Ferrell remembered as a competitor, mentor, friend

Back in 1996, Science Hill's Matt Wilhjelm was warming up for a football game against Sevier County. Wilhjelm was a senior starting quarterback, but all eyes were on the blue-chip prospect warming up on the other side of the field. Sevier County's Joey Mathews would ultimately play quarterback collegiately at the University of Tennessee, and he looked the part. Wilhjelm remembers feeling every bit of 5-foot-nothing as he kept stealing glances over at Mathews between passes. At a certain point, Science Hill assistant Randy Ferrell caught Wilhjelm looking over at Mathews and approached his quarterback. "He just looked me in the eyes, and he said, 'I would choose you any day,' " Wilhjelm recalled. That, in a nutshell, sums up the brilliance of Ferrell, who passed away on Wednesday after a lengthy illness. He knew when to push his players harder and when to dole out a compliment to boost their spirits. He worked hard, was always prepared and devoted his life to making a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of athletes. Ferrell, a three-sport star at Science Hill, returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach who was never in the spotlight if he could help it, but always went above and beyond to make sure the teams he helped coach reached their potential. As a coach, he was part of four state championship teams at Science Hill, three in basketball and one in baseball, and also served as an offensive assistant coach for the football team. George Pitts, who coached Science Hill to three TSSAA state basketball championships with Ferrell at his side in the 1990s, credited him for the heights the program was able to reach. "He gave his whole life to coaching kids, most of 50 years, I guess," Pitts said. "He had as much to do with our success as anybody - as much as our best player, any other assistant coach, or myself," Pitts said. It didn't take long for Pitts to trust Ferrell enough to hand over the entire offensive game plan to him, which allowed Pitts to turn his entire focus to the black and white full-court presses that powered the Hilltoppers to a decade of dominance on the hardwood. But Pitts treasures the time they shared away from the court, which included scouting trips to Knoxville that always led to a stop at the Strawberry Plains exit for a bag of Krystal burgers. "It was just a blessing that I came here and a blessing that I had the opportunity to get to know him and work with him," Pitts said. Wilhjelm credits Ferrell for molding him into a quarterback capable of going on to start at ETSU and also remembers him for his humility. Ferrell was an all-state quarterback at Science Hill, but Wilhjelm didn't hear about that from his coach. "People would say he was a phenomenal quarterback," Wilhjelm said. "I would say, 'Hey coach, I understand you used to be pretty good,' and he would shrug it off and never say any more about it." As an athlete, Ferrell was Science Hill's starting quarterback, played point guard on the basketball team and started at shortstop for the baseball team before going on to play baseball at ETSU. "Coach (Elvin) Little, he didn't put them in a particular order - I guess that's up for debate - but the top three athletes he coached were Gary Carter, Steve Spurrier and Coach Ferrell," said John Good, who played basketball for Ferrell before serving alongside him as an assistant basketball coach at Science Hill. Wilhjelm and Good both describe Ferrell as an old-school coach who pushed his players hard to get better, but they both say he never asked his athletes to work any harder than he did. When Good joined the coaching staff at Science Hill, he had a front-row seat for all the preparation Ferrell put in behind the scenes to excel in his role. "He was just a professional coach," Good said. "He was always prepared." Good recalls stopping at restaurants with Ferrell, and Ferrell would inevitably dig into the sweeteners while they waited for the food to come. The pink Sweet 'N Low packets would be the offense and the yellow Splenda packets would be the defense, and Ferrell used them to design plays. Ferrell's support continued long after the two were done coaching together. After Good left Science Hill and became a head basketball coach, first at David Crockett and now at Daniel Boone, he routinely saw Ferrell up in the bleachers during practices and games. It happened so often Good always had an extra copy of his practice plan in case Ferrell showed up. "I liked that," he said. "I'm definitely going to miss that. He'd show up all the time, and then he'd call me and say, 'Hey, I saw you do this last night. Did you think about doing this?' "Some coaches may think they don't have a big impact on kids, but he had a huge impact on me." Ferrell had many chances to become a head coach, but never wanted to be in the spotlight. "When I became the principal, I offered Randy the head coaching job," Pitts said. "He thought on it, but he wanted to coach kids. He gave his heart and soul to coaching kids. He wanted to do that, but he didn't want any of the limelight. He just wanted to coach the kids and stay in the background." After Ferrell retired at the end of a 30-year career as a teacher and coach at Science Hill, Larry Shively was hoping to convince Ferrell to help him out at Happy Valley, where Shively was hired as the head football coach in 2010. Shively and Ferrell served as assistants together at Science Hill, and Shively knew Ferrell would give Happy Valley's program a boost as defensive coordinator. At first, Ferrell was noncommittal, but during a practice session in June, Shively noticed Ferrell's pickup truck parked on the hill overlooking the practice field. "He never got out," Shively recalled. "He watched us practice a while and then drove away. The next day, he showed up to watch again, but this time he brought his lawn chair and stayed the entire time. I knew that I had a shot to get him." Ferrell joined the staff, and his tireless work ethic was still on full display. Shively showed up early on Saturday mornings to do laundry after Friday night games, and Ferrell's vehicle would already be parked at the fieldhouse. The two men folded laundry, passing the time by talking about the previous night's game and life in general before getting down to work. The 2010 season was a success, and Happy Valley reached the second round of the playoffs. After the Warriors were eliminated, Shively and Ferrell stood alone in the parking lot at 2 in the morning getting ready to drive home. "It's just me and him standing there overlooking the field," Shively said. He said, 'Shive, you did such a heckuva job this year.' I'm about to cry now thinking about it. It's just a simple little compliment from somebody who meant the world to me and I respected." Ferrell's name doesn't appear in the win-loss records at Science Hill or Happy Valley, but his impact is evident to everyone he coached with and all those who played for him. "When I think of Randy, I think of an outstanding, loyal, hardworking Christian man that I was fortunate enough to get to know and spend so much time with," Pitts said. "We wanted to be able to spend more time with him, but the Lord said, 'It's my turn.' There's a lot of great coaches up there, and they're all picking Randy Ferrell's brain."