Andy Hall hired as new Jackson coach

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Posting this from the home office so hopefully it comes out okay. This will appear in Thursday's Times-Journal. Enjoy.


Hall hired as new JHS football coach

By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor

Andrew Hall is following in his father’s footsteps.

Even though those father’s footsteps will be side-by-side his son’s along the Jackson football sidelines.

Hall, the son of the successful Larry Hall, was hired as the new Jackson High School head football coach on Tuesday night, becoming the latest head coach of the tradition-rich Ironmen program.

After a two-and-a-half month search, Hall was hired by the Jackson City Schools Board of Education in a 5-0 vote at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday.

He takes over one of the most successful high school programs in the entire state of Ohio, and replaces four-year mentor Shane Wolford, who resigned the post three months ago.

Hall is a native of Scioto County, and a 1989 graduate of Wheelersburg High School, having spent the majority of his coaching and teaching career in either Scioto or bordering counties.

But Jackson County, and the football-crazy community of Jackson, is his home now.

“This is a great opportunity here, and it’s one I’m excited about and looking forward to,” said Hall. “Jackson football has a proud history and tradition and I want to continue that. This program has been successful for a long time under the leadership of a lot of good coaches. Shane (Wolford) being one of them. Coach (Randy) Layton before him and Coach (Jim) Reynolds before him. I look at this opportunity as building on the tradition. Each and every coach has his own philosophies, and I want to take my own direction on it, but our goal is to continue the success here and raise the bar.”

But more than one Hall was hired on Tuesday night.

Larry Hall, a longtime coach at Wheelersburg before a successful season last year at Sciotoville East, was hired as his son’s varsity assistant.

Last season, the younger Hall was his father’s assistant and offensive coordinator, as the duo help guide Sciotoville East to a 9-2 overall record, a third straight Southern Ohio Conference Division I championship and a quarterfinal home game in the Division VI, Region 24 playoffs.

Assisting his father last season marked Andrew Hall’s return to coaching after a one-year hiatus.

For six seasons prior to two years ago, Hall was an assistant at Lucasville Valley after a five-year stay at Rock Hill, including the 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons as head coach.

Prior to that, Hall was the offensive coordinator at Greenup County in Kentucky, after a one-year return in 1993 at his alma mater in Wheelersburg.

Following his graduation, Hall walked on at Morehead State University, and played for two years before spending the final two as a student assistant.

While at Morehead, he played for defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, who is the new head coach of the NFL’s New York Jets.

For the past eight years, including this year, Hall has maintained his teaching position at Valley.

He was also hired as a teacher in the Jackson City School District.

Jackson City Schools Superintendent Phil Howard formally recommended the Halls, as Andrew Hall was one of over 30 applicants for the position.

Howard said 14 candidates resided outside of Ohio, and one was even from Nova Scotia in Canada.

Howard led a search committee of seven individuals, which reviewed the applications and conducted formal interviews.

He said he “was very impressed” with Hall.

“He rose to the top of our list pretty fast,” said Howard in the open session of Tuesday’s meeting. “He impressed our search committee to the point where he was a unanimous choice.”

Jackson High School Athletic Director Bob Kight explained that when the committee narrowed its finalists to four, Hall emerged as the “most dynamic individual.”

“He (Hall) has a strong football background and knowledge and ability to communicate with others,” said Kight. “He is definitely a good choice.”

Kight added that Hall was recommended by Joe Daniels, the current quarterbacks coach at Ohio State and veteran college assistant.

Hall said that any discussion about his father joining him in Jackson didn’t arise until the end of the interview process.

Larry Hall is retired after a career in education.

“This was not a 2-for-1 deal,” said Andrew Hall of his and his father’s hirings. “My father and I always talked about the opportunity of coaching together. I came back in 1993 to Wheelersburg to help him, and 16 years went by before we had the chance again last year at (Sciotoville) East. I was interested in the Jackson job regardless of whether my father came with me or not. If it worked out where he could join me, then great. Now that that’s going to happen again, it’s another great opportunity.”

Larry Hall, according to Andrew, will head up the defense, just as he did for 17 seasons at Wheelersburg before spending the next eight as head coach.

Larry Hall coached the Pirates to three state semifinal games, and was the defensive coordinator in 1989 when Wheelersburg won a state championship.

Andrew, on the other hand, is an offensive-oriented coach.

For starters, he is a senior certified coach with the Darren Slack Quarterback Academy, which is a series of nationwide quarterback camps and clinics designed to help prospective signal-callers improve and excel at that position.

When asked about his offensive philosophy, Hall —given his quarterback-oriented background — said he hopes to incorporate an increased Ironmen passing attack.

“I like to throw the football, and I would like for us to be able to throw the ball, consistently, around 15-to-18 times a game,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re going to throw it 25-to-30 times a game, but I’d like for us to be able to throw it more than three to five times consistently. Each week, you might see something different. One week we might come out in a spread and five-wide (receivers) and no-huddle, and the next week we don’t. But we want to have more multiple looks and be multi-dimensional.”

In many ways, that would be a significant change in the Ironmen’s traditional attack.

Jackson has long been a run-oriented, midline option, ball-control, clock-consuming offense, with most of the plays kept between the tackles.

Hall explained a similar change in philosophy at Sciotoville East.

