Greenwood Football Promotes Defensive Coordinator Jason Gill

A new era of Greenwood football is upon us! The district announced on Wednesday the hiring of long-time Defensive Coordinator Jason Gill as the new Head Coach of the Bulldogs. Gill replaces Chris Young, who served as Head Coach for 6 seasons and who is transitioning into a new role as Director of Student Activities and Operations. 

Gill joins Jeff Williams to discuss the move and the future of Bulldogs Football. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Foresty Vibes. It's uh episode sponsored by Lindsay and Associates. It's Coach Jeff Williams. Got the new head coach of the Greenwood Bulldogs, Coach Jason Gill. Coach, welcome to the show. Just talk to us about a little bit about your feelings and all this and how this process happened. I know it was quick and a lot of dominoes and things like that. Talk to us a little bit. You've been there over a decade. You know the program. Talk to us about stepping into this role.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

You know, you know, I'm excited about the the role. Uh just talking about how it happened. It's just one of those things that you knew it could happen one day. And uh, you know, with Mr. Heslin leaving and and going to Alma, it gave Chris a great opportunity to come over and be, you know, over here with this uh to be deputy superintendent. And uh there we go. But I I'm excited. Uh, you know, this is this is a this is a special place. Um and it's just, you know, you put the next guy in the chair and you hope you hope that you can live up to the standard that Greenwood football is.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Well, you've been under, you know, Coach Rick Jones and then coach, you know, Coach Chris Young there, you know, two great coaches right there, and you understand the community and how big that is and and that part of us. Talk to us a little bit about things, and we'll get into, you know, you've been a head coach before, and we're gonna get into that, but talk to us about things that you you've pulled from both of those guys being in that program over a decade.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Oh, yeah, man. I can I I you know, I can go even back to you know when I first started with Coach Toddy. And then I've just I've been so lucky. I've been I've been surrounded by great head coaches. You know, you know, back when I was young, I didn't know Coach Toddy was gonna win 300 football games at that time, but you know, he he won 300 football games. And uh, but man, coming over here with Coach Jones, you know, I'd always heard about Coach Jones. And uh man, he's just a detailed guy. Uh you couldn't ask for a better better better person to run a program. Uh then you get Coach Young to follow him, and he'd been with Coach Young, I mean Coach Jones forever. And uh just to watch him, you know, just he kind of took he kind of took it to another level, you know. You know, the success we've had, and uh not saying coach Jones didn't have success, but he, you know, he he started he pretty much started this thing, and then Coach uh Coach Young just took it to another level, I think. And uh it's been great watching him and just seeing how he handled coaches and uh coaching coaches and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Well, this isn't your first rodeo. I mean, you know, you're you know, you're kind of a low-key guy and do a great job. I've coached against you, and you know, your defense is, you know, the offense always at Greenwood gets the headlines, but bottom line, a lot of the success has been defensively. This isn't your first rodeo. You brought up Coach Toddy, you worked there at Rising for him for you know a long time, and then you've been a head coach before and went to Mansfield, and really a program that was way down and kind of you got that thing flipped and going in the right direction, and you know, you can see their success today. Talk to us a little bit. I mean, that experience where people, I mean, you've you've been there as a head coach, and now stepping into this role, do you feel like you're better prepared now than you were when you went to Mansfield?

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Oh yeah, I I don't think I could have done this job 15 years ago. You know, you I don't I think I don't I don't think until you're in Greenwood you understand really what's going on here. And uh I think you know I've been here for 13 years and I've got to experience it, see it. And uh I don't think that's a it's a really a job that I don't know many outsiders that could come in and just uh understand exactly what goes on here. But yeah, just going back, man, I've I've been so lucky. I got to uh play football at Fordyce, who they love football. Jim Cox was my head football coach, and he's a Greenwood guy. It's it's kind of weird. Uh then I then I got to uh lucky enough to start with Clay Toddy at Rising, another football town. And then I got crazy and wanted to be go ahead and be a head coach, and I found Mansfield on the map. How I found it, I don't have any idea, but uh you know, we went in there, they were kind of struggling, and and I they're doing awesome now. And uh I can't say that I was I I can say I was a little part of that. You know, we won the first conference championship there, played the first playoff home playoff game at home there. We did some really good things there, and uh then I was lucky enough to get to come to Greenwood, Arkansas, and uh hopefully I can uh keep it going.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Well, you hit you hit the part of understanding community. I think that's a big thing when you take a head job is understanding where you're going and kind of have an insight a little bit what's going on. You've been there over a decade. You know you when you talk about the community, I mean you, you know, that place is packed every Friday night and it's a buzz. And you know, even in December, they're talking about football in Greenwood. Being there that long, do you think it's a should be? I mean, we don't, you know, an easier transition than coming from somewhere where you know you don't understand it. And that's a in Greenwood's a unique place and you gotta understand it. And uh got a great school system, great superintendent, but you get it, talk to us a little bit, you think it's gonna be a little bit easier transition if then you were coming from the outside.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah, you know, just just being at a few other places, man. Our support here by the community, by our administrators, uh, it's it's unbelievable. I haven't seen it in any other place that I've been, and I'm sure it's like that somewhere else, but uh it is awesome here. Our community, our our admin is is awesome. They support us, they give us what we need. Uh they want us to be successful, they want us to make our kids successful, and uh, you know, it's it's it's a it's a good place to be.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

