The Ravenwood soccer team after its recent District 11 victory.

By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Ravenwood is now looking for two coaches.

RHS boys and girls soccer coach Clay Watson, who just led the Lady Raptors to the state semifinals,  is stepping down from his faculty position at semester's end to join his father's personal printing business in Nashville.

"I told the kids it was one of those opportunities career-wise that I just couldn't pass up, to have the opportunity to work with my dad," said Watson, saying it had been a dream of his growing up.

RHS Coach Clay Watson at African orphanage

"There's not that many people that get that opportunity to work with their parents, and I feel blessed."

The school will advertise an interim boys soccer coaching position for the spring semester, most likely to be filled by a non-faculty since RHS has no teacher openings, said athletic director Patrick Whitlock. 

"Coach Watson has been a great soccer coach and teacher, and personally I'm very upset that he's decided to leave, but I understand his reasoning," Whitlock said.

Second-year Raptors head football coach Tom Shuman resigned Wednesday after a 3-7 season. More than 50 applications have already been submitted since the football job was posted Thursday, Whitlock said.

The Lady Raptors soccer team just finished 15-5-6 after a 1-0 loss in the state tourney to eventual champion Houston. Watson actually turned in his resignation about a month ago, but waited until after the girls season so it wouldn't be distracting to the players.

He said advancing to the semis for the first time this fall and making the state tournament his first season were his top on-the-field highlights with RHS girls soccer.

"Obviously, that first year we went to the state tournament with the girls, that was a whole lot of fun," Watson said. "That was pretty exciting, we set new boundaries. No team boys or girls had ever been to the state tournament. Then this year we went into uncharted territory with winning the region and making the state semifinal."

On the boys side, the 2009 Raptors team went 12-1-1 before losing to Brentwood in the district and region finals and Hendersonville 1-0 in substate.

"At one point we were ranked in the top 10 in ESPN's top 50 national poll," Watson said. "We made a great run that year and were ranked first in the state for several weeks."

But he noted those were the statistical things of record: "Obviously the thing that I'll take with me the most is just the relationships with the kids that I've made over the years. I've had the opportunity to work with some really amazing kids at Ravenwood."

Entering this season, Watson had been voted district coach of the  year four times in four years of coaching both boys (spring) and girls (fall) soccer.

He also went on a mission trip to Africa this past summer where he conducted soccer camps and said he would continue to do that. Watson also said after taking a break and learning his new job, he might re-emerge in coaching later at the club level.

"My plan is to still continue to do soccer things there and use the connections that I've made with my tenure coaching and take equipment and things like that," he said about the work in Africa.

"I've made some great friends, coaches around the state, some guys I can depend on to donate some equipment. My time here has not been wasted. I've networked with some really great people to contribute and I hope that will continue over the next couple of years."

Dr. Pam Vaden, RHS principal, has already found a teaching replacement for Watson's drafting classes, Whitlock said. The Ravenwood AD says a drafting position is probably one of the hardest to fill since it requires finding someone with an architectural background who wants to teach.

Right now the interim job would be non-faculty for spring unless another Williamson County teacher decided to apply.

"We're in a very tough spot," Whitlock said. "... That doesn't mean the person that gets the job won't have an opportunity, but ideally we like to have our coaches of sports in the building.

"So we will kind of open that up after the boys season and hope we find the right person. And if we can't and we're happy with the job the current person has done, then we might look to retain them."

Whitlock says with county rezoning looming and other factors such as attrition, there's no way to predict how many teaching positions the school will have for 2011-12.