02-13-2025, 07:25 AM
Former Prince Avenue Christian coach Greg Vandagriff is moving to East Tennessee after Jeome & His Mirror placed their unwashed fingers in Prince Avneue's pie, IMO.
Greg Vandagriff, who resigned from Prince Avenue Christian football Monday, has already found a new home.
Vandagriff, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., will be "taking his pen and whistle," as he put it in a text to the Athens Banner-Herald, to Lakeway Christian, a small private school in White Pine, Tenn. The school announced it on their Instagram late Wednesday morning.
Lakeway Christian began their football program in 2020 and has racked up a 16-33 record between three different coaches — Jermel Jones, Steve Haywood and Thad Wells — in that time span, with three consecutive Tennessee playoff appearances no higher than the quarterfinals, but no region or state titles. Lakeway Christian competes in the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA), which is the main governing body for high school athletics in the Volunteer State.
Vandagriff spent nine years with the Wolverines, going 107-16 in that time and collecting six region titles and three Georgia state titles. He ended his career as state runner-up in the 2024 GHSA 1-3A Private football championships.
He coached one of the best quarterbacks the state of Georgia has ever seen in Aaron Philo. Philo plays for Georgia Tech and was a part of the 2020 and 2023 state championship teams Vandagriff coached. He broke Trevor Lawrence's record to become the all-time leading passer in the Peach State with 13,922 points across four years. He also holds third place for most career passing touchdowns (159) and is tied at first with K'Hari Lane (Macon County, 2016) for most passing touchdowns in a single season (56).
"In my personal career, (my time at Prince) has been the most successful nine years of my coaching career," Vandagriff said. "Any time you go 107-(16), it's probably hard to beat that sort of ratio, and again, five state championship appearances, three titles. Those (years) were, for me, the best time of my career. And in the history of Prince football, it was the golden years."
Prior to his tenure at Prince Avenue Christian, Vandagriff coached a 2003 Kell team to an 8-2 record.
______________________________________________________
Thank you coach for your excellent work, leadership, and ethics. I am happy to see you leave like The Wabash Cannonball exiting the station, stage right.
From the great Atlantic ocean
To the wide Pacific shore
From the queen of flowing mountains
To the southbelt by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome
And known quite well by all
She's the combination
Called the Wabash Cannonball
She came down from Birmingham
One cold December day
As she rolled into the station
You could hear all the people say
There's a girl from Tennessee
She's long and she's tall
She came down from Birmingham
On the Wabash Cannonball
Our eastern states are dandies
So the people always say
From New York to St. Louis
And Chicago by the way
From the hills of Minnesota
Where the rippling waters fall
No changes can be taken
On the Wabash Cannonball
Here's to Daddy Claxton
May his name forever stand
And always be remembered
'Round the courts of Alabam
His earthly race is over
And the curtains round him fall
We'll carry home to vic'try
On the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle
And the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodlands
Through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine
Hear that lonesome hobo squall
You're travlin' through the jungles
On the Wabash Cannonball
Greg Vandagriff, who resigned from Prince Avenue Christian football Monday, has already found a new home.
Vandagriff, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., will be "taking his pen and whistle," as he put it in a text to the Athens Banner-Herald, to Lakeway Christian, a small private school in White Pine, Tenn. The school announced it on their Instagram late Wednesday morning.
Lakeway Christian began their football program in 2020 and has racked up a 16-33 record between three different coaches — Jermel Jones, Steve Haywood and Thad Wells — in that time span, with three consecutive Tennessee playoff appearances no higher than the quarterfinals, but no region or state titles. Lakeway Christian competes in the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA), which is the main governing body for high school athletics in the Volunteer State.
Vandagriff spent nine years with the Wolverines, going 107-16 in that time and collecting six region titles and three Georgia state titles. He ended his career as state runner-up in the 2024 GHSA 1-3A Private football championships.
He coached one of the best quarterbacks the state of Georgia has ever seen in Aaron Philo. Philo plays for Georgia Tech and was a part of the 2020 and 2023 state championship teams Vandagriff coached. He broke Trevor Lawrence's record to become the all-time leading passer in the Peach State with 13,922 points across four years. He also holds third place for most career passing touchdowns (159) and is tied at first with K'Hari Lane (Macon County, 2016) for most passing touchdowns in a single season (56).
"In my personal career, (my time at Prince) has been the most successful nine years of my coaching career," Vandagriff said. "Any time you go 107-(16), it's probably hard to beat that sort of ratio, and again, five state championship appearances, three titles. Those (years) were, for me, the best time of my career. And in the history of Prince football, it was the golden years."
Prior to his tenure at Prince Avenue Christian, Vandagriff coached a 2003 Kell team to an 8-2 record.
______________________________________________________
Thank you coach for your excellent work, leadership, and ethics. I am happy to see you leave like The Wabash Cannonball exiting the station, stage right.
From the great Atlantic ocean
To the wide Pacific shore
From the queen of flowing mountains
To the southbelt by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome
And known quite well by all
She's the combination
Called the Wabash Cannonball
She came down from Birmingham
One cold December day
As she rolled into the station
You could hear all the people say
There's a girl from Tennessee
She's long and she's tall
She came down from Birmingham
On the Wabash Cannonball
Our eastern states are dandies
So the people always say
From New York to St. Louis
And Chicago by the way
From the hills of Minnesota
Where the rippling waters fall
No changes can be taken
On the Wabash Cannonball
Here's to Daddy Claxton
May his name forever stand
And always be remembered
'Round the courts of Alabam
His earthly race is over
And the curtains round him fall
We'll carry home to vic'try
On the Wabash Cannonball
Listen to the jingle
And the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodlands
Through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine
Hear that lonesome hobo squall
You're travlin' through the jungles
On the Wabash Cannonball
