How to Build a Winning Team Culture in HS Sports (2022): Part 16

In August of 2013, Maxpreps.com ran an article titled “Winningest high school football coaches of the past 10 years”. If one were to bet, one would assume national powerhouses like De LaSalle, Mater Dei, Don Bosco, Southlake Carroll, JT Curtis, Katy, Booker T. Washington, and Bishop Gorman would be scattered throughout the list. But who would take top honors? A team from California? No. A team from Texas? No. Florida? No. The winningest high school football coach of that 10-year period was from a suburb town about twenty-three miles south of Knoxville, Tennessee. That coach’s record over that period: 143-6. You read that right. 143 wins and 6 losses over a 10-year period. That is an average of 14.3 wins per season over 10 years. The team: The Maryville High School Rebels. The coach: George Quarles (1).

From 2004 to the 2016 season, the Rebels have gone 187-7. During this time, they had:

• 7 undefeated 15-0 seasons
• 5 one loss seasons
• 1 two loss season
• A 74-game win streak between ’04- ‘08
• 8 Tennessee State Football Championships (15 overall) including four consecutive from ’04-’07 and three consecutive from ’00-’02.
• Since 1997, they have appeared in the State Championship game every year but two, ’99 and ’03. Over that 19-season period, Maryville has played against 11 different teams in the championship game.  

National Rankings
Year	Polls
2006 2007 2011 2014	Max Preps: #13           ESPN: #14   USA Today: #10           ESPN: #11   Max Preps: # 8        SI.com: #15           ESPN: #17   USA Today: #14 Max Preps: #22

One thing that becomes quite apparent when looking at Maryville’s success over those nineteen seasons, is their team first approach. They have only had handful of Division I college players over their incredible run, yet they have beaten teams that have had many. Looking at the MaxPreps Maryville team statistical records may provide great insight into the manner at which the team approaches the game. The top 5 single game rushing performances were as follows:

1. 9/19/2014 – 286 yards in a 16-3 win over Hardin Valley Academy.
2. 11/2/2007 – 226 yards in a 34-7 win over Lenoir City
3. 10/30/2014 – 211 yards in a 49-14 win over Farragut
4. 10/26/2007 – 183 yards in a 38-30 win over Halls
5. 9/21/2007 – 179 yards in a 34-7 win over Powell.

One hundred and eighty-seven wins, eight state titles, and a 74-game win streak, and they have only had three games in which they rushed for over 200 yards as a team. Taking it a step further, four out of five of those top rushing performances also occurred in the same game as the team’s top five carries in a game.

1. 9/19/2014 – those 286 yards in the 16-3 win over Hardin Valley came on 59 carries.
2. 11/2/2007 – 226 yards in 34-7 win over Lenoir City came on 34 carries
3. 9/28/2007 – 32 carries in a 20-19 win over William Blount.
4. 10/30/2014 – 211 yards in 49-14 win over Farragut on 30 carries.
5. 10/26/2014 – 183 yards in 38-30 win over Halls on 29 carries. 

In comparison below are the team’s top 5 passing games, starting with passing attempts in a game:

1. 9/28/2007 – 37 passing attempts in 20-19 win over William Blount.
2. 9/21/2007 – 30 passing attempts in 34-7 win over Powell.
3. 10/26/2007 – 27 passing attempts in 38-30 win over Halls.
4. 10/11/2007 – 27 passing attempts in 35-21 win over West
5. 9/7/2007 – 23 passing attempts in 35-7 win over Clinton.

Top completions in a game:

1. 10/11/2007 – in the 35-21 win over West, they had 21 completions on those 27 attempts.
2. 9/28/2007 – in the 20-19 win over William Blount had 20 completions on 37 attempts.
3. 10/26/2007 – in 38-30 win over Halls had 16 completions on 27 attempts.
4. 9/21/2007 – in 34-7 win over Powell had 16 completions on 30 attempts.
5. 9/7/2007 – in 35-7 win over Clinton had 16 completions on 23 attempts.

Lastly, passing yards in a game:

1. 8/31/2007 – 339 passing yards in 42-14 win over rival Alcoa.
2. 9/28/2007 – 300 passing yards on 20 completions (#2) in 37 attempts (#1) in win.
3. 10/19/2007 – 263 yards in 38-0 win over South Doyle
4. 9/7/2007 – 259 passing yards on 16 completions (#5) in 23 attempts (#5) in win.
5. 10/11/2007 – 239 passing yards on 21 completions (#1) in 27 attempts (#4) in win.

