Crowe revitalizes career, program

Builds lasting winner at Jacksonville

Jack Crowe, 65, will begin his 13th season as Jacksonville State’s coach on Saturday night when the Gamecocks play Arkansas at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. He is shown here celebrating after a win in 2010.
Jack Crowe, 65, will begin his 13th season as Jacksonville State’s coach on Saturday night when the Gamecocks play Arkansas at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. He is shown here celebrating after a win in 2010.

— Jack Crowe figured 25 years in coaching was enough.

So the former Arkansas coach resigned as Baylor’s offensive coordinator after the 1995 season and at 48 focused on finding a new career in business.

photo

AP file photo

Jacksonville State Coach Jack Crowe is headed back to Arkansas nearly 20 years after then-Athletic Director Frank Broyles fired him as Arkansas’ coach. Crowe’s Jacksonville State team heads to Fayetteville on Saturday

Crowe’s plan worked well. He moved back to his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., and prospered financially, first working as an acquisitions consultant for Stephens, Inc., and then becoming executive director of the American Sports Medicine Institute, founded by renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews.

Life was good, and Crowe said he didn’t believe he missed coaching.

Then school officials from Jacksonville (Ala.) State, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision program, offered Crowe the Gamecocks’ coaching job in November of1999 with the team coming off a 1-10 record.

“It turned out this thing came and found me,” Crowe said. “I didn’t go searching for it. Initially I said, ‘There ain’t no way in hell you’re getting me back into coaching.’ But they stayed after me.”

Crowe eventually gave into what he called “the seduction” of coaching and said he realized he did miss it.

“I thought I was over it, I really did,” Crowe said. “But there’s nothing like, quite like coaching, so here I am.”

Crowe, 65, will begin his 13th season as Jacksonville State’s coach on Saturday night when the Gamecocks play Arkansas at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. He’ll be looking to pull an upset over an SEC team like the Gamecocks did two years ago when they won 49-48 at Ole Miss in double overtime.

“We have a good program here,” Crowe said. “We’ve come a long way.”

Crowe is 81-52 at Jacksonville State, and his teams are 67-34 since 2003, when the Gamecocks joined the Ohio Valley Conference. Crowe’s teams are 60-30 in the OVC with three championships and three playoff appearances.

Crowe said Jacksonville State should be strong on offense led by two quarterbacks with starting experience - fifth-year senior Marques Ivory and junior Coty Blanchard.

Ivory will be back as the starter against Arkansas, Crowe said, after getting a medical redshirt last year when he suffered a broken leg in the opener against Tennessee-Martin. Crowe said Blanchard, who took over at quarterback and helped the Gamecocks to a 7-4 record and share of the OVC title, also will play extensively.

Ivory passed for 2,248 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2010. Blanchard passed for 1,703 yards and 12 touchdowns last season and rushed for 427yards and six touchdowns.

“We have two starting quarterbacks,” Crowe said. “Coty played the majority of last season and we won a conference championship, so I don’t think you can really call him a backup quarterback. I’ll get Coty in Arkansas game somehow, because he’s a play maker.”

The offense also features senior tailback Washaun Ealey, a transfer from Georgia who had 178 carries for 1,082 yards last season. Senior receiver Alan Bonner had 33 catches for 582 yards.

“We’re capable on offense,” Crowe said. “On defense, we’ve got a bunch of puppies.”

Four starters return on defense, including junior linebacker Rashad Smith, who had a team-high 77 tackles last season.

“There was an enormous talent void when I first got here, but we’ve done a good job of closing that gap,” Crowe said. “The players here now and that are coming here are the best players that have ever been here.”

Sports, Pages 13 on 08/27/2012

Upcoming Events