‘Staying’ was the best decision he’s ever made
BEN DOWNS
Downs was recently awarded an A.F. Bridges Sportsmanship Award as principal of the year among District 2 high schools covering most of East Tennessee. Downs was presented his plaque Nov. 5 during the TSSAA meetings in Nashville.
The Sweetwater native and Tennessee Tech graduate accepted an assistant principal’s position at Alcoa almost two years ago, but decided to stay where he had been for the past 10 years when he was offered the principal’s position at Anderson County.
“As much as I was honored with the opportunity to move to Alcoa, I decided it would be in the best interests of my family and myself to stay at Anderson County when the principal’s position was offered,” Downs said in his office last Friday. “Looking back on this past year and a half, I can say for certain that staying here is one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
Downs came to AC 12 years ago after teaching and coaching three years at his alma mater in Sweetwater. Teaching physical education, serving as head baseball coach and assistant football coach, Downs moved to AC to teach PE and take over as head baseball coach. He also served as an assistant principal at AC for several years before being named principal during the summer of 2016.
Downs said while he is honored to have earned the award, it occurred because of the people he has around him as well as a student body he considers to be of high quality.
“I could not do this job without the excellent staff here,” Downs said. “They help throughout the day every day with everything that involves keeping this school move smoothly. We have a close-knit group that helps each other out all the time. They work well with the students and it makes for a very good relationship all the way around.”
Downs said he is proud of the increased academic ratings AC has achieved over the past number of years.
“We recently had our first student in school history achieve a perfect ACT score of 36,” Down said. “You don’t see that many students achieve a perfect ACT anywhere. We also have had a number of students in recent years score 30 or better. That is an achievement that everyone in our community should be proud of.”
Downs, who was a pitcher on Tennessee Tech’s baseball team, said the high school environment has changed since he was a student at Sweewater 20 years ago and has seen the environment continue to change during his time at AC.
“I’d say the biggest change over the years has been with the advent of social media and technology.” Downs said. “You have to keep up with all of the changes and we’re been able to handle it well here.”
Downs said he learned about the Anderson County 14y years ago from Jonathan Cox, a friend of his from Tech who played golf there and was an AC graduate.
“He told me the school was looking for a baseball coach, I applied, got interviewed and the rest if history,” Downs said.
Downs, along with his wife Carey and sons Cooper and Josiah, are very much at home when it comes to high school and the surrounding area.
“I don’t know who nominated me for this award, but I am very appreciative and want to reiterate this is a team award to be shared with a great group of people. My Family and I are proud to be a part of the Anderson County High School community.”