player at Sequatchie County, where he graduated in 2009, he was an offensive and defensive lineman so he said he knows the importance of winning the line of scrimmage. While the schools in Cleveland have a history of good football, it’s not the only game in town, so to speak, and Harvey is excited to be in a community where football is king.

“I enjoyed my time in Cleveland, but you just miss that football town (vibe),” Harvey said. “I’m more of a football town guy. I about the town closing down on Friday nights, creating an atmosphere where it matters... It’s a special place. There is a rich history of good football coming through Rhea County. I’m excited to be part of it.”

Harvey said his first order of business is to meet with the staff and see who wants to stay and who he thinks will fit with his staff. He may bring in a couple of assistants as well, and he has one in mind already.

“I’ve got a couple that most likely will be coming with me,” Harvey said. “Our defensive back coach is going to be a big one, coach Brandon Ashby. He’s my right-hand guy. He makes everything go over there, I can’t leave him out. He’s what makes me me.”

Harvey is literally counting the days before the season.

“We will hit the ground running in Monday and introduce a new culture, a new change and a breath of fresh air,” Harvey said. “We will try to go three days a week until spring break and work on a schedule from there.”

Wednesday was a whirlwind day from meeting with the players, the coaches, the media and other interested members of the community — and Harvey couldn’t be more excited about it.

“It’s been awesome,” Harvey said. “I’m thrilled. I can’t even put into words how excited I am to get started... The future is bright here. I can’t say how excited I am.”

Joining Harvey with the move to Rhea County are his wife, Katlyn, and daughter, Addilyn.

“We are excited to get ingrained into this community that cares about athletics and getting ingrained into this culture here,” Harvey said.