Klein Sun - Sports
Jones, Wildcats set the standard
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| Cy Woods football coach David Jones, left, stands with senior wide receiver Corey Haynes (16) and the rest of the Wildcats as they wave to their fans after last Saturday’s 35-21 Class 5A Division I Regional Championship loss to Dallas Skyline at Waco ISD Stadium. |
By Michael Sudhalter
WACO – David Jones stood with his players as the team and coaches waved their hands to the crowd as the Cy Woods school song played on.
The Wildcats had just lost to Dallas Skyline, 35-21, in the Class 5A Division I Regional Championship Game last Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium.
Jones, the coach of the inaugural Cy Woods varsity team, was just as positive as he’d been during the Wildcats’ improbable run to the third round of the postseason.
“Don’t walk off the field with your head down,” Jones told his players.“You set the standard. You’ll always be a Wildcat.”
Jones built the Wildcats’ program from scratch when the school opened in the fall of 2006, but he doesn’t want you to hear about how he did it. He’d rather the credit go to his players and assistant coaches.
There’s a time when Jones, 50, may have felt differently.
The Ardmore, Okla. native played quarterback at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. and decided to embark on a coaching career that took him to Monroe, La. where he was the quarterbacks coach at Ouachita Christian in 1985. The team won the state championship with a record-setting quarterback , Sol Graves, who went on to play at LSU.
Jones then returned to the Sooner State, and he had a goal of becoming a head varsity football coach by the age of 35.
He accomplished it when Edmond North High opened up when he turned 35. They played varsity the first year that the school opened, finishing 3-7 and missing the playoffs by one game. But something wasn’t right.
“All of my goals were being reached,” Jones said. “The whole thing, honestly, was all about me. It was my deal. It was look at what I’ve done. It was all triggered wrong, motivated wrong, done out of selfish stuff and I promised that if I ever got another opportunity, I’d do it totally differently.”
“Just give me one chance, give me one shot. And the Good Lord took care of me.”
It took 13 years before Jones got that second chance. He left Edmond North after one season when Todd Graham, now the head coach at the University of Tulsa, hired him on staff at Allen, Texas, near Dallas.
Graham’s staff built the Allen program, and Jones eventually left to become offensive coordinator at Jersey Village, where he worked under a former Oklahoma prep coach, David Snokhous. He coached current Denver Broncos running back Selvin Young during his time with the Falcons.
On his daily commute on U.S. Hwy. 290, Jones would notice a massive high school campus being built wher e the land used to be cow pasture.
He thought about that opportunity, and the life-changing experiences that had taken place since that point. He met his wife in Allen, and they had three children when they moved to Houston.
He also experienced the loss of his father, one of his strongest supporters, during his time in Allen.
Those events influenced Jones to become a better person and a better coach.
He wanted kids to play hard, but now they were supported by the coaches. And he wanted coaches to do their job without fear of being micro-managed.
“I promised myself if I got the chance, we’d build it on relationships with our kids, we would build it on how we treat kids on the field and we would be fortunate enough to have kids play their hearts out because of the relationships we have with them,” Jones said. “We would work them as hard as we could possibly we work them, but because of the way we treat them, they would give us just a little bit more.”
That was definitely the case for the Wildcats, who finished 8-3 and third in a competitive District 15. The seniors lost just four games in three seasons, the first two being played at the JV level, and the team scored 70 points against Cy Falls, a program just two years removed from a state championship game.
Jones said playing the first varsity season in the school’s third year was an important step. The Wildcats went a combined 19-1 at the JV level.
“It’s been a real long process,” Jones said. “I’d been through it before, I knew what to expect and what was going to happen. Having a group of kids that buy into a philosophy, the first day we had them until now, we’ve never taken a step back. Honestly, we’ve had some growing pains. We were not really good physically, and we still laugh about the first game we played at the Woodlands. But we won on the last play of the game.”
Cy Woods’ trademark has been a no-huddle offense that produces lots of points.
“I have really trusted the coaches to put it together,” Jones said. “I have asked that we go at a fast pace. I’ve always believed if you’re going to be a no-huddle offense, you have to operate fast or you might as well huddle. I want the ball snapped as quick as we can snap it, most of the time.”
“You need a bunch of kids who are not selfish to run our offense. Because if its about you making catches and getting yards, you’re not the right person.”
Although offense was the Wildcats’ forte, they also played solid defense in the playoffs, earning a 21-20 win over Georgetown and a 22-15 triumph over Klein Forest. They also outscored Dallas Skyline, 14-7 in the second half.
Jones, his coaches and the senior class have definitely built a foundation – offensively, defensively and off the field – for the future.
This Wildcat program is going away any time soon, folks.
