A Conversation with South-Doyle's Zack Gibson
Gibson is set to embark on his first season as the Cherokees' head football coach in 2026.
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SRM: Biggest reason the South-Doyle job was the right job for you for right now?
Gibson: I think the biggest part of this job that made it so appealing to me is the rich tradition that they have there, and knowing that football matters to that community and to that school, and that the administrative team, the staff and faculty, and especially the kids and their families that are a part of the program right now, they are absolutely starving for success. I’ve seen first-hand coaching against them, what those teams look like, and what they can do, and the same kids have still went to the same hallways out there, and football still matters just as much now as it did five, ten, fifteen years ago, and there is no reason that it can’t happen. I think that’s really, really important to look at when you look at the big picture of how much does football really matter to a school and to a community, and South Knoxville is definitely one of those around here.
SRM: How did your time at Powell prepare you for this spot?
Gibson: I cannot, and I’ve told a lot of people, I cannot thank Matt Lowe, the head football coach at Powell High School, enough for preparing me, not only for this, but just for so many other situations as a man to face and to learn how to handle the right way. He did a great job at teaching me all the ins and outs trying being a successful head football coach and all the things that a lot of people don’t see on the surface because there’s a lot more to it that comes to than just playing football games and winning football games. You’re running a business when you do it the right way, and being sure that you know how to interact with people and treat people the right way, and be sure things are done with respect and dignity all the time. That, and then the administrative team at Powell, too, and people that I’ve worked with one-on-one, the teachers, faculty, staff, everybody from the cafeteria staff, everybody over there, has just been so wonderful to me and my family and such a blessing at teaching me how to grow up as a 24-year-old coach when I first got over there to a 34-year-old man now just trying to keep things rolling the right way and everything they’ve taught me I’m so thankful for.
SRM: What is the biggest difference between you as a football mind, coach, temperament, personality than Coach Lowe?
Gibson: Oh man, that’s a really good question, because Matt Lowe and I were alike before we started working together, but then after working with somebody for eight years and being side-by-side with them, hand-in-hand with everything that’s been going on I’ve become a lot more like him than I think some people realize which has been good, but I would say Matt Lowe is a lot more patient than I am. I think a lot of that comes from his experience — there’s not a lot that Matt hasn’t seen in his time being a head coach. I think this is coming up on Year 20-ish, somewhere like that, for Matt being a head football coach, and so, again, the landscape of high school football has changed a lot since Matt’s first year, but he’s done a great job of evolving with it and being sure that he’s adaptable and flexible and things like that. And so there’s not a lot that comes up that Matt either isn’t prepared for, hasn’t seen, or doesn’t know how to handle or can’t get a grip on. And I think just his patience with a lot of that stuff is something that I’m trying to be a little more like on my end because I have a tendency to not be quite as patient as he does sometimes.
SRM: Best advice you got from Matt Lowe after you got the job at South-Doyle, and the best piece of advice you got during your time working under him at Powell?
Gibson: I would say since I’ve gotten the job, the best advice from Matt is just take it one day a time. He knows how I’m wired, I’m a ‘go, go, go’, ‘now, now, now’ type of person, and that’s just not realistically for the program or for me, how it’s going to happen. I know it’s going to take some time, and like I just said, I know I need to be patient with some of that stuff. As long as we keep chipping away at it the right way, going the right direction, which I feel like that we are with the kids in the program, the coaching staff coming together, and the people that support the program I think that’s definitely happening so far it’s just I’ve got to be patient to know that it’s not going to happen overnight. Working for Matt, no doubt, the best advice and best lesson that I’ve learned from him that I keep telling people and will always tell people is be sure your people are taken care of. Your coaches, your kids, your support staff, the people in the building, everybody that helps the program, like I said, it’s running a business when you do it the right way everybody that helps keep that business efficient and afloat and trending the right way doing things the right way to compete at a high level all the time, be sure that they’re seen, that they know that they’re seen, that they know that their voices are heard, and that they’re respected. Because at the end of the day, this is all a people business, and if you don’t treat your people right, you’re not doing anything right.
SRM: Do you have a rigid offensive philosophy or will it evolve later this spring and summer when you get a better feel for your personnel?
Gibson: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. So with me, obviously, working with Matt for the last eight years, and I was really fortunate to work with Ron Gray at Halls for four years before that, and just kind of blending all that together, I kind of have an idea of what the system looks like, and I know what’s effective and what’s not, things like that. Especially for the two years that I worked on the offensive side of the ball with Matt and the one year that I worked on the offensive side of the ball with Coach Gray at Halls, has helped me grow, but at the same time, kind of like with just the landscape of high school football you have to stay on the cutting edge all the time. You can have your identity, and know what your structure is, and what the bones are going to be, but if you are not keeping up with the Joneses, then you’re going to get left behind — you can get outdated and lapped in a hurry.
SRM: How to succeed as a defensive coordinator with how modern high school offenses function now is what?
Gibson: Yeah, absolutely, especially around here with some of the offensive minds that we see in our region and on our schedule. I would definitely say, one, the preperation part of it, I take a lot, a lot, of pride in how I prepare, how the assistants prepare, and then how we transfer all of that information over to the kids, so that they get what they need, that they can learn easily and then not only learn it but then apply that in a fast way, when the lights come on on gameday. Then the other part of it is, it’s another lesson I learned from Matt Lowe, I’m not trying to trick or outsmart the 40-year-old coach on the other sideline all the time, that is part of it, you’ve got to be sure your ducks are in a row on that, but I’m trying to manipulate and take advantage of and trick the 16-year-old that just had a math test that afternoon and then he’s got to worry about buying prom tickets on Saturday and all this other stuff that teenagers have going on. That’s the person that if you can figure out how to make it hard on the kids, then that’s where you’re going to have your real success.
SRM: Money is no object. Where are you going for Spring Break?
Gibson: I’m going to Destin, Florida, with my family, and I’m sitting on the beach where it’s hopefully quiet, with white sand, and clear water, and it’s about eighty degrees, and there’s not a cloud in the sky, and I get to go to all of my favorite restaurants for about five or six days and then watch Hudl on my phone while my son goes to sleep.