Bennett’s Lasting Legacy in Local Education
For half a century, James Bennett walked the halls of Warren County schools with different titles: Teacher, coach and - for the longest time - Principal. After that, he became an elected school board member.
Ask him which one mattered most, though, and the answer isn’t one Bennett has to give - former students and athletes who, decades later, answer it as they still greet him the same way: “Coach.”
As Bennett prepares to step away from the Warren County Board of Education in August after 12 years, he also closes the book on a remarkable 50-year career in education - one that began locally in 1973 and eventually touched nearly every corner of the Warren County School System.
"I've been in the system for 38 years. I've been on the board for 12 years," Bennett said. "Education for 50 years has been good to me."
His path started at Warren County Junior High School, where he taught math and language arts for 16 years while serving as an assistant football coach under before eventually becoming the freshman head coach.
The next chapter came when legendary coach Bobby Newby asked Bennett to join his staff at Warren County High School. It proved to be one of the defining moments of his career.
"It was one of the best moves I ever made," Bennett said on the Simmons Says show Tuesday.
The coaching staff Bennett joined read like a who's who of Tennessee high school athletics. Alongside Newby were Bobby Haile and Gary Rankin, with another future Hall of Fame coach Ed Cantrell later joining the group as well.
Being surrounded by great coaches taught Bennett one lesson that stayed with him throughout every stop in his career.
"You have to set up your offenses and defenses to what your kids can do, not what you want to do," Bennett said. "A lot of young coaches come out and they've got all these ideas about what they're going to run. You wind up getting a lot of L's instead of a lot of W's if you don't coach the players you've got."
Even decades later, the football stories still make him smile.
One that stuck with coach Bennett about Newby’s legendary demeanor and knowledge of the game was when the duo was the scouting trip with that lasted only one quarter before the head coach stood up and announced it was time to leave.
Bennett was confused.
"We haven't seen them punt. We haven't seen enough," he remembered telling Newby.
Newby’s response was simple: "They can't beat us."
He was right - Warren County steamrolled by Lebanon a few nights later.
There was another memorable practice before a district championship game against Riverdale when Newby unexpectedly blew his whistle, ordered everybody off the field and canceled practice without running a single drill.
Bennett and the rest of the coaching staff nervously followed Newby into his office, wondering what had happened. Nobody wanted to second guess the coach, but - after other assistants urged Bennett to get some answers - he nervously approached the coach’s office and asked what had happened to trigger a shutdown.
"I just wanted to give them a rest and give them something to think about," Newby told Bennett and the rest of the assistants.
The next game started with the Pioneers returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, a clear sign they had taken Newby’s lesson - or mind trick - to heart.
As much as Bennett loved coaching, his biggest responsibility eventually came inside the school building.
After serving eight years as principal at Morrison Elementary, Bennett became principal at Warren County High School in 2002 following George Bolding’s retirement.
Leading a school of approximately 1,800 students changed everything.
"I'd have to say being principal of Warren County High School was the toughest job," Bennett said. "You're there every day. You get there a little after 6 a.m. and you stay until it's over, whatever it may be. You never know what's going to come through the door."
Every morning began with the same priority: Safety.
"I always felt better when I got home and knew everybody else got home, especially on prom or graduation night," Bennett said. "I'd stay up late. I wanted to make sure and just hoped and prayed none of the kids got hurt in any manner."
And while Bennett was known to be a principal who would take care of business, his office wasn't just a place for discipline. For some, it became a refuge.
One morning around 6:15, a junior walked into his office before school had even started.
"She sat down and looked at me and said, 'I'm hungry,'" Bennett recalled.
The moment has stayed with him ever since.
"I took that girl and I took care of her. That told me they were listening when I said, 'I'm here for you. If you need something, I'll help you any way I can.'"
Bennett always believed a principal had to be more than an administrator.
"You're a helper. You want to help the faculty and you want to help the kids,” he said about the job.
James Bennett talks to Jeff Simmons during a recent visit to Studio 605.
That approach left an impression on generations of students. During Bennett's appearance on the Simmons Says show, comments poured in from former students who remembered not just the discipline he handed out, but the fairness and compassion that came with it.
One former student wrote that while he "may or may not have been the best student," Bennett always treated him with respect and was simply trying to guide him in the right direction.
Another remembered Bennett quietly helping feed students who needed it.
Those comments weren't surprising to Bennett. For him, the greatest measure of success has never been wins, awards or job titles.
"The greatest thing is that they know you," Bennett said. "They'll talk to you. They'll call you ‘Coach.’ That's respect. You have to gain respect to get it."
After retiring from the school system, Bennett wasn't quite ready to stop serving Warren County.
He spent the last 12 years on the Warren County Board of Education, helping shape policy, approve budgets and hire the Director of Schools.
He admits serving on the board gave him a different perspective than working inside the schools.
"Every decision you make affects thousands of kids every day. It can't be for one group. It's got to be for everybody,” said Bennett about the decision-making process over the last decade he brought to the school board.
While education has changed dramatically since Bennett first walked into a Warren County classroom in 1973, his to keep coming back every morning never did.
Whether he was drawing up football plays, solving algebra problems, walking the halls as principal or helping guide the school system from the board room, the mission remained the same: Help kids.
Fifty years later, that's the legacy Coach leaves behind.
