Jones settling into life as Bearden’s new football coach

The Bearden football team has found its next head coach and has hired him off of the staff of one of the more successful 5A programs in the last few years.

Coach Josh Jones, who was Powell’s offensive coordinator the past three years, was introduced as head coach in December. 

“Living in Knoxville my whole life, I know that Bearden is a special place with special people,” Coach Jones said. “In a really tough league football wise where some people might have seen that as an obstacle, I saw that as an opportunity. 

“I’m excited about everything and what the potential that this school and this community has.”

Jones helped lead the Panthers to a 33-6 record over his three years there and to one of the more dynamic and successful offenses in the area this season as Powell averaged 37.2 points per game in their 15-game season, where they ultimately won the 5A state championship with a 42-34 win over Page High School.

Before his run at Powell, he led the eighth grade Fulton program for 15 years and then served as CAK’s offensive coordinator for one season.

“I’ve gotten to be at some really good programs and work for some really good people,” Coach Jones said. “I’ve tried to take a little bit of stuff I’ve liked from each one and am going to collectively put that into my own deal.”

During the coaching search, the search committee prioritized a few certain characteristics in a coach and Coach Jones met all of those criteria.

“What we were looking for in a coach was first off somebody that will come in here and build a winning program,” athletics director Mr. Donald Balcom said. “But then also someone that would be able to put himself out there and communicate with the community and that he would also have high expectations and standards for the student athletes not only on the field and winning football games but also off the field.” 

The next steps are crucial as they try to get a top tier staff together, learning about all of the players and teaching them the new culture.

“Just trying to get our foundation laid and what our program is going to be about, effort is going to be the foundation of our program,” Coach Jones said. “Getting a staff hired.

“Getting the guys used to pushing themselves as much as they can, trying to overcome hard. Football is not an easy sport; you’ve gotta be able to overcome. That’s going to be a big emphasis for us this offseason. I want to build better people. Our goal is that when they leave here we want them to be better human beings. One day they are going to be husbands, fathers. We want them to be the best they can be at all that.”