After eight years under Bill Elliott, the Chattanooga Football Club will have a “new” head coach lead them into their future as a professional club.
Former assistant head coach Peter Fuller will become the full-time head coach for the 2020 season. This “promotion” comes after a “trial run” of sorts during the latter part of the NPSL Member’s Cup season earlier this Autumn.
However, team chairman Tim Kelly said Elliott will still have an integral role with the team, just in a different spot.
“The plan is for Peter to be the head coach, and for Bill to be the technical director, so it won’t be a head coach and associate head coach thing,” said Kelly during a recent interview, “A technical director is generally a person who assists the head coach with training, identifying talent when scouting, and scouting other teams. Sometimes, a head coach needs a guy he can bounce ideas off of and things of that nature, and that’s something Bill can do.”
The Chattanooga Football Club will make a formal announcement sometime in the near future. Fuller’s appointment as permanent head coach is the third major move the team has made to their front office during the off season.
Today, the team announced former Saint Louis FC vice president and GM Jeremy Alumbaugh as managing director of the team, replacing Sheldon Grizzle (who stepped down after the season). In mid-October, CFC also hired Owen Seaton as chief marketing officer. These moves come on the eve of a landmark 2020 season - one where CFC will join the NISA league as a fully-professional team.
While Elliott will be a full-time technical director, he still has a head coaching job with the University of West Florida. Kelly said Elliott will be able to do his job with CFC even while in the sunshine state, as the job can be done remotely.
Peter Fuller has a successful history as a collegiate head coach, winning three NAIA Coach of the Year awards during stops at Belhaven College (1992) and the University of Mobile (1999, 2002). Fuller also won two NAIA titles in 1992 and 2002.
As a player, Fuller followed up a stellar collegiate career at Houghton College as a first round selection of the New York Eagles. Fuller later played with the Rochester Flash, Memphis Americans, Sports Life and Jackson Rockers.