It is that time of the year when the local prep teams begin to schedule tryouts.  As always, Thunder Radio wants to pass along all the tryout information we have received for the local prep coaches.  Students should be prepared to participate in all the tryout sessions unless otherwise noted.  Tryouts will be carried out following state guidelines due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  The teams will have students to try out in small groups to satisfy the CDC guidelines.

Student/athletes need to remember to bring along with them the signed and completed TSSAA Physical and Parental Consent forms with them when they arrive. That form can be downloaded at:  http://tssaa.org/wp-content/uploads/Forms/med01.pdf .

All homeschool students living in Coffee County who would like to sign up will need to register through the Coffee County Schools Central office. See Keith Cornelius at the Coffee County Schools central office.  Homeschool students living in the city who wish to try out for Westwood teams need to contact Westwood athletic director James Dobson at: jdobson@k12mcs.net

Coffee County Central High School – Athletic Director – Rebecca Koger (kogerr@k12coffee.net)

Coffee County CHS Football
• Date – TBD
• Time – TBD
• Location – CHS Fieldhouse
• Note – There is no tryout, contact Coach Greene for workout information.
• Coach – Doug Greene
• Contact – greened@k12coffee.net

Coffee County CHS Girls’ Soccer
• Date – June 15th and June 16th
• Time – 9:00 to 11:00 AM
• Location – Raider Soccer Field behind Raider Academy
• Note – Rescheduled from June 1st and 2nd
• Coach – Lee Xixis
• Contact – xixisl@k12coffee.net

Coffee County CHS Cross Country
• Date – Monday, July 27th
• Time – 9:00 AM
• Location – Track at Carden-Jarrell Field
• Note – No tryout, show up to first practice
• Coach – Nathan Wanuch
• Contact – quietrunner42@gmail.com

Coffee County CHS Swim
• Date – Friday, September 18th
• Time – 3:30 PM
• Location – Manchester Recreation Center
• Note –
• Coach – Becky Behrendorf
• Contact – behrendorfb@k12coffee.net

Westwood Middle School – Athletic Director – James Dobson (jdobson@k12mcs.net)

Westwood Middle School Girls’ Soccer
• Date – Thursday, June 4th
• Time – 3:00 to 5:00 PM
• Location – Dyer/Bouldin Field at Westwood
• Note – Locker rooms will not be available
• Coach – Donna Burdine or Kevin Smith
• Contact – dburdine@k12mcs.net OR ksmith@k12mcs.net

Westwood Middle School Girls’ Basketball
• Date – Friday, June 5th
• Time – TBD
• Location – Joel Vinson Gym at Westwood
• Note – Sign up at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnnwUMTLypr978A4V7lyhR1XyxnI8XPuBIWA0HamNU2VcarQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
• Coach – Angela Houck
• Contact – srofea@k12mcs.net

Westwood Middle School Boys’ Basketball
• Date – Monday, June 8th
• Time – TBD
• Location – Joel Vinson Gym at Westwood
• Note – Sign up at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWDoa_yjgZRJuxAhMoZhuUTmABM4gCFKHrJdpVvKnq6nhq7w/viewform?usp=sf_link
• Coach – Jerry Brown
• Contact – brownj@k12mcs.net

Westwood Middle School Swim
• Date – Friday, September 18th
• Time – 3:30 PM
• Location – Manchester Recreation Center
• Note –
• Coach – Becky Behrendorf
• Contact – behrendorfb@k12coffee.net

Coffee County Middle School – Kyle Harris, athletic director (harrisk@k12coffee.net)

Coffee County Middle School Boys’ Soccer
• Date – June 4th with 1hr slots starting at 8am
• Coach – Jonathan Graf
• Contact – grafj@k12coffee.net

Coffee County Middle School Cheerleading
• Date – Friday June 5 – 3pm – Main Gym
• Note – The application below will be due May 29th by 11:59pm.
Click the link below or copy it into your web browser: https://forms.gle/eAHfBZKxiqj9Fegi7
June 1st you will be emailed the tryout dance and cheer along with your tryout time for June 5th.
• Coach – Laina Meeker
• Contact – meekerl@k12coffee.net

Coffee County Middle School Baseball
• Dates – June 8th 5:00 – 7:00 / Anyone who missed the prior week (if needed)
• Note – We will evaluate defense on the field at CCMS and hit in the facility to save time.
• Coach – Brock Freeze
• Contact – freezeb@k12coffee.net

Coffee County Middle School Track
• Spring 2021

Coffee County Middle School Golf
• Spring 2021

Coffee County Middle School Tennis
• Spring 2021

It’s music to NASCAR’s ears: the stock car series is set to return to Nashville, Tennessee in 2021.

Nashville Superspeedway will hold a Cup race for the first time next season, ending NASCAR’s decade-long absence from the track. The Nashville track is owned by Dover Motorsports, Inc., which has held Cup race weekends each year since 1969. Dover will give up one of its dates and move it to Nashville for an expected late June 2021 race weekend.

Nashville Superspeedway held Xfinity and Truck events from 2001 until 2011.

