Rather unexpectedly, the head coaching torch has been passed at Greenwood High School after Chris Young turned the state’s most successful football program over to his defensive coordinator, Jason Gill, the school’s fifth head coach since the turn of the century. Gill and his newly revamped staff began their first spring football session this past Monday, welcoming over 100 eager Bulldogs to a 6 a.m. practice at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
Ronnie Peacock led the 2000 Bulldogs to their first-ever state championship before taking a new job at Rogers High School. Harv Welch took the reins from 2001 to 2003, posting three winning seasons before Rick Jones was hired in 2004. Jones quickly won the loyalty of his players and captured the hearts of the fans by winning eight state championships before resigning after the 2019 season to take an advisory position with the University of Missouri Tigers.
Chris Young, the team’s offensive coordinator, was then promoted to head coach and guided the Bulldogs to six consecutive state championship games, winning three more titles. A rookie coach in 2000, Young is the only GHS coach to share in all 12 of the program’s state championships. Besides his six years as head coach, Young is also the Athletic Director at Greenwood and has now accepted the invitation of Superintendent John Ciesla to take over the duties of the recently departed Kevin Hesslen, the new Superintendent of the Alma School District. Young will remain as Athletic Director.
The Greenwood Dog Pound recently published an article based on an interview this writer conducted with Coach Young, explaining some of the background surrounding the recent shakeup in the GHS coaching ranks. That article can also be found on this website. As a follow-up to that article, I also talked with new Head Coach Jason Gill by telephone from his new office in the GMAC building.
We began by talking about that very office and his predecessor, Coach Young. “He didn't have to go far, and he already had another office at the [administration building],” said Gill. “He tried to get out of here as quick as he could to let us get going over here. We've been talking probably the last two or three years that he might transition to something else. I think it happened a little bit quicker than he probably wanted it to. But Mr. Hesslen leaving opened up that path for him quicker than he may be expected.”
“It's just one of those opportunities he couldn’t pass up,” continued Gill, who was also presented with an opportunity he couldn’t turn down. “Well, I want to stay here. I've been offered a few jobs, and I just feel like this is where I'm supposed to be, and I guess it was my time. I got here in 2013. I was the head junior high coach for two years, and then in 2015 I came up as [the varsity] co-defensive coordinator.”
The entire Gill family is involved in the field of education. Mrs. Gill recently retired as principal at Westwood Elementary. “She retired last year and she's taking care of our grandbaby now, [just] loving life,” explained the coach. “My daughter is an eighth grade English teacher here at the junior high.” His son, Parker, was also recently named as the defensive coordinator for the junior high Bulldogs after serving in a similar role at Alma this past season.
Before coming to Greenwood, the elder Gill spent seven years as head coach at nearby Mansfield after serving for several years as the defensive coordinator at Rison High School. Ironically, both Rison and Greenwood won state titles in 2000, giving Gill his first introduction to Greenwood football.
“Before Mansfield, I was a coach and defensive coordinator at Rison for eight years. I was a really young coach at that time. It was my third or fourth year of coaching and I listened to Coach Peacock. He was speaking at one of the clinics we went to, and I heard him talk about the father-son retreat and all that stuff. I’d never even heard of stuff like that, and I was kind of interested. But I had no idea when I came up to Mansfield. You look back on [life] and you're just like, wow. All the things that happen.
“When I came to Mansfield to be head coach, Greenwood also needed a defensive coordinator," he continued. "I thought about applying for the job [then], but I didn't. At that time, Jeromy Poole and I were good buddies. He was coaching in Fordice, and our wives knew each other. They were linked to each other in the [education] world, and he told me he was going to apply for it, and he ended up getting it.
“So, he came here in 2006 and I came to Mansfield in 2006,” continued Gill. “I had a relationship with him, so I came over here and visited the staff a couple times between 2006 and 2013. Then he left – I can't remember the exact year – but it's kind of funny how that worked out. Actually, my wife got her job in Greenwood because when [Coach Poole] left to take the head coaching job at Newport, my wife [replaced his wife] as literacy coach here. She was teaching in Mansfield and then came over here and eventually became the principal [at Westwood].”
Gill, who was recognized as the top assistant coach in Arkansas by winning the prestigious Broyles Award in 2024, said he doesn’t yet know if he will have any teaching or non-football duties next season, but is willing to do whatever Coach Young and the school district wants him to do. “They have been really good to me, and I don't have many [duties] now. We haven't had that talk, so I don't know. But I'll do whatever they ask me to do. I do A and B lunch detention now and I'll keep doing that. But if they want me to do something else, I'll do something else. Whatever they want me to do.”
Then I asked the new head coach about hiring a defensive coordinator? “You know, we really had to hire an offensive coach because we lost an offensive coach. So right now, I'm going to keep [running the defense]. We're going to keep our defensive staff doing the same things we've done, and then maybe eventually hire a defensive coordinator or name a defensive coordinator. But right now, I'm just going to keep doing things like we do on that side of the ball. I'm not going to leave the defensive side. We have eight coaches, four on offense and four coaches on defense. So, I'm just going to keep those duties, and we'll see where it takes us.”
Regarding the vacancy on the offensive side of the ball, Gill was referring to Coach Young, who also served as the team’s receivers coach. “Everybody thinks he was just the head coach, but he was also our receivers coach,” said Gill, who was quick to promote junior high Head Coach Luke Hales. “I told him it was his job to not want. He's done a good job down in junior high and he knows this offense. He played in it, he's been coaching in it, and he just kind of grew up in this system. We're lucky to have him. We lost a great coach in Coach Young, but Coach Hales is an up and comer. I don't think there’s any doubt about that.”
