Shelbyville hires Lake County state championship football coach Josh Puckett to lead program

State championship coach Josh Puckett has been named the next high school football coach at Shelbyville.

Puckett led Lake County to the Class 1A state championship in 2019 and a 15-0 season. The Falcons beat Greenback 38-23 in the BlueCross Bowl.

The Falcons reached the 1A semifinals in both 2017 and 2018 before winning the state title.

He leaves that to enter the Class 5A ranks at a program coming off a state quarterfinal appearance under former coach Justin Palmer.

"I feel like Shelbyville has been a job that has been on the cusp on doing some great things for a little while," said Puckett, 36. "When I turned on the film of Shelbyville, it doesn't matter if it's this past year or two years ago or three years ago, I see a lot of talent on the field.

"It was a time that I needed to do what was right for my family and put them in a little bit better situation. And I'm excited about moving up to 5A ball."

Shelbyville principal Tim Harwell confirmed the hire. He said Puckett stood out among the candidates.

"Yes, winning a state championship was a great selling point for coach Puckett, but his overall responses in our interview and his presentation were on target in what we were looking for in a head coach," Harwell wrote in an email. 

Puckett is a Greenfield graduate and went to college at UT Martin. He has coached at Cheatham County and East Robertson.

Lake County outscored its opponents 732-205 this past season. The Falcons scored 50 or more points in nine games. Defensively, they shut out four opponents.

Puckett doesn't know when he will be able to meet with his new team. School is currently out due to coronavirus concerns. 

"It's a very unique situation," Puckett said. "I don't know when it's going to happen. We'll play all of that by ear. I wish I could go meet the kids and get things installed. 

"It's going to take a little time I'm afraid."

Puckett said the Falcons used a pro style offense and were out of shotgun. 

"Pro style doesn't mean the I-formation like it used to," Puckett said. "We'll be a pro-style offense. We scored a lot of points last year."

Puckett, who was a finalist for the Tennessee Titans high school football coach of the year, went 60-26 in seven seasons as the school's football coach. 

Palmer was fired a month ago despite leading the Eagles to a 33-14 record in four seasons. Shelbyville went 11-2 in 2019, losing to Class 5A state runner-up Summit 20-12 in the third round of the playoffs, its first trip to the quarterfinals since 2014. Shelbyville reached the playoffs each season under Palmer.

Shelbyville returns sophomore quarterback Kade Cunningham, who was 146-of-227 passing for 1,999 yards and 20 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. He also had 587 rushing yards.

"I think Shelbyville has talent every year to be honest," Puckett said. "They had a really good class last year, they sure did. But I think there is some talent coming back. I think they have three of the five starting offensive linemen coming back and I'm excited about their starting quarterback."

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.