Story by Rusty Ellis
Cookeville head coach Jimmy Maynord officially announced his retirement on Thursday, officially bringing his nine-year tenure as the Cavaliers head coach and a 42-year coaching career to a close.
“I’m just going to hang that whistle up,” Maynord said. “42 years is a long time in the business, and it’s actually a long time to do anything, but especially in the coaching profession. I’ve just decided it’s time to retire from coaching and go do something different in my life.”
As far as the decision itself, it’s something Maynod has contemplated for a little over a year now. Ultimately, he returned at the request of the school’s administration.
“When the season’s over, you reevaluate and I think every coach goes through this,” Maynord said. “I talked to my administration and I told them I would do it another year, and I did just that…once the season’s over and you get a chance to breathe and get away from it a little bit, you decide (whether you want to return or not), and I think every coach, especially once you get as many years in as I am, evaluates it year-by-year.”
This comes on the heels of a 1-9 season for the Cavaliers, including an 0-4 mark in region play. Cookeville’s lone win on the season came in week two, when they defeated Livingston Academy 42-0.
That didn’t change Maynord’s view of the team however, as he was always quick to point out the work ethic and effort-level of his players despite how the season went.
“Education has changed a lot since I started,” Maynord said. “It used to be that you could fail a class and now it’s almost impossible to fail. I think we’re doing an injustice to kids when we don’t allow them to fail…I think you learn from things by failure. If you’re a competitor and you fail, it gives you an opportunity to reevaluate and figure out a way to overcome that and be successful. We failed several times this year with some games and I think that it’s a humbling experience for everybody. Things happen that way. There’s times when teams go through growing pains and we’re right now in a situation where there’s growing pains.”
Maynord’s best season came in 2017, when the Cavaliers finished the season with a 10-3 record and a 4-2 mark in region play. This included playoff wins over Rossview (21-13) and Riverdale (56-17). Their season came to an end in the Class 6A quarterfinals against Oakland 43-0.
Overall, Maynord finishes with a 55-45 overall record and a 28-26 record in region play in nine years at the school. He finishes with a 234-126 record that featured stops at White County, Upperman and Smith County in addition to Cookeville.
When it comes to his time at CHS, Maynord says he’s got a lot of fond memories that he won’t forget from his last stop in his coaching career.
“I’m going to remember that it was a good situation for me,” Maynord said. “I’ve lived here for a long time and worked at other places and traveled, and this was a good fit. I lived very close to the school and my wife works here, and my children are close by. I’ve been treated really well. My administration has been super, and our faculty has been super. We’ve had a lot of support at our football games…I have nothing but good things to say about my nine years here at Cookevile High School. I wish nothing but the best moving forward.”