Bulldogs best in show

Jones hits the Classix

Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said that while attending Harding University during the mid-1970s he would occasionally sneak away to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.
Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said that while attending Harding University during the mid-1970s he would occasionally sneak away to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

— Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said that while attending Harding University during the mid-1970s he would occasionally sneak away to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

The game plan?







RELATED ARTICLES

http://www.arkansas…">All-Arkansas footballhttp://www.arkansas…">Secondary education for Cabot’s Fergusonhttp://www.arkansas…">ALL-ARKANSAS PLAYER CAPSULEShttp://www.arkansas…">Fayetteville’s Ellis turns in repeat performancehttp://www.arkansas…">SUPER SOPHOMORE PLAYER CAPSULEShttp://www.arkansas…">Storey, Hill better than their billing

Jones would leave Searcy with $20 in his pocket, bet $2 each race and “have a blast.”

“If you hit something, you could eat on the way back,” Jones said. “If not, you just had to drive all the way back with no food. And I did both.”

At the height of trying to earn a degree in equine education, Jones said he relied on a calculator and charts to pick a winner.

His buddies had a much less sophisticated way to handicap a race.

Breaking out in laughter as he recalls the story, Jones said friends started using his selections as a way to eliminate horses “that had absolutely no chance of winning the race.”

“They would say, ‘Jones, who do you have?’ I would say, ‘I’ve got the 6 horse and the 8 horse,’ ” Jones said. “That narrowed it down.”

Jones may have struggled to decipher horse races some 35 years ago, but he’s become the best bet on the state’s high school football coaching scene.

Jones, 57, is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Coach of the Year after leading Greenwood to a 14-0 record and the Class 6A state championship.

It was the third consecutive state championship for the Bulldogs, who had claimed titles in Class 5A in 2010 and 2011, and stretched their winning streak to 38 games, equaling the third-longest in state history.

In just nine seasons at Greenwood, Jones has won six state championships - the Bulldogs also won titles in2005, 2006 and 2007 - and amassed 107 victories.

“What he’s done at Greenwood has been remarkable,” Fort Smith Southside Coach Jeff Williams said in October.

Jones had spent most of the previous two decades coaching in his native Oklahoma, where he was a big winner at three of that state’s largest high schools: Edmond, Tulsa Union and Broken Arrow.

Following a whirlwind courtship with Greenwood, Jones has built a dynasty in the Sebastian County town of approximately 9,000.

“I never think about that,” Jones said. “I’m a day-by-day person. Now, if I didn’t think we had a chance to win a lot of games here, I would not have come. If I didn’t think the structure wasn’t in place to be successful, I would not have come. If I didn’t think the administration wasn’t supportive, I would not have come. If I didn’t have a sense of the community being supportive, I would not have come.”

Jones landed at Greenwood after coaching Broken Arrow, a suburban Tulsa school, from 1995-2003. Jones said he enjoyed orchestrating big-school programs but added that his wife, Mona, was looking for a slower pace of life that a small town like Greenwood could offer, particularly because they had two young children at the time.

The timing was right to make a move.

Greenwood had an unexpected opening in late 2003 after Harv Welch was relieved of his coaching duties for not having the proper state certification. While Greenwood couldn’t lure the ultra successful Barry Lunney from nearby Southside, Lunney recommended Greenwood talk to a friend, Rick Jones.

Jones said Lunney called the Greenwood job “perfect” and “one of the best around.”

The Bulldogs already had won a state championship in 2000 under Ronnie Peacock,also part of the wildly successful John Prock/Harding coaching tree.

Following another glowing review by then-Springdale Coach Gus Malzahn, Jones interviewed with Greenwood, was offered the job the same day and quickly accepted.

“I drove home, called my wife and said you need to come here and look this over,” Jones said. “She was ready. She had already found a house on the Internet.”

Jones was scheduled to interview a few days later for a job in Mundelein, Ill., a Chicago suburb. Naturally, he canceled and is now the face of Greenwood football.

“I’ve got the best job in America,” Jones said. “I’ve been lucky.”

In other words, he picked a winner.

Rick Jones at a glance

AGE 57 POSITION Head football coach SCHOOL Greenwood High School EDUCATION Ardmore (Okla.) High School (1973); Harding University (1977)

COACHING RECORD 239-64 in 24 seasons overall; 107-16 in nine seasons at Greenwood NOTEWORTHY Played linebacker and defensive end at Harding University in Searcy. ... Roomed at Harding with two future Bisons head coaches (Ronnie Huckeba and Randy Tribble). ... Was an assistant at Missouri State in1992-1994. ... Led Edmond to a state championship in Oklahoma’s largest high school classification (then 5A) in 1989.

... Has led Greenwood to 107-16 record since 2004, winning state championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012. ... Son Kevin Jones made 62 of 65 extra-point attempts and 5 of 6 fieldgoal attempts this fall for Greenwood. ... Brother David Jones is the head coach at Kerrville (Texas) Tivy High School, the alma mater of Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner.

Sports, Pages 25 on 12/16/2012

Upcoming Events