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NEWPORT – Casey Ragan knew when he took over as head coach at Cocke County, it would take some time to build his program into a winner and all that hope and hard work came to fruition in 2022-23.

The Fighting Cocks enjoyed one of the best seasons in recent memory last year as they finished 18-13 overall and second in the district standings with a 5-3 mark in a league that features perennial state power Greeneville. For his efforts, Ragan has been named the Citizen Tribune Lakeway Area boys Coach of the Year for 2022-23.

Ragan was quick to point to the reason for his team’s success: his six seniors. Brazen Stewart, Baylor Baxter, Major Woods, Lakkin France, Zeke Ramos and Colin Askew drew high praise from their head coach. “I can’t say enough about this senior class. We will be losing six seniors and over the past three years, I have really leaned on those guys. They had a lot of experience starting and playing as sophomores and some of them started as freshmen. If we have anything to point to for our success, it has to be the experience of our seniors. They played well all year long and I am proud of them.”

It wasn’t just that Ragan’s team had success, it was who they had success against. The Fighting Cocks took on state champion Alcoa twice, played Oak Ridge and faced off against three quality opponents from Florida in a tournament in Tampa. Also, Cocke County had a good run against teams from the Lakeway area (Cherokee, Hancock County, Grainger, West, East, Jefferson County and Claiborne) as they compiled a 12-3 overall record throughout the season. “When we were looking at the schedule this time last year, we wanted to get a good mixture of different styles and different things we would see down the road,” Ragan said. “We knew our conference is really tough as it is, but any time you throw Jefferson County and East and West and those types of teams into the mix, and especially Alcoa, it just helped prepare us for later on. Obviously, we did pretty well against them, Overall, we didn’t meet all our goals but we sure did give ourselves a chance. I couldn’t be happier for this team, we had a great year.”

For Ragan, working and coaching in Newport is personal.

He is a graduate of Cocke County High School and was a standout basketball player during his time there.

He said the job he has now is the one he always knew he wanted.

“It’s a dream come true ever since I got into this position. It’s what I’ve wanted to do and to finally have success and to see the kids around here be successful, it’s good for us and our community. It’s good for anyone who comes out of Cocke County to see you can have some success and you can do it, whether it’s athletics or whatever it may be. It just makes me that much more proud being from here.”