HURRICANE, W.Va. — Former Nitro and WVU Tech football coach Scott Tinsley is making a return to the high school level with Hurricane. Tinsley, officially approved by the Putnam County Board of Education on Tuesday night, will coordinate head coach Jeremy Taylor’s offense.
“I’ve had our offense the last couple of years and we’ve had some success with our scoring and yards – we’ve won more than we’ve lost, but we want to take that next step and I think he’s a big part of that,” Taylor said.
Tinsley, who put together a 51-20 record at the helm with Nitro from 2002-2007, will coach on a volunteer basis with the Redskins for now.
“He doesn’t want paid, he just wants to coach,” Taylor said. “I could move and shuffle some people around, and I have a good enough staff who probably wouldn’t care. But that’s the neat thing about him – a lot of people say they coach for the love of the game, and he really is.
“He just wants to be here and I think he found a home,” he continued. “I’m appreciative to our principal, superintendent and board of education for giving him a shot in Putnam County.”
Tinsley briefly volunteered with George Washington a season ago before that was ultimately nixed by school officials there.
“He’s an excellent coach and I would rather coach with him than against him,” Taylor said. “I don’t know what happened in Kanawha County, but their loss is our gain. He’s going to do an excellent job for us and he’s excited to be here.”
Taylor, meanwhile, will take over the defensive coordinator duties following the departure of Teddy Stewart who took the head coaching position at Poca earlier this spring.
“Teddy was a heck of a coach and is a big loss. He’ll get Poca back on track,” Taylor said. “I’ll take over the defense with Teddy gone – and that’s always been my thing anyway. I’ll be real comfortable moving back there and it’ll be a good thing having Scott (Tinsley) there as offensive coordinator.
“Scott is an excellent offensive coach and I’ll learn a lot from him,” he continued. “If he’s here five years, I’ll learn a ton. Hopefully he’ll be here as long as he wants to be because he’s an excellent football coach.”