Interview with Bentonville Arkansas head Coach Jody Grant before Head Coaching Debut vs. Rockhurst

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

If Bentonville High School football players ever needed to look for inspiration, courage, and determination, they have to look no further than head coach Jody Grant. Grant inherited the best of both worlds when he took over as head coach of the Tigers after legendary head coach Barry Lunney Sr. retired. But he also set himself up to be compared against one of Arkansas’ best high school football coaches ever making the path forward a tricky situation.

Every state has at least one Barry Lunney Sr., a guy that not only has been around the game for decades but has rolled with the times and with the various changes succeeding at every turn along the way. In 28 years of coaching he posted a win-loss record of 248-90-1. Lunney guided the Tigers to a 97-25 record during his 10-year tenure with one state runner-up finish and four state championships (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2014). Before heading to Bentonville, Lunney won four state titles at Fort Smith Southside (1991, 1992, 1997, and 2002) bringing with him a legacy of excellence that he has imparted upon his players and coaching staff over time.

A logical decision in replacing Coach Lunney is to hire from within, which is what Bentonville High School did. After Lunney retired in January, by March Jody Grant received a promotion from defensive coordinator to head coach making an easier transition for the staff and players beating out 33 other applicants. In the process Coach Grant stepped into the spotlight replacing a coach that held a career winning percentage of .733 and was ninth all-time on the Arkansas high school coaches’ career win list.

Coach Grant was well versed on the high school sidelines, even before he became a coach. His father, Joe Grant, was a well-established high school football coach in the state of Alabama. After attending Arkansas Tech University, Jody quickly picked up a position with Clinton (1999-2001) and then started working his way up the coaching chain working at Vilonia High School (2001-2004) before joining Coach Lunney’s staff in 2005 as an assistant coach. In 2013 Coach Grant was promoted to defensive coordinator helping the Tigers win back-to-back state championships.

The new era in Bentonville begins Friday night when the Tigers travel to Kansas City to take on Missouri powerhouse high school football program Rockhurst. Coach Grant’s early tenure gives no reprieves with Valor Christian (Colorado) and Rickards High School (Florida) coming to Bentonville before taking on in-state Fort Smith teams, Southside and Northside, in back-to-back weeks.

In a Recruiting News Guru exclusive interview I caught up with Coach Grant before his opening game against Rockhurst to get his thoughts on the upcoming season. I also got a listing of some of the Bentonville players to watch for in 2015 and his process of replacing a coaching legend.

Interview

Coach Grant, what are some of the early challenges the 2015 season has brought to you?

“Well I’d say ultimately, for the first time in several years, we are dealing with an area of inexperience that we haven’t had. We only have four coming back on the defensive side and I think three on the offensive side. The guys we’re going out there with on Friday night are very inexperienced. They’ve played but have not played significant time. That is one area that we are working through.

“Obviously we’re putting these kids and the coaches through the transition we are working through, the small differences that are there in the coaching change. Ultimately what we are trying to do is just maintain what we’ve done here and continue on as if Coach Lunney was here. I learned under him.”

Over the years the buildup of stepping into a role behind a legend has proven to be very tough. For you, knowing what Coach Lunney has done for football in the state of Arkansas, what has that process been like for you? Have there been any challenges yet?

“I think anytime you take over for a legendary coach like that it’s scary. The shoes are huge to fill. I think for me, in my own mind, it’s a little different because if I was going into a different school for a legendary coach that I was not familiar with it’d be different. Its different working for a guy and learning from a guy and then taking over his program. I view like that, others may not. The challenge is there and people will view it as this guy is crazy for taking over. No one wants to fill his shoes. I do want to because that’s my mentor. That’s the guy that I learned from. This program is as important to me as it is to him. I’m just carrying on and doing what we’ve done over the years and hopefully the tradition continues.”

You mentioned losing a lot of guys off of last year’s championship team. I know Harrison Rooney at linebacker, Ean Pfeifer on the offensive line, defensive tackle Javier Carbonell, a couple of running backs (Hekili Keliiki and Dylan Smith) and your kicker (Bennett Moehring). Who are some of the playmakers you are hoping will rise up and fill the void left by those seniors?

“That’s a good question. I think we have some guys we feel good about. At linebacker replacing a Harrison Rooney is tough. A Harrison Rooney does not come along very often. The guy that played next to him last year, Brandon Atchinson (5’11”, 219) has taken over his spot as the leader of our defense. We expect big things from him. He had a really nice year last year. As a junior he made All-Conference. We expect him to operate our defense like Harrison did.

“We’re returning Logan Darby (safety) in our secondary. He’ll ultimately be in charge of our secondary as a whole getting our defense and coverages together along with Atchinson. Those two are the two probably in addition with Tyrone (Mahone – cornerback), those three as a whole we really got to hang our hats on those guys due to the fact that they played every game last year. Some of the guys on the defensive side of the ball we are hoping makes some noise and do somethings are our outside linebackers Destyn Adkins, who started as a sophomore last year, and Austin Rose, a very athletic kid that has a chance to have a special year. Our other corner, Kary Collier, he started the last two games of the year after Tyrone broke his leg. So he has some big time game experience. What I mean by big time, the semifinal and finals that kid started and covered KJ Hill (WR Ohio State) in the semifinals and then covered CJ O’Grady (TE Arkansas) and Drew Greenlaw (Arkansas). He’s covered some big time athletes and has had some success there. We’re expecting a lot from them.

The defensive line, we return no starters. We’ll start, if all are healthy, we’ll start Noah Stubbs, who is a senior at one of our end positions. Jack Patterson, who we moved from outside linebacker down to defensive end, he’s a junior, and then at nose guard we’ll start Jimmy Fernandez. That’s assuming all are healthy. All of those guys are very athletic bodies. They’re probably not your typical D-line body. They are kind of tall and slender but they compete and get after it. Hopefully those guys can fill the role on our line.

