How Bud Tolliver landed his first head coaching job with the Savannah High football team
Savannah High introduced Anthony "Bud" Tolliver as its new football coach in an event on campus Thursday.
The 31-year-old Tolliver takes over from Michael Moore, who coached the Blue Jackets for three seasons. Moore took a job as an assistant coach with the Bryan County High football team. He posted a record of 4-23, and Savannah High has a record of 6-41 over the last five years.
Tolliver's most recent coaching experience came as an assistant at May River High. The math teacher didn't coach there last season, as he and his wife had a newborn son, but he coached there the two seasons prior.
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Tolliver is from Virginia and played high school ball at Salem High School. The defensive back played one year at the University of Charleston, then joined the military before earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from Radford University.
"At 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds, I wasn't built to play college football," Tolliver said with a laugh. "But I really love the game and coaching the kids."
He had assistant coaching stints at Hidden Valley High, Northside High and Warren County High in Virginia before he and his wife Katie were married in Savannah in 2020. They liked the Hostess City so much, they decided to make it their home.
"I've always had dreams of becoming a head high school coach, and then the Savannah job came up and it said the were looking for a math teacher and coach -- and I felt like I was the perfect unicorn for that job," Tolliver said. "We've got a young team with these great new facilities and I'll be working with Coach Jordan (longtime Savannah High basketball coach and athletic Director Tim Jordan). I think I'm going to be able to learn so much and grow from working with him.
"I'm excited because we have some talented receivers and running backs coming back," he said. "I met the kids this week and learned about their backgrounds -- I can't wait to get the chance to start working with them."
Tolliver said he likes to use an offense called the "Gun T," but that he will evaluate his the ability of his players and adapt to whatever style of play suits them best.
Jordan said he thinks Tolliver is a good fit for the job.
"He's a young, energetic coach who develops good relationships with the kids," Jordan said. "We were at a track meet at May River and I asked some kids about Coach, and they all had great things to say about him. That impressed me, because the kids can so brutally honest and be the harshest critics.
"And I'm old school -- and I'm impressed with his credentials as a math teacher. To me, a teacher is a coach and a coach is a teacher, so that was a big positive. He a smart guy, and asks a lot of questions. We have a lot of work to do to get our football program back on track, but he's ready to hit the ground running."
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Bud Tolliver hired as new football coach at Savannah High
