Max Meadows…The Fort Chiswell Pioneers are in need of a new head football coach just three weeks from their opening scrimmage game.

Coach Todd Tiller informed his team Tuesday morning in a terse meeting that he had accepted a job at Ridgeview High School in Clintwood, VA and would be stepping down at Fort Chiswell immediately.

Coach Tiller will be an assistant football coach, the boys head track coach and a physical education teacher at Ridgeview.

When asked why Ridgeview, Coach Tiller said, ”It’s a great opportunity for me and my family. My wife and I are from back there and we are going home.” Tiller played at Haysi High School and is from Bee, Virginia. He played for the legendary James Colley at Haysi and then went to Emory & Henry to play college football. After his college days he volunteered as an assistant at Haysi and then was hired at Castlewood High as offensive and defensive line coach. He then was offensive line coach at C D Hylton in Northern Virginia. He came back to Castlewood as their defensive coordinator and then left for Grundy for the same position there. He then came to Fort Chiswell as defensive coordinator for then head coach Tom Hale. He was named headman of the Pioneers in 2015 just a month or less before the season started.

That season the Pioneers had a terrible year going 0-10. Numerous injuries destroyed their season, and at Narrows High School they used five different players at quarterback due to injuries. It was definitely a season to forget. Tiller then went to work as the Pioneers hit the weight room and off-season conditioning program.

The last two years under Tiller, Fort Chiswell was 16-8 and made the playoffs both times. After that 0-10 year, the next year they made it to the West Regional semifinal game, losing to Galax. The old format would have been state quarters. They had defeated Galax in the regular season but lost to them in the playoff game. They played without star player Colby Rider, who is now playing at VMI. They went from zero wins to a nine-win year, finishing 9-4. Then last season they went 7-3 in the regular season and then lost in the playoffs to the Giles Spartans at Giles. The Pioneers went 16-18 under Tiller in his three years as head coach.

Coach Tiller remarked, “This was a very tough thing to say good-bye to these kids here at Fort Chiswell. I have said we are family and we are. This is a family decision for my wife, kids and myself now.” He then said, “I regret the timing of this. It’s not the best timing for anyone. This staff and these kids are great and I think they won’t miss a beat. This has been a great experience for me here. I told all the kids if they need anything I will help them. We enjoyed the last two years going to state quarters and winning a district title.”

Ridgeview has only been open since the start of the 2015 school year. They are a consolidated high school formed from Haysi, Clintwood and Ervinton high schools and are a Class 2 Division school.

A coaching search is already underway as first practice is July 30th. An interim basis coach for a year may be a possibility at this late of a date.