Parkers Chapel names Jacobs as new coach

Elliot Jacobs has been a head coach for several different sports during his career, but outside of a one-year stint at Rector back in 2007, Jacobs hasn’t gotten a second chance to be a head football coach.

That changed Wednesday night, as Jacobs was named as Parkers Chapel’s new coach after Jacob Midyett resigned after a two-year stretch at his alma mater.

Jacobs, who is also Parkers Chapel’s athletic director, was busy at work just hours after getting the job by holding a staff meeting Thursday morning.

“It went real well,” Jacobs said. “All of the coaches are on board with my plans for the program, and we’re excited to get going.”

With Midyett leaving, Jacobs, who was an assistant on the coaching staff, wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible for the team.

“Coach Midyett took a job in a different school district, one that he felt was a step up for his career and where he is wanting to go,” Jacobs said. “He told me that was the way he was leaning, and after talking with my superintendent (Michael White), we felt it was best that I just assume that role. We started some good things here, and I think that with my background, we can increase on the good things that we’ve done here in the last two years. We thought that was the easiest transition.”

With Jacobs now the head football coach, the school approved two more coaching hires with Josh Willeford joining the football staff as an assistant coach, and Rhonda Swilley, who guided Parkers Chapel to a state championship in slowpitch softball in 2001 and the 2A state finals in 2007 in fast-pitch, will return to coach the softball team after Jacobs coached them last year.

“I really think that we’re getting the best deal with her,” Jacobs said. “I like to pride myself on being the hardest working coach on staff, and I told my wife that when we hired coach Swilley that I have to step my game up because that lady works her tail off. She is a heck of a coach, and we’re fortunate enough that she came back. We feel that our softball team should compete for state in the next three to four years, and I think she is the right person to lead us there.”

Willeford comes to the Trojans after serving as the junior high football coach at Cedar Creek in Ruston, La.

“He was a student teacher at El Dorado when I was there,” Jacobs said. “We’ve remained close friends through the years. We’re excited about him coming over. We feel his knowledge will be beneficial for our program. We’re excited to get going.”

Jacobs said that as of now, Steven Bates would be the offensive coordinator with Willeford serving as the defensive coordinator and Paul Morrow would be in charge of special teams.

That will allow Jacobs to handle the management of the game.

“Just managing the game is going to be the biggest challenge,” Jacobs said when asked what he thought his toughest test would be in his return as a head coach. “That’s why I want an offensive and defensive coordinator so I can focus on something else and not have to worry about calling plays.

“When I first got into coaching, I was a young kid that thought he knew more than he did, and I was not ready for it. I’m ready now. I know how to manage the staff. I know how to manage players. What we need to do to be better, that’s the stuff I’m going to focus on and let my assistants worry about the X’s and O’s. Let me worry about building a program and a culture, letting kids know what they’re going to get out of the program, telling them what we expect to give to the program. That’s where I see my role now, and I didn’t have that in 2007. It was just all X’s and O’s, and I’m not that way anymore.”

Prior to coming to Parkers Chapel, Jacobs was the offensive coordinator at Gurdon, and he said that while he would like to run the spread, getting the ball in the hands of his playmakers comes first.

“Offensively, I’m a spread guy,” Jacobs said. “I would love to throw it every down, but I understand we’re not always going to have the best quarterback and the best receivers, so whatever we run offensively, we’re going to put our skill kids in the best position to make plays.

“Whether we throw it every down, run it every down or we’re balanced, I don’t care as long as our best skill kids are getting the most touches and we’re putting them against the defense’s weakness. As long as we’re doing those things, I’m comfortable with whatever we’re running.”

What the Trojans will run on defense is still up in the air.

“I’m a 4-3, cover-two guy, but what I told our defensive coordinator today is that’s what I want to start with,” Jacobs said. “I told him as long as we can get lined up correctly and have 11 guys run to the football, everything else will take care of itself. We’ve got to find those 11 bodies that first know how to line up to every formation they’re going to see, then will they run to the football on every play. If we can get that, it really doesn’t matter what we run, we’re going to be successful.”

Connecting with the players will be a major key to success for Jacobs.

“What I told my coaches is we’ve got to show each and every one of these kids that we care about them, not just as football players, but the other things that they do,” Jacobs said. “We want to show them that we’re invested in them. That’s first and foremost, then we can start talking about the football aspect. We don’t have a lot of dads who played football here, so safety is a big concern for some of our athletes. We’ve got to show them that fundamentals are going to be a big part of our program and how we teach things. We’re going to be safety first and make sure these kids know the game of football before we ever put them in any type of situation they feel they might get hurt.”

Jacobs said the next few months will be critical for the Trojans in terms of work in the weight room and improving the team’s numbers.

“We really like the kids that are going to be seniors,” Jacobs said. “Most of them have played in the two years that I’ve been here, so we feel real confident in that. Our job over the next couple of months is to make sure we’re getting as strong in the weight room as fast as we can. Then we need to recruit the halls and try to get a few more kids out that should be playing for us. We feel that we need every available kid in Parkers Chapel to reach our goals.”

The implementation of Jacobs’ schemes will begin during spring practice.

“We might not be able to have a spring game and scrimmage, but we will start implementing our stuff with the kids that we have,” Jacobs said. “Over the next couple of weeks after that when the baseball kids come to us, then we’ve at least got a nucleus of kids that know what’s going on, and that will be easier to transition for those 10, 12 kids coming from baseball.”

This past season, the Trojans reached the playoffs for the sixth straight year, but came up short in their quest for their first postseason win since 2010.

Now Jacobs has the opportunity to mold his own program.

“This is a job that I’m ready for,” Jacobs said.