It is. Well, you guys, you know, here's the headline a little bit. You guys are dropping to five, going back to the old 5A West. We're we're I mean, you're familiar a little bit with that part of it, but dropping down and all the success you've had in 6A, you know, transitioning, even though dropping down, but you're going into a really tough conference. Oh, you know, you got Farmington, Tommy Tice over there who's had a lot of success the last couple of years, but you know him well. Oh, yeah. Cody McNabb and Morralton's been a staple in there. Jeremy Burns taking over at Alma, you know, Harrison's gonna be in the mix and that part of it. As a, you know, especially as a defense coordinator, now head coach, you know, you got to get yourself familiar with those teams where, you know, the teams that you've been playing, you've been playing the same bunch probably for the last four or you know, five or six years. Talk to us a little bit that process of dropping down and and learning, you know, the new league and and that part of it, you know, just the travel and different places and where you're going. Talk to us about going in that 5A West.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah, you know, the 5A West, you know, Green was it was in it forever. And uh, you know, you know it is a being a head coach, you know, you got I look at it as there's 32 teams in there, and uh there's not 16 anymore. So there's a lot more teams out there. I think the top half of uh 5A will just be just as good as the top half of uh 6A. And uh, you know, there are some really good teams out there and really good coaches. You know, you mentioned Coach Tice, he took he took Farmington to the state championship game first year back. Uh that's a rising program. And then you got Cody McDabb down at Moralton, uh, you know, Harrison. They love football. Yes, they do. Uh you know, there's there's a lot of good football teams in this conference. And uh, you know, but the good thing about it is they haven't been playing us either. So they're they're gonna uh you know, they got to get ready for us too. So uh, but man, it's gonna be a challenge and we look forward to it. That's what we like. We like the challenges.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Well, let's talk about what's what your summer look like, what you you know, that part of it. Your spring practice is coming up here, you know, probably in a week or two. We're keeping kind of the same schedule, same routine that we've done in the past, or uh just you know, it's so quick and everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Uh, you know, we're not we're not gonna change we're not gonna change it if it ain't broken. We're gonna still do our we're gonna still do team camps and seven on sevens. And uh, you know, coach Coach Young did an awesome job. He's already got our summer schedule out, and we're not changing that. It it hadn't been changed in probably 20 years, we're not changing it now. I'm not gonna be the guy that changes it. So uh uh, you know, we look forward. We got spring football starts May 4th. Uh we got our big team camp here, May 29th. We're gonna do two or three more team camps this summer, a couple seven. I think we're going to Shiloh. Uh Elkins is putting on a seven on seven. We're going there, and uh it's gonna be the same old Greenwood football every single yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Oh me. Well, you you talk about you guys, let's throw it out there. You you know lost Kane Archer and you lost a lot of good players. You still, you know, I think you got a quarterback coming in. The Cooteny kid's gonna, you know, it's gonna be a great quarterback. He just had to get his time and and place, and he's been patient. Talk to us a little bit about your football team. I mean, you've had to replace a lot of guys, you got some guys back, I think defensively back a little bit, but talk to us a little bit about your football team, what you know go before going into spring.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yeah, you know, just uh I had the squad leaders in this morning. We picked our squads for the year, and uh, you know, I had crews come in early this morning to kind of talk to him. And, you know, I I told him he's kind of the same situation I'm in. You know, I'm following, I'm following greatness, and he's following Kane, you know, and uh uh and he he agreed with me. And man, he's excited. I'm excited, you know. We look forward to that. And I can look back over the last you know 10 years that I've been here. Every year, you know, we have that senior class that leaves and they say, Oh, you know, you can't replace those guys, and somehow we replace them, you know, we replace them, and uh you know, we're looking forward to that. But on the offensive side, we got you know, cruise at quarterback, you got uh the rennick kid back. Uh he he he he came out of nowhere last year, caught a lot of footballs, Braxton Canada, our offensive line, Hal Davis, uh Alexander Watt, uh those guys are coming back, and uh we're looking forward to those. Defensively, man, we played a lot of young kids last year. Uh we had a lot of injuries. I'd never seen anything like it. And we had a ton of injuries last year, and uh, I think I've I started four sophomores on defense last year, and I hadn't started more than three ever since I've been here, and uh all those kids are coming back, so I'm looking forward to having those kids back, and it's gonna be exciting times.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Well, talk about this. You you've inherited a really good staff, know a lot of those guys over there, and you they've been you guys, you know, one thing I think while your success is continuity of staff, you don't have a lot of turnover. Talk a little bit about your staff. I mean, I think you've got a really good staff, one of the best in Arkansas. Talk to us, you know, as a head coming in as head coach, knowing, hey, I've got these, you know, it's it's a solid foundation there.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you know, you come in and you're not having to replace anybody. Uh, we we got to replace Coach Young. And that's that that's gonna be tough enough. But uh, you know, he you know, Coach Young, man, he's awesome. I've watched him call plays for 10 years now, and and I don't think there's anybody better in the business, but we've had guys training up under him. Uh Coach uh Hogan, he's our offensive coordinator along with Coach Morton. And uh man, they do an awesome job, you know. And I've I've watched Coach Young, you know, give them more responsibility over the last few years, and I I have the utmost confidence in those guys. Uh got Josh Holloway on the offensive side too, and he he's our special teams coordinator, and I don't think there's a better one in the state. He does a phenomenal job uh with our special teams uh defensively. Uh we've we've lost a few guys over the years, but uh man, I love my staff, and you know, I'm not gonna change anything I do. I'm still gonna stay on the defensive side of the football and uh kind of kind of run that. So that's where we're at with that. And then we're probably you know gonna have to replace our receivers coach. We was Coach Young. We'll probably move a guy up from our junior high ranks, and uh then we'll have to find us and one more coach, and we'll be ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Well, coach, I appreciate you taking time coming in short and notice. I'm very excited. I fought you know, followed your career and coached against you, and you're just one of the good guys in the business, and and uh you're gonna have great success. And like I said, we'll be checking your work every every Friday night like we do everybody else.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

All right, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

All right, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, buddy.