“Honestly, offensively Kasey Ford, our quarterback, is our trigger guy. We’ll lean on him big time like we have the last couple of years. We have to find some backs. Jacob Clark is going to get the nod as the guy. He has a lot of speed and abilities. Avery Johnson showed us that he can play on Friday nights. The other night during our scrimmage he did real well. Obviously David Nickels is somebody you’ll see him play both ways for us. He’ll play inside linebacker and running back. I’d like to see him carry it six to eight to 10 times a game because he is really talented running back as well as a linebacker.

“Those are some guys we’ll work at the running back position. Dax Hale returns as our tight end. We’re expecting big things out of him. In our receiving corps, we’re waiting for guys to step up and do some things. We’ve got some guys. Clay Barganier started the state championship game for us last year as a sophomore. He has a chance to be pretty special. We have a sophomore, Cameron Mays-Hunt, who is new to the program. He has a chance to have a pretty special year. We’re going to work him in kind of slow but he has showed us he is capable of helping us on a Friday night.”

Are there any marquee games on the schedule that you are looking forward to this year?

“Yeah, truthfully, there’s a lot I’m looking forward to. For us, anytime we play Fayetteville it’s a big time match up for both communities. I think that’s true for Har-ber. Those are two conference games that we have to look at as big games. I don’t want to sit here and name them all but they’re all important games. Anytime we play Southside, Southside is the only team that beat us in the conference last year. That’s a big game, that’s our first conference game.

“You hate to leave out any teams. Northside will be athletic again. I think Springdale will be so much better that they have been. I have so much respect for Zak Clark. I think he’s a great football coach. Those are all conference games. Our non-conference games are fun. We play out of state competition. We open on Friday against Rockhurst. They’re 1-1 right now. They beat a team out of Columbia two weeks ago. We went and saw them play Friday night at Webb City. Webb City beat them but Webb City is a premier program out of the state of Missouri. What I hear about the teams out of Colorado and Florida will be tough. I know I’ve given you almost all of them but those are the ones that obviously are pretty exciting to talk about.”

Webb City would be a tough match-up for any team. I believe they are nationally ranked. Without giving away your game plan for Rockhurst, how do you plan on attacking Rockhurst?

“Here’s the deal about Rockhurst. They are very well coached and what they do, they do they do real well. What we have to do to be successful against Rockhurst, the first thing is we have to tackle well. They have a back that is a Wisconsin commit and he’s legit. He can go. We’ve seen him before, watching him the other night, and watching him on film, we’re going to have to be able to tackle well to have success at stopping their offense. For us offensively, I think what we need to do is be who we are go out and operate and not make mental mistakes. Last year against Rockhurst we had some unnecessary mistakes and some turnovers that were costly. I think if we do not turn the ball over and operate offensively the way that we can that gives us our best shot verses Rockhurst. They are a very well coached and very good program.”

I have a broad question for you but, what is your coaching philosophy?

“That is a broad one and hard to answer because you can be so detailed about what it is. In general for us, my philosophy as a coach is to make sure our football program is high character, hardworking, doing it the right way, and these kids are doing more than just winning football games. The kids are developing into quality young men because of the influence of our staff and what we are doing. Ultimately, we want to be considered a team that when they see us on the football field that we are well coached and a high effort football team that does things the right way. A team that takes all three phases very serious.”

Here’s a quirky question for you, do you have any superstitions or rituals you do before a game or during the course of the week?

“You know, yes and no. I try to fight that. I try to fight superstition because it can control you on game day to the point where it makes you crazy. I don’t truly believe in superstition but I have been known to drive the same path if we won the Friday night before and maybe eat at the same place. But I don’t wear the same underwear or the same socks or any of that mess. It’s funny, my kids when I take them to school we have “Shortcut Friday” on game days. I’m not sure it’s a shortcut but in their mind it is. They make sure on game day we do “Shortcut Friday” on their way to school. I think to answer your question, yeah there are a little bit of things we do but more to appease my kids than true superstition. I try to fight superstition pretty hard. I try to not get caught up in that.”

I wanted to ask about your thoughts on the recruiting process? Is there anything you would change about the recruiting process?

“Well, I think that colleges, and some head football coaches may disagree with me, it seems like a lot of times colleges have removed coaches from the process. Not all but some. There are a lot of times I’ll hear of a kid, one of our kids getting an offer from a program, and I didn’t know about it. They (college coaches), and not that they have to, but I think there is something to that.

“If I were a college coach about to offer a kid I’d at least want to visit with head coach or the position coach before I do that. There have been many times since I’ve been here at Bentonville where I’ll find out on Twitter that a kid got an offer.

“That’s the only thing that has changed over the year. A lot of head coaches may love that, that way they are not a part of it and are hands off. But I like to be involved in the process. I’d like to make sure they are making the right decisions that are best for them, that’s why I think having the coaches involved is important.

“Recruiting is a big animal. It’s tough because a lot of times these kids are getting recruited and loved on for all of that time and then when it’s time for signing day they are wondering where all of their offers are, and they’re not there. I’m learning through that as well being new to the head coaching position. One thing that was great, Coach Lunney let me be very involved in that with our kids. Coach Lunney let me work with the kids on the defensive side of the ball with that allowing me to communicate with college coaches through the process. Colleges have it figured out. They know what they’re doing.”

Coach I appreciate your time. Good luck against Rockhurst.

“Thank you.”

 

Photo credit: nwarkansasonline.com; Jody Grant on the sidelines.

Photo credit: nwarkansasonline.com; Jody Grant at a Bentonville practice.

Photo credit: 5newsonline.com; The Tigers celebrate their 2014 state championship.