Hardin Valley’s head coach Wes Jones meets with his players for their game against Oak Ridge on Thursday,
August 16, 2018, at Hardin Valley.
Leaving Hardin Valley was difficult for Wes Jones, the only head football coach in the school’s history. He helped bring about its football program from embryonic jayvee stages to a 1-9 maiden varsity season in 2009 and even to a Class 6A state quarterfinal run in 2016.
To pour so much time, effort and passion into a venture like that and then decide to walk away from it for another coaching job as an assistant at Science Hill weighed heavily upon Jones’ mind.
“This was not an easy thing for me,” he said. “When I tell you this place means a lot to me, it really means a lot to me. I love Hardin Valley.
“It’s just time for the next chapter in Hardin Valley Football, I feel. It’s something I started from its inception and have been a part of it for 11 seasons. Now I’m stepping away from it.”
But now that he’s had a couple weeks to process it all and think back upon what Hardin Valley had become, Jones talked with 5Star Preps about everything from the initial stages of building a program to who he thinks the school needs to hire next.
Here’s his exit interview, a more in-depth Q&A.
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