NEWPORT-The search for Cocke County’s next football coach has ended with the hiring of Tusculum College assistant football coach Caleb Slover.

Slover was introduced on Thursday as the 14th coach in Cocke County High School history. He recently emerged in a near two-month search process to replace Greg Hacker, who resigned in late November under pressure of termination from his coaching position. Hacker went 9-21 in three seasons at Cocke County, including leading the program to its first playoff berth in nine years during the 2011 campaign.

Slover, who will start full time in a position at CCHS this month, was one of nearly 60 applicants for the vacant position and was one of the first to place his name in the hat to becoming the next Fighting Cocks football coach.

“When this job came open, I applied for it probably the first day it came open,” Slover said on Thursday afternoon. “It’s a job that sparked my interest, a place that I knew about and felt comfortable with and it all kind of worked out.”

For the full story, see the February 2nd-3rd Weekend Edition of the Newport Plain Talk.