Team first, high football IQ, disciplined X’s and O’s

10/26/2007 –Maryville had 29 carries (#5) for 183 yards (#4) and 16 passing completions (#3) on 27 attempts (#3) in 38-30 win over Halls.

9/21/2007 – Maryville had 179 rushing yards (#5) and 16 passing completions (#4) on 30 attempts (#2) in a 34-7 win over Powell.

9/28/2007 – Maryville had 32 carries (#3) and 300 passing yards (#2) off 20 completions (#2) in 37 attempts (#1) in 20-19 win over William Blount.

            The team wins close games, they win by blowouts, they win in defensive struggles, and sometimes they win with a little bit of luck. They have won state championship games 52-20, 44-7, and 35-30. They have also won state championship games 29-26 and 23-21. They have also won defensive struggles like the 2004 State Championship game against Melrose in which after 60 minutes are hard fought struggle, Maryville pulled out a 7-6 win. The Rebels just know how to win.

When they lose, which is rarely, they are competitive and gracious in defeat. In their 2012 36-35 State Championship game loss to Memphis Whitehaven, they lost in overtime due to a disputable ineligible man down field call with 45 seconds left in regulation. In 2008 they lost to Hillsboro in the State Championship game 10-7. Against White Station in 2009, they scored 27 points in the championship game, yet lost.

In each of these games the team did not blame, complain, or make excuses. According to Quarles, “the way the kids handled it in such a way that made the coaches incredibly proud. Nobody threw helmets. The game happened. They learned from the experience and moved on.”

Per a 2015 article from the Tennessee Ledger online titled Continuity Key to Maryville Football’s Domination the Rebels are “Not always the more athletic team on the field. Maryville wins by making fewer mistakes, running plays almost to perfection, and by doing all the football fundamentals right after countless hours of repetitions. They look like a college team during warm-ups (17).”

Quarles explains “Big thing we don’t do anything earth shattering with regards to X’s and O’s. We keep things very simple and disciplined and allow kids to play fast. They don’t have to think too much. We run 5 plays with different formations. Keeping it this simple allows our guys to play fast.”

A separate article on Maryville from the November 18, 2014 Johnson City Press asked long time former prep sports editor Jesse Smithey about the Rebels continued success. He explained “it’s not a matter of having better athletes,” said Smithey. “They just have unbelievable football IQ. These guys know more X’s and O’s than the typical high school football player. Sometimes, athletically, Maryville has no business being on the field with a Blackman, Oakland or even (Knoxville) West. But it’s the coaches dictating and exploiting matchups (12).”

            Football IQ is clearly important, but according to Quarles, “X’s and O’s are great, but probably way over rated. If you wanted to have the perfect offense and defense but is just not possible. If you can get kids playing hard and battling hard you can be successful. At the high school level, you get one or two really good players and get everybody else to play better than they are, and you can be very successful.”

            Located at the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, Maryville has a population of roughly twenty-eight thousand. In 1999 it was named one of A&E’s top ten places in America to “Have it all”.

            With its proximity to Knoxville, it offers many of the major city amenities while still maintaining its southern state appeal. To the south is the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, to the north is Knoxville, with its restaurants, shopping centers, the University of Tennessee and Neyland Stadium, home field of the Vols football team, to the west is Fort Loudon Lake, and to the east is Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, homes to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort, the Space Needle, Dollywood and more.

With its location, amenities, and strong community, school system, and sports culture, combined with its moderate to mild climate, Maryville offers an attractive place to raise and family.

For kids playing the Maryville youth football programs, it is not about playing twenty minutes north at UT, it is about playing for the Rebels. “The kids her grow up wanting to play for the Rebels. Don’t know if you can measure how good that makes the team play. Here in Maryville, the youth program athletes are not looking to play for Tennessee, but rather to the opportunity to put on a Rebels uniform” shares Quarles.

            In the 2015 Tennessee Ledger article, Quarles expressed “They’re on the field after the game, walking up to whoever, giving our players high fives, and our guys are throwing them sweat bands or old gloves or whatever. I think there’s a lot of tradition there with kids who grow up wanting to play for Maryville High School (17).”

Maryville has two youth programs in the town, the Bears and the Rebels. “At the top of youth program is a coach in his 52^nd year of coaching the group. He doesn’t have a son playing for that team. He is about getting all the kids better. It is not about “Daddyball” here. It is not about “Is my kid is going to get taken care of” but rather, it is about how all the kids can continue to get better and stay excited about playing football” shares Quarles. 

