Julie Mason returns to CCHS volleyball as assistant coach

NEWPORT — When Julie Mason walked into the Cocke County gym in 2019, she did not know anyone on the volleyball team.

She had coached for Parrottsville for several years prior, but she joined then-coach Jennifer Slover’s Cocke County staff for that season.

Following that year, Mason returned to Parrottsville for her second stint with the Lady Parrotts’ volleyball program.

But now Mason has come back to Cocke County High School, joining forces with new Lady Red coach Ginny Ball for her second stint as a CCHS volleyball assistant.

The position took a bit of time to work out, as Mason noted that her job change complicated matters.

“When Ginny found out she would be head coach, she asked if I would be an assistant,” Mason said. “I was kind of unsure, because I’m changing jobs — I’m now working at the high school for the Ayers Foundation — so it took us a little while to figure out how that we going to work.”

But once that was done, Mason was cleared to coach.

Now, she noted that she does not have a feeling of deja vu walking into the gym.

Rather, she said she feels “at home.”

“It’s totally different,” she said. “I have watched a lot of these girls grow up. I know them, I know what they can do, and when I came up here the first time, I didn’t know a soul.

“So that was a big difference. But now it’s just like walking into home. It’s easy to coach these girls.”

Mason brings plenty of experience, having played for Oakland High School in Murfreesboro before she attended Austin Peay for college.

Eventually she wound up in Cocke County, and she has called it home for 22 years.

In that time, her observance of her current players when they were children has given her ample experience on how to work with then as high-schoolers.

“I know who I can dig into, who I can’t, and I know most of them on a different level,” she said. “If they’re having a bad day, I can see it and I know them well enough to know their personalities and how to act with each other.”

Like Ball, Mason is hopeful that the team can regain its fire this season, as Ball noted the comments she heard on the lack of it last season.

“They recognize they didn’t have the fire they needed to last year, and they are trying to bring it back,” Mason said. “This is a good group of girls, and I think they will put the work in and respond to and feed off each other. I think they’ll be fine.”

And when asked about Ball specifically, Mason reiterated her appreciation for the Lady Red head coach and what she brings to the table.

“I think she’s doing a great job,” Mason said. “She is tough when she needs to be, but not all the time, and the girls really seem to like her.”