Born in Chattanooga, Puckett’s family moved to Charlotte, NC, when he was young. He graduated from Independence High School in 1971, where he lettered in four sports: football, wrestling, diving, and track. As a prep wrestler, he was a two-time state qualifier and a regional champion in 1971. Puckett attended Auburn University, where he wrestled under coach Arnold “Swede” Umbach. Both Puckett and his father wrestled for Coach Umbach at Auburn. In 1976, he received his undergraduate degree in Health and Physical Education with a minor in Biology. He then earned a master’s degree in Education at Auburn in 1978.

Puckett’s first job in education was at West Mecklenburg in 1978, where he coached for three years as an assistant and eleven years as head coach. In 1989, he moved to Charlotte Independence High, where he was head wrestling coach for fifteen years. In 2004, he began coaching at Butler High School, where he finished his career. Puckett's teams won 25 conference championships, nine regional tournament titles, two regional dual team runner-up finishes, two regional dual team championships, and two state tournament runner-up finishes. In his career, Puckett coached over 30 state medalists and eight state champions. Additionally, he coached Junior National Freestyle Heavyweight Champion Mike Wallace. Over 30 wrestlers coached by Puckett have competed at the collegiate level. He was named Conference Coach of the Year 16 times and Mecklenburg County Coach of the Year 10 times. Retiring after 30 years as a science teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System, Puckett coached through the end of the 2018 season, his 40th season as a high school wrestling coach.