While sitting with my wife at a local Mexican restaurant last month, I was shocked to learn that Chris Young was stepping away from his position as head coach of the Greenwood Bulldogs, arguably the most successful gridiron program in Arkansas over the past quarter century. After six years at the helm, Young is passing the torch to acclaimed defensive coordinator Jason Gill as the team’s new head coach. Several other personnel moves have taken place both before and after Young’s announcement.
The long-time GHS coach will remain as Athletic Director but also take on a new role as the administrative head of district operations and facilities. I recently talked with Young about his decision to alter his career path by climbing higher on the administrative ladder, a move preceded by another high-level administrative change that started the dominos falling.
But first, I asked the veteran GHS coach of 27 years about handing the keys of the kingdom over to his chosen successor, the importance of promoting from within, and the stability of the GHS staff in recent years. “It’s really contributed to our success for sure,” said Young to the last point. When he became head coach in 2020, Young was determined to build one of the best group of assistant coaches anywhere in the state, and he did, promoting Josh Holloway from the junior high level to coach running backs and special teams, bringing in the Moreton brothers (Austin and Hunter) to lead the offensive and defensive lines, and hiring Percy Arnold to shepherd the safeties.
“He took over after the announcement,” said Young of new head coach Jason Gill. “We moved pretty quick, so he's in complete control of the program. He's making decisions regarding his staff. He’s in full control, and they're going to start spring ball on Monday. It'll be his first official practice. But yes, I'm out of that role and into this [new] one fully. I just want to be available [if] he needs me. Coach Gill has been here a long time. He knows very well the things we've done in the past, and he'll add his own wrinkles onto that. But he also knows I'm a phone call away. There won't be a bigger fan of Coach Gill than me. I'm so thankful for what he did for me during my six-year career as head coach, that I'm excited to play a small part in his journey.”
But how did this surprise move come about and why now, I asked Young? “This is something I've had conversations with Mr. Ciesla [Superintendent] about, the potential to move up in administration one day. I certainly didn't think Mr. Hesslen was going to leave this quickly. I thought he would be around for several more years and then retire. But when he got offered the [superintendent’s] job by Alma and decided to take it, that was a surprise to everybody around here because he'd been in the district so long and done such a good job. But it just sped up the timetable.
“Mr. Ciesla expressed to me that he would like me to fill that role, along with Dr. [Cody] Chatman, who’s going to take some of [Mr. Hesslen’s] duties as well. So, it was something I didn't have a lot of time to think about. Obviously, I loved my job as head football coach and athletic director. [It’s] something I've done for a long time. But at the same time, this presents some opportunities for myself and my family. Maybe I can have more time on the weekends to be with my wife. Obviously, it was a good decision for me financially, and it also gives me the opportunity to get involved with other programs and other employees in the district.
“One of the things I took pride in [during] my six years as head coach is “coaching” coaches and developing those assistants under me to be ready when this happened. I think I did a good job with that. So, I'm excited now about being able to work with our facilities and operations staff and our other coaches as well. I'm still going to be heavily involved in athletics, whether it be football or any other program as the athletic director. I think that will help me in removing myself as head coach. I'm still going to be around those kids and those coaches. It's fun and exciting. It's a new job. It's an opportunity to do new things and help new people,” Young continued.
“But at the same time, it’s hard because I've coached football here the last 27 years and loved every minute of it, and I'm a little nervous about walking away from the kids. I'm a relationship person, whether it be a relationship with my players or with our assistant coaches. Those are things I'm concerned about. But I’m going to be involved and will do whatever I can to help Coach Gill and his staff and those kids be successful.”
Next, I asked Young at what point was Coach Gill plugged in and made aware of all this? “We've had conversations in the past,” he answered. “Jason has been my right-hand man the whole time I've been here and had a huge role even when Coach [Rick] Jones was here. So, when I transitioned to Athletic Director three years ago, Coach Gill took on a lot of things that a normal head coach would do because I was over here. He helped lead our junior high program and made day-to-day decisions dealing with staff, with kids, and parents. He's been a head coach before, and I'm excited for him.
“He's earned this opportunity. We never considered anybody else. When I went to Mr. Ciesla and told him I wanted [Coach Gill] to take over, He had the same thoughts. Fortunately, when we talked to our [school board], they shared our sentiments about Coach Gill. They know he's going to do a tremendous job. They also know he has a tremendous group of assistant coaches that will help him.”
Regarding those assistants, two of them will be new, having been recently promoted from the junior high staff. Brandon Godfrey and Luke Hales are making the move to the varsity level, with Godfrey replacing the retiring Percy Arnold as safeties coach, and Hales will take over as receivers coach, a job formerly handled by Coach Young. Hales is a former GHS quarterback and has been the junior high head coach for the past few years. The Athletic Director was asked about the importance of promoting coaches from within the program.
“I think it's got to motivate the coaches,” offered Young. “If you're not happy with what you're doing or you want more responsibility, go work your tail off and there's a possibility of that. I think not only in our football program, but throughout our district, Mr. Ciesla and our board has done a great job of taking care of our best employees. Coach Godfrey did a fantastic job with our [junior high] defense, and [the varsity] had a defensive position open and we moved him up. When I came out, it opened up a wide receiver position and Coach Hales was moved up. He’s very familiar with what I've done. He’s been around me the whole time, so I think he'll do a great job.
