A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Watson attended Independence High School from 1988 to 1991, where he excelled in football, wrestling, and track. Recruited to join the wrestling team in his junior year, Watson wrestled for two seasons at Independence High School and qualified for the state tournament in 1991. He then pursued his education at Appalachian State University, majoring in Physical Education, and wrestling for the Mountaineers from 1991 to 1995.

Watson began his teaching career at Coulwood Middle School in Mecklenburg County, where he also served as an assistant coach for the wrestling teams at Independence High School (1995-96) and West Mecklenburg (1996-99).  He later moved to East Mecklenburg, teaching and coaching from 1999 to 2007, before settling at Mooresville High School (2007 – present).

Throughout his coaching tenure, Watson has led his wrestling teams at East Mecklenburg and Mooresville to great success, including ten conference championships (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023). His teams have also won five regional championships (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023) and captured two state tournament titles (2018, 2019). Additionally, Watson's teams reached the regional dual team finals in 2002, 2012, and 2019, and were regional tournament runners-up in 2021 and 2022.

Watson has coached 14 individual state champions, 70 state placers, and three high school All-Americans. With over 600 dual team wins, he has been recognized with various coaching awards, including Mecklenburg County Coach of the Year, Iredell County Coach of the Year, the National Wrestling Coaches Association Coach of the Year for North Carolina (2018), and the NC Mat News Coach of the Year (2018, 2019). Outside of wrestling, Watson has been actively involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for over 30 years, served as an assistant football coach for 20 years, chaired the Mooresville Health and Physical Education Department since 2010, and has been a member of the North Carolina Wrestling Coaches Association Board of Directors since 2015. Watson lives in Troutman with his wife Cindy. They have three children: Anna, Starr, and Ray.