Q&A With Coach Darby Jones

Interview by Jack Boyer

Head football coach Darby Jones, a native of Central City, Nebraska, began strength and conditioning work with the players in the early weeks of summer. The team, as well as athletes of other sports, hit the weight room to prepare for fall’s grueling schedule that includes trips to defending 4A champion Andale, powerhouse Ulysses, and longtime rival Pratt among others. The Eagles play five home games and five away games with arguably the most difficult opponents on the road.

Although the odds are stacked against Kingman this season, Coach Jones knows none of that affects results. With years of football under his belt as a player for the Dana College Vikings and as a coach at as many as four high schools, he knows what success consists of.

In an interview with the face of Kingman football, Coach Darby Jones spoke with me about his transition to Kingman, the team, and its goals.

HCDJ: They have adjusted and accepted the changes better than I expected. In regards to the changes, they have exceeded all expectations.

My hometown is very similar to Kingman. Moving to Kingman was like going back home. The biggest difference between Kingman and Houston has been the friendliness of the community and our neighbors. It was a little shocking at first, but in a good way.

I do not believe that adds any pressure. As a coaching staff, I do not think that anyone can put more pressure on us than we put on ourselves. We have already proven that they (the team) can compete.

We have to keep climbing the ladder and keep working to get better at what we do.

Wow! We played really good, against two really good teams and we got better from week one to week two. Wellington and Mulvane are two playoff teams from a year ago and they are traditionally really good teams. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way.

That is a very good question. The most obvious is that we came out flat and they were on fire. As coaches, we accept responsibility for the players starting flat. If you play or coach long enough, you will be a part of games like last Friday. I don’t think that any one thing was the reason why we played like that. I doubt we will ever really know why that happens. Give Coach Slade and his Rose Hill team credit; they were the better team last week. We have evaluated the game film and made some changes to the practice schedule and we expect to raise our level of play for Circle.

I do think that we improved. There were things that we did better offensively vs. Rose Hill than we did the first 2 weeks. Defensively we took a step back.

Our main goal as a team for this season and every season is to be state champions.

Kingman, now sitting at 0-3, are preparing for their trip to Towanda to play Circle for the Thunderbirds’ homecoming. Even though Kingman’s record isn’t impressive, the season is still early and the players, as well as Coach Jones, appear to be confident.