Eric Phillips
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Eric Phillips is stepping down as athletic director at Cleveland High School at the end of this school year to spend more time watching his college-age children compete athletically.
Phillips, 49, told The Chattanoogan.com Wednesday night that he will leave the post he’s held for four years at the end of this school year.
“I have a son (Christopher DeBien) who wrestles at UTC a daughter (Samantha DeBien) playing soccer at Middle Tennessee State University,” Phillips said during a rain delay in the District 5-3A baseball tournament at Cleveland. “I’ve been blessed to have the best job in the world, but I’ve got four years now to watch my kids compete athletically in college and I’ll be doing a lot of traveling to do that.”
Phillips also served as Cleveland’s wrestling coach for five years. He stepped down from that position two years ago to concentrate on his athletic director’s duties – the most recent of which was landing a new girls’ basketball coach (Tony Williams) and being involved in the grand opening of the Blue Raiders’ new state-of-the-art basketball arena.
Phillips plans to remain at Cleveland as teaching leadership and physical education.
“I’m so proud of the Cleveland administration here and the emphasis they put on athletics and academics,” Phillips said. “They allowed me as the athletic director to direct athletics in a way that matters.
“It’s a tough job to leave, but I’ve been coaching for 20-plus years and I thank the City School Board and our administration for that opportunity. I’m still going to be here and will help whoever the new AD is in any way I can. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave the job, but it was easy to make the decision when my kids were involved.”
Phillips said he began thinking of stepping away before the 2015-16 school year began. He spoked with Autumn O’Bryan during the football about his status as AD, but the two decided to wait for a period of time before setting his decision in concrete.
During the 2015 football season Phillips watched several of Christopher’s wrestling matches and it became clear he didn’t want to be involved in AD duties on weekends when he could be watching his own kids competing at the college level.
“Once I experienced Christopher wrestling, it became clear that I didn’t want to miss out on either one of them competing.”
Phillips said no decision has been made on his replacement.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)