Mountain Empire Football Hall of fame
Inducted 2024
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Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor was a 3-time letterman and starting quarterback on the Morristown West High School football team. Taylor was twice named MVP (1981 and 1982) and was a 2-time first team All Inter-Mountain Conference player. He was captain of the 1982 team and helped lead West to a 36-5 record during his career. He was voted All East Tennessee and was a Johnson City Press Elite Eleven selection in 1982. Taylor accepted a full scholarship offer to East Tennessee State University, where he was a 4-time letter winner and 3-year starter at outside linebacker. He was named Player of the Week by ABC-TV for his play against Virginia Tech (1986) and finished that season as the team's second leading tackler. In his senior season (1987), Taylor was voted team captain and played a major role in ETSU's upset defeat on NC State. After graduating from ETSU, Taylor embarked on a coaching career that has spanned over 35 years in Division 1 NCAA football, beginning as a graduate assistant at Southern Mississippi (1989 and 1990), and then spent five years as linebackers coach at Wolford (1991-1996). Taylor has continued his successful coaching career at every university he has coached and as a defensive coordinator, Taylor led defenses to the top of their league at ETSU (2003), UT-Chattanooga (2007), and Tennessee Tech (2011). In 2011, he was the Associative Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator on Tennessee Tech's first Ohio Valley Conference championship football team in 36 years. In 2013, he was the first assistant coach hired by ETSU and was named the Defensive Coordinator as ETSU restarted their football program after an 11-year absence. His league leading defenses helped lead the Bucs to their first two Southern Conference championships in 2018 and 2021. Taylor has always made it a point of pride to try to give back the same opportunity that was made available to him by recruiting East Tennessee high schools at every university that he has worked for. As of 2023 he had signed over 100 young men from our region to athletic scholarships. Taylor was named Head Coach of Tusculum University in 2024. |