.jpg)
Wlaf1450‘It’s all still surreal’- Taylor Ownbey, new Campbell Head Football Coach
By Clayton Carroll
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Campbell County High School has been on the hunt for a football coach for the past few weeks, and the hunt came to a successful conclusion on Thursday when Interim Head Coach and former defensive coordinator Taylor Ownbey was tabbed as the new head coach. Ownbey becomes the program’s 16th head coach entering the 51st season of Cougar Football.
Ownbey was selected from a pool of nearly 30 applicants, and the wait is over.
On Thursday afternoon, via a press release, CCHS announced that Taylor Ownbey would be the new head football coach at Campbell High.
Ownbey has 15 years of experience walking the sidelines of a football field, but this is his first stint as the head coach of a high school program.
“It’s all still surreal,” Ownbey said. He went on to say that he is extremely excited, and it is a blessing to be tabbed as the head guy. “I’m excited to do something I’ve wanted to do for so long,” said Ownbey in referring to this being his first head coaching job.
He anticipates getting to take on all the jobs as a head coach such as getting kids to play, fundraising, and all-in-all building a program.
Ownbey stressed that “we are going to build a certain culture here. We will have high expectations for our players.”
That is what Ownbey said is the pitch to getting kids back up on The Hill to suit up in the Orange-and-Blue. Ownbey also mentioned that it helps that he is a teacher at Campbell High, and the relationships along with the kids he knows, should bring more football players to Reynolds Field.
Although he wishes to have a balanced coaching philosophy when it comes to offense, defense, and special teams, Ownbey does have a healthy chunk of his experience being a defensive coordinator. This included last season at Campbell, and before that at Rhea County.
Ownbey takes over for Mark Pemberton, his former boss, who spent last season leading the Cougars and is now the head coach at Madison Southern at Berea, Kentucky. Much like Pemberton, Taylor Ownbey stresses the weight room; “we wanna be a physical program.”
However, Ownbey is gonna run things much differently when it comes to scheme.
“We are gonna run much more of a spread offense. That is what these kids have been used to up here.” This is a vast change compared to the power T/wing T offense that Campbell County ran last season. “On defense, we will keep it the same…running a 3-4,” said Coach O.
Coach Ownbey is determined to get kids in the weight room and be a physical football team.
When asked about assistant coaches, Ownbey said he has an idea of the people he wants to get/getting to come to The Hill. “I especially want to get a strength and condition guy to come and coach for us,” said Ownbey.
“Again, I’m just so excited to get things started and build a culture here,” concluded Coach Taylor Ownbey.
Ownbey’s Cougars kick-off the season on the road at Lenoir City on Friday, August 22. Campbell’s first home game is Friday, September 12, as the Blue-and-Orange host the Bobcats of Central High School from Fountain City. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 4-18-2025 6AM)