An exclusive interview with new Chattanooga FC Head Coach Richard Dixon.
It’s the start of a new era for Chattanooga FC.
Better yet, a new era with layers of familiarity as Richard Dixon was named head coach earlier this week.
Dixon’s Chattanooga FC story goes back to the beginning of 2020 when he became the club’s first player signing in its professional era. After 92 professional appearances as a player, Dixon retired ahead of the club’s inaugural season competing in MLS NEXT Pro and became a performance coach on the technical staff.
Dixon was promoted to director of performance ahead of the 2025 season, where he conducted soccer-specific physical testing, designed and implemented strength and conditioning programs, assisted in recovery protocols, provided nutritional guidance and delivered sports science support.
Ahead of the 2026 season in a time of a coaching transition, Dixon answered the call to become interim head coach, bringing calmness and stability at a crucial time for the club. The journey was destined for the head coach role after an extremely successful start to the 2026 campaign, both from an off-the-field culture standpoint combined with positive results and a league-best unbeaten run of nine matches.
Dixon sat down with ChattanoogaFC.com to talk about what being named head coach means to him and how he wants to lead the club moving forward.
Richard Dixon, Head Coach of Chattanooga FC, how does that sound and what does it mean to you?
Richard Dixon: It sounds great! It’s a dream come true. It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to ever since I retired. The goal was always to stay in football, to retire and to learn under a really good head coach and hopefully start leading from there, so I’m fortunate and I feel honored to do it here. It’s a big deal to come in as a player and to be the first professional signing for the club to then turn around to become the head coach a few years later. I’m super excited.
Your connection with the community is truly authentic; this place really means a lot to you and vice versa. For this to be where your first head coach role takes place, how significant is that?
It means a tremendous deal. When you’re in a place that you have impact and you know that what you do goes a long way, it’s no better feeling knowing that the work that I do it’s going to have impact on the community and will continue to build a legacy for the club. That’s something that attracted me to this club in the first place as a player. To now do it as a coach, it’s amazing. I’m looking forward continuing to build on the legacy that the club has built over the last several years and to also continue to push the club forward, because I think the sky’s the limit for this club.
You’ve spoken a lot through the year about the growth you’ve experienced throughout the season so far. What’s the area you’ve felt you’ve grown during this interim head coach period?
It’s tough to pinpoint one area, because there’s been several. Oftentimes when people step into a leadership role there’s that imposter syndrome, and for me those first few weeks it crept in a little bit not knowing what to expect or how everyone would take in the information. It’s testament to the group of players and staff. They’ve bought in since day one and taken in the information and ran with it. We’ve had hard conversations, and some soft ones, but everyone’s bought in and everyone’s committed, which has made it so much easier. I’ve grown a lot in leadership, and first of all leading myself to make sure that I take emotions out of most of my decision making. Football can be a very emotional game, so I try to make sure that I bring calm to the waters, reflect first before I communicate or make decisions. That’s been one of the biggest areas that I’ve grown.
Can you identify a specific moment when you felt like this role would be the right fit for you?
It’s the weekly and daily preparation and seeing how, with the different teams that we play and different approaches, we’ve had to be a little bit pragmatic than usual. We’re not a possession team or a direct team; we try and find solutions based on the opponent we are playing each week. We have to vary our tactics weekly and that could be very difficult if the players don’t take the information on or if they’re not bought in and don’t implement it on the weekend. The group has done a fantastic job taking in information and giving it a go. Sometimes it works flawlessly, other times it doesn’t work. They’ve done a great job to keep going. Seeing how bought in everyone is on a weekly basis and their willingness to win and to fight and to make sure they represent this club in a good way as well.
What do you hope the team transmits on and off the field during your time as head coach?
It’s about making sure I stay consistent with my values and with the values of the club, which I think is a really good match, which is why I decided to join the club in the first place and to stay as well. If the players can transmit that on gamedays, representing family, community, togetherness on the pitch every single week, that would be ideal for us. Obviously there’s going to be ups and downs. There’s going to be good times, bad times and hard conversations, but as long as we can continue to build that family environment and transmit togetherness and have open and honest conversations with each other, we can all continue to grow and develop, whether it’s players moving onto the next level and finding greener pastures, so we all continue to elevate individually and to move the club on as well.
What do the next steps look like for the club? What would progress look like at Chattanooga FC to you?
The most important thing is making sure that the brand continues to reach the community. It’s about bringing in good people, guys that don’t just want to play football and show up on the weekend, but they want to be out in the community. It’s about bringing in players that want to mingle with the fans and truly represent the club and badge in a good light. We also get judged on the field, so we want to make sure that we continue to put a good product on the field, not just to win games, but to play entertaining and exciting football. We hope that the bi-product of that is to win a playoff game and the next step is to win a championship. We want to be competing for championships. I want to make sure we continue to progress both on and off the pitch.
Do you have a message for the community at this moment?
It’s been a very interesting time in my life since I’ve been here in Chattanooga. Many know that I came to play for the team on the other side of town. For me, it was an interesting time as family started to become a reality, and I was finally in a place that I could see myself raising my family. And then obviously through meeting several people, namely Juan Hernandez and Coach [Bill] Elliott as well, through both of them I got to meet some of the board members here as well and learn more about the club. There was no better place for me to raise a family and to do meaningful work. I’m in a good place knowing that the work that I do is going to have impact. The community can be rest assured that I will always give everything to represent Chattanooga in a good light and to do everything to continue to progress CFC to the next level whatever that looks like. We are a club that should be competing for a championship every year, so we’ll continue to search out and explore what that looks like and how we can get to those milestones. I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to continue to serve this club and represent this community.
