Greenfield, Tenn.–Greenfield High School has announced Coach Tyler Rice will be the next Head Football Coach to lead the Jackets into a new era of football. Greenfield Principal Jeff Cupples said, “We began our search with character, vision, and the potential for positive impact our student-athletes and overall culture. We were blessed to have a great group of candidates. Coach Rice is going to have a positive impact on our students through leading our football program and teaching physical education. Coach Rice played high school football in an 1A school as well as coaching on the Division 1 college level. We look forward to his experiences, expectations, and energy that he will bring to Jacket football and the classroom. We are excited to have Tyler, Callie, Emmarie, and Cleo join our Greenfield family.”
Rice was previously the Co-offensive coordinator at the University of North Alabama (2020-2022); prior to that he came to UNA as the wide receivers coach.
During his time at UNA, in the 2021 season the team average 28.18 points per game, 263.73 average yards in the pass game and a total of 26 passing touchdowns during that season. UNA finished Big South Play in 2021 averaging 34.8 PPG. UNA ranked 1st in passing offense, 1st in 1st downs, 1st in Redzone efficiency and 3rd in total offense at 400ypg while Rice was the play caller.
Rice spent three seasons (2017-19) as an assistant coach at UT Martin where he was the wide receivers coach and previously served as the offensive quality control coach.
Since his success at UTM, four of the wide receivers that he was coaching in his time at UTM have gone on to play professionally. Those include Jaylon Moore, of the Baltimore Ravens, Donnell Williams, of the Tennessee Titans, Terry Williams, of the Ottawa Red Blacks and Rodney Williams, of the Denver Broncos.
The UTM passing game went to another level in 2019 as the Skyhawks averaged 222.2 receiving yards per game and two receivers (Terry Williams and Colton Dowell) earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors. Williams had 58 receptions for 581 yards and three touchdowns to finish ranked in the top-10 in program history in career receptions. Dowell recorded 38 receptions for 765 yards and four touchdowns. As a team, the Skyhawks ranked second in the OVC in pass efficiency (144.7) and third in pass offense (246.1)
While Rice was a graduate assistant at UTM he trained Ty Simpson, 5-star QB from Martin, TN who is now currently playing quarterback at the University of Alabama.
Rice spent a season as an offensive student assistant at Murray State in 2015. While a member of the Racers, Rice assisted an offense which averaged 466.1 yards of total offense behind explosive All-American quarterback K.D. Humphries. Humphries led the nation in completions per game (30.0), passing yards (3,778) and passing yards per game (343.5).