Ocean Lakes hires new football coach
After a month-long search, King's Fork's Joe Jones has been hired as Ocean Lakes High School's football coach, principal Cheryl C. Askew told the Pilot on Monday.
Jones replaces Chris Scott, who last month left Ocean Lakes after eight seasons to become head coach at Bishop Sullivan Catholic in Virginia Beach.
Jones was 44-45 in eight seasons at King's Fork - 6-6 this past season. He led the Bulldogs to playoff appearances in each of the last four seasons.
Scott guided the Dolphins to an 86-10 record, five Beach District titles and the program's only state championship in 2014. Ocean Lakes has won 41 consecutive Beach District regular-season games.
Monday's hire fills one of two prominent head coaching vacancies in South Hampton Roads. Richard Morgan last week resigned as Oscar Smith's coach after 14 seasons to coach at Marietta High School in Georgia.
This is a developing story. Check pilotonline.com throughout the day for updates.
Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
Follow @JamiVP on Twitter.
Joe Jones played Tight End at Tech in the 80s, hoping this is good news for recruiting!
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Found this about Morgan leaving Oscar Smith.
http://pilotonline.com/sports/high-school/football/richard-morgan-to-lea...
That is just nuts paying a high school Coach 6 figures.
He's a P.E. teacher. Making 111k.
That's what most the 4A and up programs in the Upstate of SC pay their coaches.
As someone who grew up in the upstate of SC and still lives there, this is very much the case for big time 4A programs. At my high school the coach was the AD as well, didn't teach, and made around six figures if not over.
I totally can attest to this. I teach in the Midlands of SC and our AD/head football coach makes as much as the principal (~$100,000). You throw in the 10 or so assistant football coaches that also make more than most other coaches in any HS sport, and you wonder where it all comes from. The booster club covers some of it, but some high school are not lucky or organized enough to have one. And yes, it does reflect poorly on the state of SC as a whole when money like that is dumped into athletics.
Yet we (SC) have one of the WORST education standards in the entire country, SHOCKER. side on that my oldest is 4 getting ready for kindergarten and the state standards are a joke. At 4 years old they want them to be able to draw a straight line, crossed lines (an X) and be learning their ABC's. I mean she was being taught that at 2 in Ohio and when we moved down here the preschool we picked does the same. But state standards in SC are bad.
That is disgusting. I can sort of "get" it at the Power 5 D1 level since those salaries pay for themselves. But I doubt a HS coach making over 100k pays for itself. It just sends a message that the fb program is more important than you know, academics.
I am in no way defending that sort of salary. And I have no idea what sort of revenue these SC football programs bring in. I can speak to this... High school athletic funding in my area is greatly reliant on high school football gates (attendance/concessions) and winning teams can pay the freight for other sports.
I can't speak for Byrnes and Dorman, but as someone who coaches in upstate SC, most football head coaches are making nowhere near this.
For those unfamiliar with SC HS football, Byrnes, Dorman, Spartanburg, and Gaffney have combined to win like 80% of the last 15 state titles and have been nationally ranked/traveled to play top teams from other states and are all within about 20ish miles of each other (some much closer than that) and it is really strange given that Spartanburg/Gaffney area doesn't really have anything significant about it.
Yea it's crazy how far some of those programs have gone. I know in Duncan most of the PeeWee leagues run all the same packages that Byrnes runs in an effort to start preparing the kids for high school.
not uncommon for the HS football coach to be one of the highest paid folks in some of the smaller communities in the southeast. having the occasional big time recruit doesn't hurt either.
As someone who coaches HS FB and is on the totally opposite end of the pay scale (I teach in NC, smh) I think that HS coaches do not get paid enough for the work they put in. They coach, fundraise, provide field maintenance, run the weightlifting program, and drive buses; all while teaching during the day. They are working 70-80 hrs a week during the season.
Is $111k excessive? maybe. Is a stipend paying the equivalent of $.09/hr too little? YES.
I can't speak for VA, SC, or GA, but I do know that coaching stipends in NC differ from county to county. The education piece mentioned above has nothing to do with how coaches are compensated. BTW, NC sucks in BOTH of those areas.
As someone in the same vocation as both guys, I'm happy they are able to substantially provide for their families while doing what they love.
Morgan won't be doing all those things. The High School he is going to has 17 members on staff including a S&C coach.
Agreed that he won't be doing any of those things. Usually in SC the head coaches who are getting paid six figures are the ADs as well. That being said, they also have assistant ADs and secretaries who cover a lot of admin work for them.
My point is that I'm happy for the guys who have made it to that level, because there are A LOT of HSFB coaches who put in way more work & not be adequately compensated.
I respect the coaches who do all those things more than I do a school that has an AD and 17 coaches on staff. Where is all that money coming from.
I'm thinking boosters. I remember when we were doing well we had some great dinners, steaks and what not. The moment a string of loses happened it became subs or pizzas.
That was my thought when I read about that small stipend. They deserve to be paid more for as simple a reason as they are putting in significantly more hours.
Yea and the worst part is (as Fireman mentioned) that these coaches making 111k don't have to do any of these things. I definitely know where you're coming from though. I organize and help administer the strength and conditioning program for a local smaller 4-A school and our young coach runs himself absolutely ragged.
Certainly good news, although I have heard much of the current elite talent at ocean lakes is planning on transferring
Going to be interesting if they don't go private school, see another 757 public school coach get accused of recruiting kids.
Believe that the school is Bishop Sullivan. And it is a private school, so they can except kids anywhere nearby.
Frankenberry?
Joe Jones is a great guy and a good family friend. Very deserving of the opportunity. Ocean Lakes is getting a good one.
That said, Jones also loves all things VT. Doesn't hurt to have a fellow Hokie in the ear of the talent that comes from that school.
Concur, he was our PE teacher and Head football coach at Franklin HS (City of Franklin, not Franklin County) in the mid to late 90's.
When did you play. I'm pretty sure we did a scrimmage with you guys a few times in Sussex. Went to Prince George High.
Go Royals! I miss Disputanta
Did you go to PG High too? I have a love/hate relationship with the area, haha.
No but I live just south of 460 on 156. Coached 7 grade ball for oldest son when they needed help. Got to a lot of good people and some real strange ones. We lived there for 12 yrs before moving to Cincy.
What years were you there, I was there during 91-99 before I became a permanent resident in Blacksburg. I know a lot of the families out that way.
I was in High school '94/95 - '98/99. I didn't fail, at the time we started HS in 8th grade, were called thetamores and could only participate on the JV teams. I didn't play HS football, just wrestled but PE was mandatory until 10th grade so that's how I interacted with him.
After I graduated we moved from AA to A and won the state in '04 I believe, I think he had already left by then though.