How do you measure greatness on the football field? Is it the number of championships? Is it the number of players that go on to the professional ranks? Is it the accolades of the fans and your fellow coaches? Or is it something much bigger, something that runs much deeper? Is greatness measured by how you impact the lives of those you come into contact with? Carson-Newman head coach Ken Sparks would tell you it is the latter. For coach Sparks, football is a learning laboratory where he and his staff strive to develop the whole person- educationally, socially, athletically and spiritually. The Eagles' football program is built on Christian principles and it is the driving force behind Sparks, who is in his 32nd season as the C-N head coach. Sparks has recently been named the President of the American Football Coaches Association and inducted into the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame and the NCAA Division II Football Hall of Fame.

Sparks induction into the Division II Football Hall of Fame along with Northwest Missouri State's Mel Tjeerdsma and West Alabama's Bobby Wallace marked the first group of coaches to be honored.

While the on-the-field success is what garners the headlines, Sparks will tell you it's what's in the heart that really matters. Since he took over the Eagle program in 1980, Sparks has built a national football powerhouse first at the NAIA level and now at the NCAA Division II level. The numbers speak for themselves when examining the success Sparks has brought to the Eagle football program - five national championships, four national runner-up finishes, 21 South Atlantic Conference championships and 22 NAIA or NCAA playoff appearances. A respected and well-known coach at any level, Sparks has accumulated the best won-lost record and highest winning percentage of any coach in C-N football history.

In 31 seasons at the wheel of the Eagle machine, the 1968 C-N graduate has guided his troops to a 294-74-2 record. Sparks is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division II and he is third in total wins among active coaches in all divisions of the NCAA behind St. John's (Minn.) John Gagliardi and Penn State's Joe Paterno.

The run of success began in 1982, when Sparks guided the Eagles to a 10-2 record and an NAIA playoff berth during his third season on the job. Carson-Newman lost in the first round that year, but things in Jefferson City would never be the same again. The following year, Sparks led C-N to its second-straight SAC-8 title and back to the playoffs. The Eagles breezed through the first two rounds and upset heavily favored Mesa State in the NAIA Champion Bowl, 36-28, to capture the first national football title in school history.

After winning that first title in 1983, Carson-Newman went on to win four more NAIA national crowns. The Eagles brought home championships by tying Central Arkansas (19-19) in 1984 and by beating Cameron (17-0) in 1986, Adams State (56-21) in 1988 and Emporia State (34-20) in 1989.

After opening the 2009 season with two losses, C-N turned things around to make another spectacular run by reeling off 11 straight wins. The Eagles finished the year with an 11-3 record, including a 7-0 mark in South Atlantic Conference play to claim its 21st conference title. Sparks and the Eagles fell just shy of another national title game appearance as they lost to Grand Valley State in the Division II semifinals.

As would be expected for someone with his long list of accomplishments, Sparks has become one of the most-decorated coaches in college football. He was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 1984 and has been voted SAC Coach of the Year by his peers 12 times. He was named the Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Coach of the Year, the American Football Coach Magazine Division II Coach of the Year and the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year in 1999. He was also named the Tennessee Sports Writers Association College Coach of the Year again in 2002. In 2010, Sparks received the prestigious General Robert R. Neyland Trophy, presented each year by the Knoxville Quarterback Club to an outstanding man who has contributed greatly to intercollegiate athletics.

A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Sparks began his coaching career in his hometown by restarting the football team at Gibbs High School. The former C-N wide receiver posted a winning record in his first full season there before moving on to Tennessee Tech to coach the quarterbacks and receivers. After earning his Master's degree at TTU, Sparks made a one-year stop as head coach at Morristown (Tenn.) East High School before returning to C-N. His new job was to direct the track program and coordinate the offense for coach Dal Shealy, now the executive director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After Sparks' return, the Carson-Newman football team advanced to its first-ever Champion Bowl in 1972, where the Eagles lost to East Texas State.

Sparks also gained personal distinction in 1977, when he was named the Southern Collegiate Track Coach of the Year. In the fall of 1977, Sparks returned to Knoxville and the high school ranks to become head coach at Farragut. In three seasons, Sparks guided the Admirals to a 29-5 record. He was twice voted KIL and KFA Coach of the Year for his performances. Among the pupils he tutored was Bill Bates, who went on to a distinguished career at the University of Tennessee and with the Dallas Cowboys. Then, in 1980, he got the call from Carson-Newman to return the football program to its success of the early 1970s.

Sparks is one of the most sought-after speakers in the nation. He delivers speeches to many coaches' clinics, church groups and civic organizations. He is a member of Manley Baptist Church of Morristown and is heavily involved in various Christian organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He was inducted into the Knoxville Sports Hall of the Fame in 2001 and is a member of the Carson-Newman Athletic Hall of Fame. He also received the All-American Football Foundation's Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

He was named to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. Sparks and his wife, Carol, reside in Jefferson City.