SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – The question he gets asked most often – and the obvious one for anyone who doesn’t know him – has also been the easiest to answer for Chris Jones.
After an accomplished career in which 25 of his 29 years as a football coach have been spent at the professional or collegiate level, Jones has returned home, where on Saturday he was named the new head coach at his alma mater, South Pittsburg High School.
Even before the job was officially his, Jones was peppered repeatedly with the same question, “Why leave the highest level of the game to coach high school football?”
“I’ve spent all the time I want to away from home,” Jones said. “I want to be back closer to my family. I have a daughter in college and another playing high school volleyball, and this allows me to be closer to them. Football-wise, it might sound odd to people who aren’t from South Pittsburg, but this is my dream job. It’s where I’ve always wanted to coach.
“I told the committee when I interviewed for the job that the 45 minutes they were giving the candidates wasn’t enough time for me to explain how much I love my school and my community. I grew up in this town, in the midway projects and never forgot where I came from and how much my roots meant to me.