The idea to return NASCAR to Nashville took root after a successful blowout last December for its season-ending awards celebration. There were burnouts on Broadway, a party with country music star and NASCAR fan Blake Shelton and a NASCAR-themed night at the Grand Ole Opry. Buoyed by the excitement, Dover started discussions with NASCAR and its TV broadcast partners about running a race at the Superspeedway.

“Especially after the awards banquet, it was, how do we get to Nashville as soon as we possibly can?” Dover CEO Mike Tatoian told The Associated Press. “It made it a fairly easy discussion that it was through Dover Motorsports.”

The 1.33-mile concrete track was built in 2001 by Dover Motorsports and hosted NASCAR and IndyCar events until 2011. The track is situated on approximately 1,000 acres just outside Nashville, and currently has 25,000 permanent grandstand seats and lights for night racing.

There’s plenty of work ahead: Tatoian said giving the track a modern makeover would cost at least $8 million to $10 million and he’d like to fit capacity at the 25,000-50,000 mark.

He also expected to hire a full-time staff that will operate independently of Dover. NASCAR eyed a date of June 20, 2021.

Tatoian said he’s hopeful the Truck, second-tier Xfinity Series and IndyCar could again find a home on the Nashville schedule.

Dover tried to cash in on the NASCAR boon of the late 1990s and early 2000s and had invested at one point more than $100 million in building the Nashville track to go with Dover and in its portfolio and tracks it owned in the St. Louis and Memphis areas.

“The thought at the time 20-something years ago was that if NASCAR was going to have an expansion, which at the time was the right time to be thinking, we wanted to claim those markets,” Tatoian said. “It didn’t happen. It just never lended itself to move one of our races at that time. So in 2011, after 10 or 11 years of operating, we decided it was time to shutter the operation. But we held onto it, fortuitously, just in case there was ever an opportunity in the future to do what we’re doing now.”

Dover has sold nearly 300 acres of property near Nashville Superspeedway since 2018 for nearly $10 million.

The shift to Tennessee is one of the first major signs that NASCAR truly intends to shake up its traditionally stale schedule. The sanctioning body is expected to make significant changes to its 2021 schedule, which could include more short tracks, mid-week races and doubleheaders.

The industry got an unexpected preview of what could lie ahead when the coronavirus pandemic forced a massive shakeup to this season’s schedule. NASCAR has already run five Cup events since the season resumed May 17.

Dover, the site of two NASCAR weekends each year since 1971, was scheduled to hold a race in May this season until the coronavirus pandemic forced a postponement. Dover is expected to run Cup races on Aug. 22 and 23.

“It looks more and more like we’ll be hosting a doubleheader,” Tatoian said. “That’s a strong scenario and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Dover is scheduled to keep a May date in 2021. Tatoian said the potential of Dover losing a race had Nashville did not work was never discussed.

The Cup Series ran 42 times at the old Fairgrounds from 1958 through 1984, and the lower-level Xfinity and Truck Series last raced there in 2000. NASCAR also used to host an annual “Sound and Speed” event that mixed its stars and country artists at events around Nashville until 2010.

Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are among the drivers who won races at the Superspeedway.

Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith released a statement on NASCAR’s return to Nashville in 2021:

“The news that NASCAR will bring a Cup race to Wilson County and the greater Nashville region in 2021 is a positive move for the sport of NASCAR and for NASCAR fans. In recent years, we’ve made it very clear that we think Nashville is a place where NASCAR should be for the future and not just the past. Our efforts to work with state and local government officials to revive the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway will continue. We believe that the beloved short track in downtown Nashville provides tremendous opportunity to be a catalyst for year-round tourism and entertainment development.”

Coffee County Central High School announced the hiring of a trio of coaches on Tuesday.  The Raiders added three familiar faces as assistant coaches.  Ashley Woods will join the staff of the Lady Raider soccer program as an assistant coach.  Parker Gunn will join the Raider golf program as an assistant coach.  Kyle Douglas will take a position as as assistant baseball coach in addition to a teaching position.

Woods is a 2018 Coffee County CHS graduate and played soccer for the Lady Raiders under head coach David Amado.  Woods signed a college soccer scholarship to Motlow after her graduation.   Woods completed her eligibility in the fall for the Lady Bucks as the starting goalkeeper as she had a 13 and 3 record with 8 shutouts and an 87.7% save percentage. Woods will join the staff of head coach Lee Xixis, who was an assistant coach during Woods’ high school career.

Gunn will become the new assistant coach for the Raider golf teams.  Gunn, a math teacher at CHS, will assist new Raider golf coach Brad Costello.   Gunn has been an assistant baseball coach for the last several years on the staff of David Martin.  Gunn will remain an assistant coach for the baseball program.

Douglas played baseball for Brent Whitlock at Coffee County Central High School and graduated in 2014. Douglas was the District Pitcher-of-the-Year as a senior and signed to play college baseball at Freed-Hardeman University. Douglas served one year as a graduate assistant coach at Freed-Hardeman before taking the head baseball coach position at LaVergne High School in 2020.