On the defensive side, junior high defensive coordinator Brandon Godfrey has also been promoted to the varsity level, replacing Percy Arnold, who is leaving to pursue a career in personal training and mentorship. “He came up from the junior high and did a really good job as defensive coordinator and I think he's going to do a great job [coaching safeties]. He's already kind of transitioned into that. We start spring ball on Monday, and he's been up here all spring. He's going to do a good job.
“I’ve also got Coach [Travis] Sandifer. He's been with me here every year but one. I guess he's been here every year that I've been the defensive coordinator, and he does a great job in the secondary. Then we’ve got Coach Hunter Moreton on our D-line and he does a great job. I’ll let Coach Godfrey and Coach Sandifer handle the back end while me and Coach Moreton handle the linebackers and the D-line, and we'll just keep doing what we've been doing. I don't really want to mess it up.”
As for his son, Coach Gill couldn’t be prouder. “Parker has a good background in our defense, and he was a good player for us here and he got to do a year [coaching] at Alma. I'm excited to get to coach with my son. He finished [college] in three years. When Coach Burns took over [at Alma] they asked [Parker] if he'd be interested in becoming head coach of the junior high. At that time, we were in the process of trying to hiring him, so we didn't really let it out of the bag until later.”
As for spring practice, Coach Gill explained why they are going at 6 a.m. rather than after school. “We're going in the morning. You know, we do so well in our sports here, and we don't want to mess that up, so we're going in the morning and let those guys [play] in the afternoon. They’ve got state tournaments coming up and we try not to do anything that would risk [injury].
“We go at six in the morning and we'll probably have 107 guys out there at practice. We're kind of different, you know. A lot of [teams] have trouble getting their kids [out], but our kids do a good job of doing whatever we ask them to do. If you haven't been to a six o'clock practice in the morning, it's kind of a neat experience. We go about 90 minutes. We try to get them out of here about 7:30. The school bell rings at 7:50, so they have about 20 minutes.”
Next, I asked the 51-year-old head coach what he most wanted to accomplish this spring or what concerns he might have? “Offensively, we want to keep doing what we've been doing. We've lost [quarterback] Kane [Archer], but we have all confidence in Cruz [Coatney]. We’ve just got to get him the reps. We want to get him as many reps as we can. We've got a lot of offensive linemen back, so we're going to lean on those guys for a little while. But then we’ve got [Brayden] Rennick back and [Braxton] Canada back [at receiver]. Ty Holt is also coming out for football this spring. Cooper Webb, a senior, got injured last year and he's back healthy. So, we’ve got some pieces. We’ve got to figure out where those pieces fit, but I'm sure the offense will keep doing what they've been doing.”
Asked how much he would be involved in the offense, Gill said, “I'm going to trust that Coach [Stephen] Hogan, Coach [Josh] Holloway, Coach [Austin] Moreton, and Coach Hales can get that done. I will oversee it, but I couldn't think of a better four guys to have on the offensive staff to handle that. Coach Hogan and Coach Moreton are co-offensive coordinators, and then Coach Holloway ran our junior high offense when I came here in 2013, and he did an excellent job. Coach Hales was a quarterback here, and he's been [leading] the junior high offense down there. So, I’m very comfortable with those guys and what they can do on that side of football.”
As for who will be the primary play-caller next season, Gill said, “You know what I think was great. I got to witness all those guys calling plays. Coach Young was the backbone of it, and I don't know if there's a better guy to do it. But he's been training those guys, and I remember nights [when] they would all call a touchdown play. They would see something and they'd say, ‘Hey, this is open here.’ But I think Coach Hogan will take on most of that responsibility.”
As for returning starters, Gill did some quick math in his head before answering. “Three,” was the number of returning starters on the offensive line, or 60%. Three starting linemen plus a few others with varsity experience as backups, but six overall starters returning on offense with Renick, Canada, and running back Mario Dunbar all coming back. Senior kicker Landon Franklin also returns.
On the other side of the ball, Gill said, “We have five back on defense. That includes players like Bryer Hackler, William Rye, Drew Dickinson, Gunnar Flanary, Charlie Hudnall, and Jacob Berry, all of which started at one time or another. “We played a lot of young kids and some of [them] started because they had to play a lot due to injuries. I feel good about where we are with kids coming back, but we’ve still got to plug some holes and find some kids to step up as certain positions.
“Last year we started four 10th graders on defense, and I've been here since 2015 and we'd only ever started three sophomores on defense. It takes a special sophomore to come in and contribute and I’m just glad those guys are coming back.” The Bulldogs should also get a boost from a strong group of defenders moving up from the junior high.
As for the upcoming season and the move down to Class 5A, Gill said, “It's gonna be new. We're gonna get to play new people. I really think the top half of 5A will be just as good as the top half of 6A. I don't think there'll be a lot of differences. I think there's still great coaching out there. There are probably more “athletes” in 5A than in 6A. But it's going to be a challenge. We’ve scheduled three 7A teams for our non-conference, so we didn't really step away from that competition. The Bulldogs will open their season with their usual scrimmage at Fayetteville then play on the road at Bentonville-West and Pulaski Academy, before their home opener against Rogers on September 11th. Greenwood’s open date will be the next week before the start of league play on September 25th.
Asked if the toughest conference foe in 2026 might be the Farmington Cardinals, Gill said, “Yeah, probably. But we’ve got Harrison, and they've always had good football teams up there. Greenwood and Harrison have played some really good games. Then we have Morrilton. If you look back, Greenwood and Morrilton tangled a few times in the past, and they've won state championships. So, I think Morrilton, Harrison, and Farmington will be tough.” Other 5A West conference opponents this fall include Dardanelle, Pea Ridge, Clarksville, and Alma.