Oak Ridge coach Joe Gaddis faces an ex-player for first time in Steve Matthews of Knoxville Catholic
Opposing coaches Joe Gaddis of Oak Ridge and Steve Matthews of Catholic will certainly need no introductions Friday night in the Class 5A football playoff quarterfinals.
Thirty years ago, Matthews was Gaddis’ star junior quarterback at Tullahoma during a semifinal playoff run that ended with a close loss to eventual 3A state champion Jefferson County.
Both coaches admit it’s going to be weird looking across the sidelines at 7 p.m. Friday on Oak Ridge’s Blankenship Field as Matthews’ Irish (9-3) meet Gaddis’ Wildcats (10-2).
More:Knoxville area high school football playoff matchups for Round 3
The winner advances to next week’s semifinals against South-Doyle or Central, which meet Friday in another quarterfinal matchup.
“It’ll be odd,” said Matthews.
“We’ve never gone up against each other except for a couple of times in 7-on-7 and junior varsity games.”
More:Rivals Coalfield and Greenback get rematch in quarterfinals
Gaddis said he can’t recall going up against a former player in his 35 years of being a head coach.
“I don’t think that has ever happened,” he said. “It’s definitely strange, to say the least.”
Gaddis said he expects a flood of memories before the teams tee it up.
“I’ll probably find myself thinking back to Steve and his older brother, Mike, who also played for Tullahoma but is about 10 years older than Steve. I had Steve’s sister, Margie, in class and I remember his dad who was a very competitive and confident guy.”
More:Oak Ridge coach Joe Gaddis never meant to end up with six bulldogs
Matthews, who signed with Tennessee out of high school and later transferred to Memphis State before playing five years in the NFL, said Gaddis was a big influence on him.
“Every coach you have in life impacts you and coach Gaddis had an extremely positive impact on me,” recounted Matthews.
“I think the world of him. He was definitely tough on us, but we all had his respect, too, and we all played extremely hard for him.”
Throughout his playing career, Matthews said Gaddis ranks at the top as far as delivering a fiery pre-game speech.
More:Top 10 high school football teams in Knoxville area after Round 2
“The best I ever heard was him or Marty Schottenheimer who I played for at Kansas City,” said Matthews.
“They’re neck and neck (in that regard), but Joe Gaddis is right in there. He was a great motivator. He always had us ready to play with some type of motivational ploy and the speeches.”
Gaddis said Matthews had no weakness when he coached him at Tullahoma.
“He could do it all as a quarterback. He was left-handed, he had great touch, he could throw deep and he could run it. Steve wasn’t a rah-rah guy, but he was very smart and pretty unflappable. Nothing got to Steve.”
More:Mr. Football finalists include six from Knoxville area
Gaddis said it was tough to leave Tullahoma for Oak Ridge following the 1987 season with Matthews and linebacker Antonio London, another future NFL player, returning for their senior years.
“If it hadn’t been Oak Ridge (that offered), I would have never left that Tullahoma team. We had two great players coming back.”
Both coaches said the same traits that made them successful 30 years ago will come into play once again Friday night.
Gaddis will try and work his motivational talents to inspire the Wildcats against the favored Irish.
“I know coach Gaddis will definitely have his team ready to play,” said Matthews.
Gaddis said Catholic’s high-powered offense is reflective of Matthews’ confidence and background as a gunslinger quarterback.
“Their offense is easily the best we’ve faced,” said Gaddis.
“If you gave me films of five or six teams, it would be simple to pick out Catholic. Steve is a very confident guy. He has that confidence that with their personnel they can literally do anything they want to on offense.”
Mike Blackerby is a freelance contributor