8-20-04 By: Brian Vaughn
   What a difference a year and a new coach makes for the Greenwood football program.
   Greenwood hired Rick Jones from the largest school in Oklahoma, Broken Arrow in January after former Bulldog head coach Harv Welch was relieved of his coaching duties for not having the required state coaching certification.
   The Bulldogs had winning seasons each of the three seasons during the Welch tenure including an 8-3 season last year, but failed to energize the Bulldog faithful to the levels of the late nineties under former coach Ronnie Peacock.
   Bulldog fan interest in the program began to wane over the past several years. That became noticeable in attendance in the home ball games, especially at the end of last season.
   In comes Rick Jones and there was renewed excitement and energy in the program immediately, as Jones said and did everything just right to get the kids and community fired back up.
   Jones believes he's found everything him and his wife was looking for when they made the move to Greenwood.
   "Mona and I had been looking for a smaller town to raise our kids," said Jones. "I told her I did not want to go anywhere, that football wasn't important. We think we've found everything we were looking for in Greenwood. We have a great administration and great bunch of kids to work with and I think we have the opportunity to play at the highest level."
   Greenwood athletic director Jerry Cecil believes that Greenwood has found what they were looking for also.
   "I'm extremely excited about the direction I think our football program is going," Cecil said. "Coach Jones has brought some new excitement in here. He does something or says something everyday that impresses me. I've never seen anybody as organized, organized down to the most minute detail. If organization and hard work have anything to do with winning ball games, then I think we're going to win ball games, because we've got those things in our program."
   Jones has had an impact on everything and everybody around the football program since his arrival.
   "I think he's motivated our coaches, inspired them," says Cecil. "I think he's motivated the kids, he's very positive, wants the coaches to be very positive and I think that's something that's going to pay good dividends for us."
   Jones offensive style will be familiar to the Bulldog fans that enjoyed the Peacock "Fun & Gun" style of passing football as Jones will operate out off a four-wide, no huddle, shot gun base.
  Coach Jones expects his team to play hard for every down of every game.
   "Play to the last bell," said Jones. "If we're ahead or if we're behind, you should not be able to tell by the way we act on the field. Because we're going to play hard for 48 minutes."
   The ball game on the field on Friday nights in the fall has become just a part of the puzzle that all put together creates the Bulldog football atmosphere, which had become known as one of the best in the state.
   The Bulldog band program and spirit squads are major players in creating the atmosphere at Smith-Robinson Stadium during the season, along with countless volunteers that do things from music to fireworks.
   "I see things I'm excited about other than just what the coaches are doing," Cecil said. "I'm excited about our band and spirit squads. I think we've got people there that are good people in Joel Sillavan and Jennifer Barton that are doing a lot of good things with those programs. It all goes together to create an atmosphere and excitement. One you want to motivate the kids on the field and two you want to get the crowd into it and get some excitement, create a situation where the fans are glad to be there. It's a fun thing, a happening thing. We've had that before at Greenwood, I think we're getting back to that, so I'm excited about it."
   Coach Jones is just ready for the season to get here and get it going and he knows the fans are too.
   "One of the things that intrigued me about this town is the fact that everyone I talked to from Barry Lunney, Gus Malzhan, to Ronnie Peacock all told me that is town loves football and I think that's something I've seen ever since I've been here. They obviously care about the team and are fired up, I'm excited too and can't wait. We're looking forward to getting it going."