When Todd Tiller was hired as Honaker High School’s head football coach in March 2022, it’s safe to say that many people were surprised by his career choice.
After all, he left a Ridgeview team that was fresh off a Region 2D runner-up finish and had most of its roster coming back that fall to inherit a program that had endured six consecutive seasons with a sub-.500 record.
It was a shift from calling shots in the Class 2 ranks to coaching at the Class 1 level.
He would also be taking over for a guy who was an institution at the Russell County school as his predecessor, Doug Hubbard, won 237 games, twice took the Tigers to the state finals and produced two NFL players during a run that lasted from 1983-2021. It can be a tough task replacing somebody with that type of tenure.
More than one person second-guessed the decision.
Malachi Lowe, finishing up his sophomore year at Honaker that spring, had a different type of qualm.
“My initial reaction was, ‘I’ve never heard of this guy in my life,’” Lowe said. “Once we started working that summer on routes and plays though, I knew then that we were in good hands for the rest of our high school careers.”