Second year brings high expectations

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Last August, Butch Jones was heading into his first season as head coach with a defending conference championship team and a load of expectations.

One year later, the expectations have elevated even higher, and Jones’ team is still the defending Mid-American Conference champions.

If only it was that simple, Jones often says. In the last year, Jones was on the defense (the week after a 44-14 loss to North Dakota State), flirted with other jobs (he was interviewed twice for West Virginia’s coaching vacancy) and was given a lucrative extension (five years, total of $1.45 million plus more than $150,000 in possible bonuses).

“We have about 175 individuals that I’m directly responsible for in our football family,” he said. “We’re in a people business -?I think every day there’s something new.”

He took the Indoor Athletic Complex and turned it into a virtual museum of Central Michigan football – complete with trophies, plaques, awards and a plethora of photos of Chippewas from past and present.

“If you walk through our facilities right now, you see a vision of our football program,” Jones said. “You come in and you’re entrenched with the tradition that exists here. You’re also entrenched with where we want to take the program. That stuff doesn’t appear overnight.”

He, along with Athletics Director Dave Heeke and staff, he has worked donors up and down to contribute back to their alma mater.

“I respect the guy immensely, and I love going to work with him every day,” Heeke said. “It is a joy and it inspires me to work every day to help our program improve.”

While other coaches may just focus on Xs and Os, Jones delves deeper into the mindset of his players. He frequently holds individual meetings in his office, and organizes events outside of football to get to know the student-athletes that put on a uniform for him every day.

“We do all kinds of group activities as a team. We have chapel – it’s more faith-oriented,” said senior running back Justin Hoskins. “It’s more like a family atmosphere instead of just a business. It makes football fun; it doesn’t make it such like a job. It’s working hard as a family to accomplish one goal – to win – and that’s what makes it much better.”

An example of the family Jones has created came over the summer, when several of his assistants had the opportunity to leave for other positions around the country. But a year later, his entire 11-person coaching staff remains intact.

And he hopes the word gets out. The more wins and success the program experiences, the more recruits hear about what he’s building.

“Like anybody, you want to be a part of a winning program,” said freshman running back Jahleel Addae. “Here, all I see is this program going up to another level each and every year, including this year … Being around a winning program attracted me.”

With his second year about to begin, Jones said he can’t take a day off from continually making progress.

“I think my past experiences prepared me for this,” he said. “The definition of building a program is that it’s very solid in everything you do. Those expectations are in place now and our players understand that. But you have to continue to build that.”

sports@cm-life.com