After spending the last few seasons as the Benjamin Russell JV girls coach, Heather Tidwell found herself getting promoted. Now, Tidwell is stepping in as the girls soccer coach at Benjamin Russell, filling in for Lee Wagoner, who announced he would be retiring from the program this week.

Tidwell was a lifelong soccer player up in Tennessee, noting she played from around 5 years old all the way up until her high school graduation — even dipping her toes into refereeing to stay around the game. Initially, when she got to Benjamin Russell as an educator, Wagoner approached her with the idea of joining the soccer team, where she got to watch how he went about his philosophy.