By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
Rutherford County Schools Athletic Director Tim Tackett and Blackman High School athletics were honored by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association at last week’s annual A.F. Bridges Awards.
Tackett was named the School System Administrator of the Year for District 4, while Blackman was named one of three Class AAA finalists for Middle Tennessee.
For Blackman, the honor has little to do with wins and losses and was more about doing things the right way. Both awards were given in recognition of the ideals of ethics and integrity in the teaching and promotion of citizenship and sportsmanship.
“That’s what I’m about,” Tackett said. “I’ll say that without any question in my mind. I’m a huge believer in that.”
He added, “I feel deeply honored and humbled by it. It’s a sportsmanship type award. It’s a leadership award. It’s an award given on merits of doing things that are not only productive for high school athletics, but it’s also based on the philosophy that the people there are merited because of fair play, honor from doing things the right way.”
Tackett has been part of Rutherford County Schools since the mid-1970s.
He earned a degree in elementary education and taught sixth grade at John Coleman Elementary before also pursuing a coaching career. He was an assistant girl’s basketball coach at Smyrna High School for one year in 1979 and then taught and coached middle school basketball at Roy Waldron until 1987.
Tackett then spent a year as an assistant coach at Riverdale High School. He taught and coached girl’s basketball and volleyball at LaVergne High School when it opened in the Fall of 1988.
He became assistant principal at Oakland High School in 1993 before eventually being named principal and then retiring in 2006. Tackett was then elected to the Rutherford County School Board from which he resigned in October 2013 when he agreed to become the district’s first athletic director.
As a former coach and administrator, Tackett had all the skillsets Rutherford County Schools was looking for when hiring an athletic director.
“My goal is to make sure our schools know what the rules are and what the new guidelines are and when the coach’s meetings are and when all these deadlines need to be met,” said Tackett, who views himself as a mediator between the TSSAA and each of the athletic programs in Rutherford County. “My goal is to reinforce that and remind them of that.”
He also said another key is relaying athletic information to the school board.
“I take the spirit of the award with high intent that people are saying not only is he doing a good job,” said Tackett, who also holds coaching clinics, “but he’s doing things the right way. In the spirit of the award, it’s an honor.”
He added, “Citizenship and integrity are certainly high on my list.”
Tackett most recently coordinated an event with the athletic department at Middle Tennessee State University in which more than 4,000 fourth- and fifth-graders from 18 schools attended the Blue Raiders season-opening men’s basketball game.
The field trip was well-received and Tackett said they intend to do it again next year.
Tackett said the event gives “those kids something to look forward to.”