“When we came in at East, they were running a two-tight (end) double wing, and probably threw the ball two or three times a game,” he said. “Last year, we had a quarterback throw for 1,000 yards.”

But Hall also said “you have to fit your system to fit your kids.”

“It depends on your personnel,” he said. “You may want to throw the ball, but you still have to have a quarterback who can throw it, receivers which can catch it and linemen which can pass protect.”

Defensively, Hall prefers to play the 4-6 or even a 5-2 with a shade.

“We’re going to do a lot of stunting and blitzing and putting pressure on the quarterback,” he said. “We want to be very aggressive. And it doesn’t have to be done with the traditional ‘big’ 200-pounds or more guys. There are a lot of nose guards who are 150-or-160-pounds who are quick and active and can get through the gaps and get in the backfield. Again, like the offense, we want to have variation.”

But first, Hall said, he wants to increase the program’s numbers.

For the last two seasons, despite being Division II, the Ironmen hovered around 40 to 45 players in grades nine thru 12.

There was no freshman team either last season.

“We want to get the numbers back up and re-establish the freshman squad,” he said. “That’s a priority. Ideally, we would like to see 60-to-70 kids playing football, and have a full freshmen and junior varsity team. I want all of the kids to have the chance to play on a regular basis at one of the three levels.”

Hall said that, as of Tuesday night, he had not met with his new players nor selected his coaching staff.

All of the assistants on Wolford’s staff are former Ironmen, and Hall thanked them for keeping the program working through the vacancy period.

“I want to mention them for keeping the weight room running and making sure the kids are still preparing for next season,” he said. “From what I have heard, the attendance in the weight room has been good and the kids are still doing what they are supposed to as far as theoffseason is concerned.”

Hall hopes, in fact, to announce a meet-and-greet night in the coming couple of weeks.

“I’m not from Jackson and I don’t have any connections here, so it’s important for me to get to know the community,” he said. “I want to introduce myself, give people the chance to meet me and my family, and ask questions and talk about the program and expectations. I want to help out in any way I can. I believe myself to be a community guy and I’m honored to be here.”

Hall’s immediate family includes his wife Gina and their two children, 10-year-old Bryce and 7-year-old Raegan.

sports@timesjournal.com

[boogerred]

Good! Now Jackson can get ready for the season.

[JacksonI]

I think jackson is going to be better than what everyone expects, the players and new coaches have to establish a connection and get everything running smooth.

[85inside]

IMO a very good choice. I think Andy will bring an open offense that will be hard to handle in our part of the state. many teams down this way still play rockem sockem. If he can open up the offense and play good defense, along with the facilities and size of school, Jackson could really become a major force in Southern Ohio.

Good luck to Andy Hall.

[loganlocos]

Sounds like a great hire. Once Jackson starts rebuilding their numbers, I think they can be a factor with the facilities and tradition they have.

[ironman02]

Looks like Coach Hall will be looking to establish a balanced offensive attack. I think that will definitely be a good thing for Jackson. I'll be very interested to see how things go. Good luck to Coach Hall and the Ironmen in the future.

[91blue14]

NICE HIRE

[osu 77]

Good luck Coach Hall

Jackson has a great football stadium to help build the program.

[sleepy floyd]

no 2 for 1 deal who are they trying to kid. Who was d-cordinator at Jackson last year? Guess he found out he won't be next year.

[TARTAN/TITAN]

WOW, I thought Larry was edicated to build the east program back up, after Davis Left?


I tried to tell everyone Easty was just "THERE" for Larry at the Time he neded it, to help get his son a job.

I still feel he was taking the East job for a year or two, and was going to try to turn it over to his son.

but now this great job, with great facilitrys came up, and they BOTH jumped all over it.

the good thing is, East has a ton coming back, so finding another coach to step in shouldnt be hard.

[ironman02]

NICE HIRE

What's so funny?

[grizzlynatural]

NICE HIRE

What's so funny?

Thats what im wondering. At least Jacksons program is getting somewhere. Gallia wont know what schemes they are running until July. I wouldnt want to coach at Gallia either....

[jungle cat]

Good Luck to Andy Hall a very good coach and a very good person. Jackson folks will find out that no one will out work Andy.

[grizzlynatural]

I really hope this works out for the Ironmen. Back when i was growing up the team to beat was Jackson. It really sounds like hes a HELL of a coach.

[sleepy floyd]

How Long was Andy at Rock Hill? what was his record? and is this the only Head Coaching job he has had.

[BlizzardMan]

July gives the Devils plenty of time to still beat Jackson as always.

[Pavilion]

Sleepy,

I'd say you already know the answer to that question and it must not be very good or you wouldn't be asking so why don't you just tell us?
Seeing as you haven't had anything good to say about the guy yet!

redcoat, I have to admit that you are the man. You must have a legitimate inside source or else you are really one of the people on the committee.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

A couple of minor corrections with this story surrounding Coach Hall's time at Morehead State.

Andy walked on and played for one season not two before becoming a student assistant on the staff. He coached with Rex Ryan while there at Morehead, and didn't actually play for him.

The mistake made on my end with short-hand notetaking on an over-the-phone interview.

Coach Hall had a chance to read the article and informed me of those corrections. He said everything else looked good which is good news.

Looking forward to working with Coach Hall.

[grizzlynatural]

Wow the more i learn about this guy the more impressive he is.

[noreply66]

Congrats too Jackson