Quarles continues“we don’t run the same plays but allow the kids to dream and look forward to playing for Maryville high school. We say to them “Hey, someday this is going to be you all out there on the high school field.” Our youth programs don’t chase people away. Our coaches are very positive, teaching them the game safely.”

            Per the November 18 Johnson City Press interview with sports editor Jesse Smithey “the community supports the younger programs and makes sure they are done the right way. The middle school/junior high teams are mainly condensed versions of the high school level (12).”

Quarles expresses“the Youth coaches come to spring practices. The varsity kids go over and help run youth practices. We have spring practices for the youth programs here as well. We tell the athletes “you guys all remember watching and learning how to play. You remember being on that practice field”

 “A quarterback who went to Vanderbilt, would go and workout with the guys in the high school weight room when he was home on breaks. The college guys would come watch practices etc. We strongly encourage the guys to be a part of the culture after graduation.”

After a successful college football career at Furman University, in which he was a key player on Furman’s Division 1-AA 1988 National Championship team, that defeated powerhouses Marshall, Idaho, and Georgia Southern on the way to the title.

            In 1995 Quarles became the quarterbacks coach at Maryville, working his way up to offensive coordinator for the ’97 and ’98 seasons. When the head coach stepped down Quarles was the man for the job in ‘99. The team had won the state championship in ’98, so things were looking good for the coach and his new team in ’99.

“We had a super talented group. We won it in ’98, the first time in 20 years. We could have won it in ‘99. I didn’t do a good job communicating with the team. We didn’t achieve everything we could have achieved that year. That year we went 10-3” shares Quarles.

                The 2000 season was the when everything changed. The team started the season off 0-4. A 14-7 loss to rival Alcoa, a game that included a Maryville fumble at the goal line on the last play of the game was the beginning of the teams struggles. The team started their fourth string sophomore quarterback, as the season’s projected starter was suspended, and the other two quarterbacks were injured. 

            The team would fall to 0-4 with three more losses in a row including a 21-14 loss to Knox Central, a 28-0 loss to Heritage, and a 21-14 loss to Halls. In the community, the panic button was about to be pressed, as they were potentially witnessing Maryville’s first losing season since 1963.

Per the 2013 article in the Blount Row Press titled The Healing Power of Football “as players returned, Maryville got stronger. At halftime of the Halls game, the Rebels down, 21-0, Quarles threw the switch that lit it all up. Wilks was a phenomenal athlete, speed, size, strong throwing arm, but there wasn’t anything like him at any of the receiver spots. Backup Nick Giles didn’t throw as hard, but he was plenty accurate.

At halftime, Quarles moved Wilks to one of the flanker spots, put Giles under center, and the Rebels were no longer a team better than their record; they were a cause. Halls held the Rebels off, 21-14, but William Blount was a 12-7 win for Maryville a week later, a decision by Quarles to go on fourth down late in the game every bit a now-or-never move as Caesar crossing the Rubicon (5).”

                Quarles recalls “in the 5^th game that season we were on our own 35-yard line at 4^th and 1. We went for it and showed our kids that we believed in them. We knocked off a 40-yard run and then started playing really well. Kids believed and trusted in each other. 5^th game of the year. 7:30 time start, very clear vivid memory of that game. We showed our kids we believed in them and were going for it.”

The 2013 Blount Row Press article explains “The die cast, Maryville crushed South-Doyle, 31-12, a week later. Then West fell, 40-15, then Powell, then Anderson County, the Rebels clinching a playoff berth on the final night of the regular season with a 38-7 trouncing of Clinton. In the opening round of the playoffs, Maryville finished what it’d begun eight weeks earlier, stuffing Halls, 21-3, to advance.

Once engulfed in a perfect storm, the Rebels were one the rest of the way. A prohibitive favorite, Memphis East was dismantled, 33-14, in the championship game (5).”

                Quarles reflects “when we got to 5-4, I remember people and fans hugging us, as they were excited that it would not be our first losing season in 40 years.  From 0-4 start we won 11 in a row and won state championship. We stuck to our guns about what we do to coach. We kept doing things that would make us a good team. The players kept telling other players to listen to your coaches. The kids all bought in. The Seniors in 2000 refused to listen to what others outside the program were telling them, then began to make things happen.

There was a lot of self-analyzing on our parts as coaches, as well as player evaluations. We changed quarterbacks.  We tried not to coach from a negative standpoint, rather focusing on the process and things we were improving on. We Quit beating ourselves up.”