“Now we’ve got to find a head junior high coach, and that's what we're doing right now, because that’s a huge job in our football program. There are 200 athletes under the head junior high coach. Coach Gill is going to have enough to deal with running the high school program, so that's going to be a very important hire. Coach Gill has been talking to people and interviewing, so hopefully in the coming weeks we'll be able to fill that position.”
In the meantime, one of the two open junior high coaching jobs has already been filled, said Young. “We hired Parker Gill, Coach Gill's son, as the defensive coordinator for the junior high. Parker was in that role at Alma and did a tremendous job over there. He was actually offered the head Alma junior high job. Fortunately, we were able to get him to come over here with us. I know Coach Gill has had a long-time dream of working with his son, and I think that's going to be pretty cool that they get to do that together.” The younger Gill also played linebacker for his father at Greenwood before graduating and finishing his college degree in three years.
Asked about his new responsibilities as the district administrator over operations and facilities, Young explained, “It's really all-encompassing as far as dealing with our maintenance staff, any type of new building plans we have, and certainly those conversations we've got to have with Mr. Ciesla and our board, but I will oversee maintenance, operations, and security. Jim Caudle does a great job running our district security. I'll oversee him in that role. Jerry Elmore, who leads our maintenance department, might be the best employee in our district and does a fantastic job. I'm going to be able to support him and give him some things he needs.”
Regarding district facilities, especially those related to athletics, Young mentioned some recent additions and some possibilities for the future. “If you go behind the baseball field now, the former pavilion area that didn't get a lot of use, we’re enclosing that to use as an athletic storage area, which I'm excited about. We've taken some stuff out of the arena to use some of those areas underneath. We put in a golf simulator for the golf teams. We've made a film room for our basketball programs to use. So the things we used to store in there are now going to be stored in this building that was the pavilion area, things like high jump pits, pole vault pits, hurdles, soccer goals, just big storage things that we can get out of the way to keep our facilities looking nice when they're not in use.”
As for the football stadium itself, Young revealed some of what might lie ahead. “We are looking at some projects with some new bleachers. We need to redo the visitors’ bleachers, and we need to add some bathrooms. We're having conversations about those things, whether that's a year or two or five years down the road, we don't know at this point. At some point we need to replace the turf on the football field.”
Shifting gears, I asked the AD about the district’s new basketball hire, Scott Nelke, who is taking over the varsity girls' basketball program. “He was formerly the head coach at Roland [Oklahoma],” said Young. “At one point he was an assistant at Fort Smith Northside in their boys program, but not recently. He's here right now, but he's been at Roland as the head coach the last three or four years. When the job came open when Coach [Clay] Reeves left, his was the name I kept hearing, and I reached out to him. But it was not good [timing] for his family. He wasn't ready to make a move. Fortunately, he was at this point.
“We’re really excited about him,” Young continued. “I haven’t talked to anyone that hasn’t had good things to say about him. He has a ton of experience as a long-time head coach at Poteau (OK) for girls basketball. He was at Northside as a boys assistant when they had [future NBA players] Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe.” Both players, also former Razorbacks, play for the Oklahoma City Thunder and are NBA champions.
Ryan Castleman, who has filled in as Lady Bulldogs head coach since 2024 when new hire James Halitzka unexpectedly backed out of the job just weeks before the season started, will return to junior high boys basketball where he started at Greenwood. “He’s going to help in some way with our boys program,” said Young. “I’m not exactly sure where he’s going to fit. We have one extra coach right now, but that's not a problem. He did a great job of bailing us out in a tough situation and we're very thankful that he did that for us. But he'll transition back to why he came to this district, to help Coach [B.J.] Ross and our boys program, whether that's on the junior high or high school level, we'll figure that out down the road.”
Besides hiring a new head coach for junior high football, one other coaching change is likely, said the AD. “Track could have some changes with Coach Gill getting football, but we're not ready to do that yet.” Coach Gill has been the head track and field coach for the past few years, with the program showing noticeable improvement during that time. Greenwood just hosted the conference track and field meet last Wednesday at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
While the recent flurry of personnel changes, particularly in football, might be jarring for some fans and unusual for Greenwood athletics, known for its long-term stability and success, there’s really no cause for alarm. The GHS athletic program remains in good hands with Coach Young at the helm as Athletic Director and Coach Gill taking over the district’s flagship sports program (football) for the foreseeable future. The promotions of Coach Godfrey and Coach Hales are well-deserved as is the hiring of Parker Gill to run the junior high defense after his dad’s likeness. Coaches Young and Gill can be trusted to make a solid hire for junior high head coach as well to keep the GHS football machine humming along as usual.
Regarding basketball, it may take a year or two, but Coach Nelke appears to be the right man for the job of returning the Lady Bulldogs to statewide prominence once again. As for Coach Ryan Casalman, he has proven himself to be unselfish and a real team player. Wherever he lands within the boys basketball program, he will do a great job supporting both the junior high and varsity teams under the leadership of Bulldogs Head Coach B.J. Ross.
In the end, it all comes down to personal integrity and character, something the entire GHS coaching staff has in spades. Of course, they know the Xs and Os of their specific sport(s), but they also love their players and want to make them better people for having been a part of Greenwood High School athletics. They set the proper example for their kids and work well with other coaches within the athletic department, since they all share the same athletes in many cases. They model hard work and personal responsibility for their players and take pride in representing the school and community of Greenwood. Parents know they can entrust their budding young student-athletes to the care of the GHS coaching staff. We are very fortunate to have such a group of high-quality people in charge of Greenwood athletics, and we should support them and the athletes in their charge as they strive to be the best they can be.