“I promised myself if I got the chance, we’d build it on relationships with our kids, we would build it on how we treat kids on the field and we would be fortunate enough to have kids play their hearts out because of the relationships we have with them.”
Cy Woods football coach David Jones on building the Wildcats’ program.
The Wildcats had just lost to Dallas Skyline, 35-21, in the Class 5A Division I Regional Championship Game last Saturday at Waco ISD Stadium.
Jones, the coach of the inaugural Cy Woods varsity team, was just as positive as he’d been during the Wildcats’ improbable run to the third round of the postseason.
“Don’t walk off the field with your head down,” Jones told his players.“You set the standard. You’ll always be a Wildcat.”
Jones built the Wildcats’ program from scratch when the school opened in the fall of 2006, but he doesn’t want you to hear about how he did it. He’d rather the credit go to his players and assistant coaches.
There’s a time when Jones, 50, may have felt differently.
The Ardmore, Okla. native played quarterback at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. and decided to embark on a coaching career that took him to Monroe, La. where he was the quarterbacks coach at Ouachita Christian in 1985. The team won the state championship with a record-setting quarterback , Sol Graves, who went on to play at LSU.
Jones then returned to the Sooner State, and he had a goal of becoming a head varsity football coach by the age of 35.
He accomplished it when Edmond North High opened up when he turned 35. They played varsity the first year that the school opened, finishing 3-7 and missing the playoffs by one game. But something wasn’t right.
“All of my goals were being reached,” Jones said. “The whole thing, honestly, was all about me. It was my deal. It was look at what I’ve done. It was all triggered wrong, motivated wrong, done out of selfish stuff and I promised that if I ever got another opportunity, I’d do it totally differently.”
“Just give me one chance, give me one shot. And the Good Lord took care of me.”
It took 13 years before Jones got that second chance. He left Edmond North after one season when Todd Graham, now the head coach at the University of Tulsa, hired him on staff at Allen, Texas, near Dallas.
Graham’s staff built the Allen program, and Jones eventually left to become offensive coordinator at Jersey Village, where he worked under a former Oklahoma prep coach, David Snokhous. He coached current Denver Broncos running back Selvin Young during his time with the Falcons.
On his daily commute on U.S. Hwy. 290, Jones would notice a massive high school campus being built wher e the land used to be cow pasture.
He thought about that opportunity, and the life-changing experiences that had taken place since that point. He met his wife in Allen, and they had three children when they moved to Houston.
He also experienced the loss of his father, one of his strongest supporters, during his time in Allen.
Those events influenced Jones to become a better person and a better coach.
He wanted kids to play hard, but now they were supported by the coaches. And he wanted coaches to do their job without fear of being micro-managed.
“I promised myself if I got the chance, we’d build it on relationships with our kids, we would build it on how we treat kids on the field and we would be fortunate enough to have kids play their hearts out because of the relationships we have with them,” Jones said. “We would work them as hard as we could possibly we work them, but because of the way we treat them, they would give us just a little bit more.”
That was definitely the case for the Wildcats, who finished 8-3 and third in a competitive District 15. The seniors lost just four games in three seasons, the first two being played at the JV level, and the team scored 70 points against Cy Falls, a program just two years removed from a state championship game.
Jones said playing the first varsity season in the school’s third year was an important step. The Wildcats went a combined 19-1 at the JV level.
“It’s been a real long process,” Jones said. “I’d been through it before, I knew what to expect and what was going to happen. Having a group of kids that buy into a philosophy, the first day we had them until now, we’ve never taken a step back. Honestly, we’ve had some growing pains. We were not really good physically, and we still laugh about the first game we played at the Woodlands. But we won on the last play of the game.”
Cy Woods’ trademark has been a no-huddle offense that produces lots of points.
“I have really trusted the coaches to put it together,” Jones said. “I have asked that we go at a fast pace. I’ve always believed if you’re going to be a no-huddle offense, you have to operate fast or you might as well huddle. I want the ball snapped as quick as we can snap it, most of the time.”
“You need a bunch of kids who are not selfish to run our offense. Because if its about you making catches and getting yards, you’re not the right person.”
Although offense was the Wildcats’ forte, they also played solid defense in the playoffs, earning a 21-20 win over Georgetown and a 22-15 triumph over Klein Forest. They also outscored Dallas Skyline, 14-7 in the second half.
Jones, his coaches and the senior class have definitely built a foundation – offensively, defensively and off the field – for the future.
This Wildcat program is going away any time soon, folks.
“I promised myself if I got the chance, we’d build it on relationships with our kids, we would build it on how we treat kids on the field and we would be fortunate enough to have kids play their hearts out because of the relationships we have with them.”
Cy Woods football coach David Jones on building the Wildcats’ program.
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