By David Stinchcomb
Intern EA News
Monday was the start of a new era at Billingsley High School, and with it comes high expectations for the football program. Angie McLean, who is the principal of the school, introduced Lanny Jones to students and parents.
Shortly after he was introduced, Coach Jones addressed the audience, explaining to them what his vision for Billingsley Football is. He emphasized that the most important things to have in any football program is a foundation and a vision. “You can show up and you can know all the Xs and Os that you want, but until you create a foundation that you are going to grow your program on and don’t have a vision, it doesn’t matter,” he explained.
Coach Jones said that he likes using acronyms, and he has already created one that is intended to set the standard for the program. F.I.E.R.C.E was the acronym used, and he went on to explain what it stands for. “We’re going to be Fearless, we’re going to play with Integrity, we’re going to have Effort, we’re going to be Resilient, we’re going to be Competitive, and we’re going to have Excellence,” he said.
There have been two summer workouts with his new players so far, and he had nothing but high praise for them. He said, “They’re awesome man, they are very attentive [and] they give me a lot of effort.” He also talked about how he coaches his players by saying, “I’m going to be a teacher first before I am a coach, because what good is it for me to yell at you if you still do not know what I’m talking about?” In addition to inheriting new players, he has also inherited a new coaching staff. He has not met with his entire coaching staff yet, but he planned on meeting with them on Tuesday.
Another topic of interest for Coach Jones is the perception of the program, and it starts with the perception within the school. “When you walk in that fieldhouse there is nothing that says Billingsley… so I asked them [the players] the other day, do y’all even know that Billingsley High School has won two state championships? Some of them didn’t even know and that’s an issue for me,” he said, referring to the state championships won in 1992 and 1997. “It needs to be a daily reminder of what our standards should be when we walk in that fieldhouse,” he continued. Their goal is to upgrade their facilities to the level of other prominent schools in the county, with the only difference being size.
Angie McLean explained the thought process in hiring Coach Jones by saying, “We liked him because he has 1A experience… but he also had 7A experience that he could bring with him, and we want our program to grow and to be better,” she said. Coach Jones has previously been a head coach at Calera High School in 2005 and Isabella High School from 2007-2009. He has an overall record of 21-23, and has a 2-2 record in the playoffs.
The Billingsley Bears have not had a winning season since 2014, but they have been one or two wins shy in all but two seasons since. They have been to the playoffs every season since 2018, but have been unable to get out of the first round since 2015. They will open the season at home against Prattville Christian Academy on August 19th.