Points Per Game Without Quarles as 0ffensive Coordinator or Head Coach (1989-1996)	Points Against Per Game Without Quarles As Head Coach (1989-1996)	Points Per Game with Quarles as 0ffensive Coordinator or Head Coach (1997-2015)	Points Against Per Game with Quarles As Head Coach (1997-2015)
21.43 PPG	16.3 PAG	36.3 PPG	11.8 PAG
Significant Seasons
2001	40.2 PPG	12.9 PAG
2002	40.4 PPG	10.5 PAG
2004	39.5 PPG	9.0 PAG
2005	36.8 PPG	9.4 PAG
2006	38.6 PPG	12.3 PAG
Significant Seasons Cont……..
2007	35.3 PPG	13.3 PAG
2008	32.5 PPG	8.2 PAG
2010	36.7 PPG	12.5 PAG
2011	37.5 PPG	8.0 PAG
2012	41.7 PPG	19.7 PAG
2013	44.4 PPG	8.8 PAG
2014	40.6 PPG	10.2 PAG
2015	39.2 PPG	10.6 PAG

“The thing you are not going to see is a state championship every year. We focus on the process each and every day. We try to figure out a way to get a little better each day. Setting small, achievable goals is critical. For example, going from a 4.7 forty to a 4.6 forty. This way the kids focus on the process of working harder to achieve this goal. No matter what we do we can always do better. This helps the kids to stay humble” reveals Quarles.

The coach continues “You cannot rest on past successes. Do your job. Our Defensive Coordinator been here for 16 years. He is big on hustle to the ball and doing your job! You can cover up mistakes if everybody is hustling to the ball. It is a true team sport. Not one guy can do it alone.”

“We are constantly trying to build character. Kids don’t care what you know until they know you care. We feel if you remain consistent people know what to expect.”

“We have been fortunate enough to have had some success and this creates an environment in which the kids expect to win. As a coaching staff and as a program we get some street credibility because of this success. These guys, our coaches, know what they are doing. They know you can’t fool them. It is so important to have positive relationships with the kids. We are about more than just winning football games.”

The Rebel’s coaching staff does not believe in beating down or berating the athletes, rather taking on a caring and nurturing approach to coaching and mentoring the kids. Quarles expresses “here at Maryville, we are more concerned about the person than player. We have a great solidarity amongst our coaching staff. A lot of the coaches have been together here for the past 16 years.”

Maryville has been a team of few individual stars. The Defensive End went to Stanford this year (2015). No matter how good the team is, the running backs will hardly ever reach 200 yards in a game. According to Quarles “we are not about one star. We are about the team. We want kids to have individual goals, but the team goals come first.”

Per the article previously mentioned 2014 Johnson City Press article titled What Makes Maryville One of the Elites “for the most part, the staff is made up of former head coaches,” said Smithey. “And it’s really some of the better coaches around. They have a wealth of knowledge. “Everything works together for a common goal, which is winning a championship (12).”

The core of the Maryville coaching staff has been together for nearly 17 years. The team has understood goals and expectations as well as those vocalized by the coaching staff.

Per Quarles “we want to be the best team we can be. If 5-5 or 15-0 we are fine with that. We talk more about being as good as we can be. We talk about getting better and focusing on that. We need to take the proper steps to get there. That is goal number 1. Next goal is to win district or region championships, then state championship is 3^rd goal. Sadly, if we don’t win state title, people may view it as a failed season.”

“One of our jobs as coaches is to get kids to play a little better than they actually are. With this, they can go up against somebody better, bigger, faster and this is not done by breaking athletes down. Hey, it is okay to lose.”

Quarles continues “coaches will tell you they want to be playing best ball at the right time of the year. May purposely hold out plays play wise to keep from getting stale and stay sharp. We want to peak on offense at right time. Defense as well. Every year you can expect to have peaks and valleys and hope valleys are not too low. For example, one game, we were down 28-7. Panic never set in. The kids never blinked. The team believed in each other and in the coaching staff and would figure out how to make it happen.”

 Quarles believes in coaching from a positive perspective versus focusing on the negatives. The coach expresses “we want to talk about the positive. Let’s go out and make big plays. We try to emphasize being as positive as possible. We want the kids to be positive with positive thoughts. We have even brought positive speakers in. Take for example fumbling. Fumbling can be a mental thing. We prefer focusing on ball security, a positive an athlete has control over, rather than fumbling which is a negative element. Something as simple as telling the kids to secure the ball rather than saying don’t fumble.”

Quarles continues “I remember hearing kids talk about how they didn’t want to be the team that broke the streak. This was not something they were hearing from coaching staff. The outside pressure can be great. The kids were hearing these things from other people. As coaches, we always try to push “let’s be as good as we can be”. It is okay to lose. There is some strength that is developed with loss.”

“Some of the athletes missed out on some good life lessons by winning most of games. You learn a lot more in how you fail. After failure, you reassess. One of proudest moments was when lost a state championship game on a bad call. We went for 2 to win the game and got a penalty. The game went into overtime and we lost. The way the kids handled it was remarkable. They handled it in such a way that made the coaches incredibly proud. They walked off the field maintaining a strong sense of dignity.”

“I know the kids don’t like hearing it, but excuses are for losers. You’re throwing excuses when you don’t get the job done. Nobody wants to hear about why you didn’t do it.”

“We don’t focus on excuses. We focus on what we need to do to improve. The coaches get after them if excuses are made. There have been instances where kids were taken out of games after complaining. We let them calm down and focus on what they are doing. It is our job not to let them make excuses for not getting their job done.”

“You can use the lessons from football to help you through life. Both success and failure help to build character. Failure teaches you how you will respond, while success builds confidence and teaches you how to handle success with humility.”

These kids learn perseverance. Football, and for the most part all sport teaches you how to battle through tough times. There is going to be a day when something hard happens and how are you going to handle that. Are you going to throw up your hands or battle through? When you get hit in the nose are you going to get back up.”

“We believe in staying humble and giving back to the community that has been so great to us. We help the food pantry. We collect food at the local grocery store, then the guys transport it to the pantry. From there the guys hand out food to recipients.  We pump gas to raise money for United Way.”

“This helps to build team unity by teaching to work with other people while putting your individual wants and desires behind the goals of the team. We try to get the kids doing as many things together as a team as possible. This creates a level of trust when you get to know somebody” expresses Quarles.

To build trust and unity, the Maryville football players are taken through everything from ropes courses to sheriff’s department training to driving cars on racetracks. The athletes learn how to spin cars, shoot m16s, and navigate ropes courses all with the intention of creating trust amongst each other and building team unity.

The team also puts a lot of time and effort into the weight room, pushing each other to become better. Quarles expresses “this is where the athletes are built.” Maryville has their own strength coach, Brandon Waters. He works with the coaching staff to establish both the -in and off-season training programs, with the goal of teaching the athletes accountability to each other through hard work. 

The humble and unselfish approach is also promoted in practice each and every week. “We have a scout team player of the week each week. They get to be the game captain for the team” reveals Quarles.

The coach continues “a few years ago, some lineman looked at playing offensive line as being a negative thing. We were having a hard time getting people excited about playing on the offensive line. We came up with an idea. During pre-game meals, we would let the offensive lineman go first. We would let them earn their way out of a few sprints. We then started to have guys that were dying to be offensive lineman.”

“We try to give as much ownership as possible to the seniors. Their influence is as big as anything. When they are disciplined and on time, the underclassmen are on time. School is out at 3:20. We are on the field by 3:50. We try to be as efficient as possible. Because of this, being late has not been a huge issue” expresses Quarles.

For the Maryville football, the breaking of expectations and resultant consequences are usually handled on an individual basis. Quarles explains “last year somebody threw a cup out the bus window and whole team ran for that one. If somebody forgets jersey they will need to run individually. If it becomes chronic, the concern is will spread through the entire team.  This usually does not happen as the kids are great at doing their jobs.”

As a consequence, for broken expectations, the Rebels do something called “Hard yards”. These are one legged bear crawls for specified distances depending on the severity of the transgression.

Inquoris “Inky” Johnson was a cornerback for the Tennessee Volunteers. On September 9, 2006, while making a tackle on Air Force running back Justin Hadley, Johnson severed his subclavian artery and tore ligaments in his shoulder leading to nerve damage and paralysis in his arm, ending his NFL aspirations and playing career. He didn’t succumb to pity or blame, rather finding strength and passing along to others an inspirational message of never giving up and always trying to improve.

The coach credits Bobby Johnson at Furman as one of his primary coaching mentors. Quarles worked as grad assistant under then Defensive Coordinator Bobby Johnson’s. Quarles “learned a great deal from him how he handled pressure and people.” Bruce Fowler, the former Furman Paladins head coach also played a role in shaping the Quarles’ approach to coaching. Quarles expresses he has admired and tried to adopt as best he could Steve Spurrier’s “never trying not to lose, but always trying to win” approach to coaching.  

To sum up the Maryville football program’s success over the years, one needs not look much further than the only sign they have hanging up in the weight room. It is a quote from former Tennessee Vols cornerback Inky Johnson, that says:

“Don’t be disappointed with the result you didn’t get with the work you didn’t put in.”

Thanks for reading!

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