Published: September 04, 2008 11:57 pm         

‘Donnie Football’ returns to sideline

LINDSIDE — When Don Jackson walked away from his post as the successful coach at James Monroe, he never thought about looking back.

“When I left, I had a lot of medical stuff,” Jackson said. “I had a knee replaced and I had some back problems. I didn’t go to a game the first year. I wanted to get completely away and stay away from it. I didn’t want to be a distraction.”

Little did he know he would wind up back on the same sideline he so successfully patrolled when the school was formed by the consolidation of Peterstown and Union.

But that is exactly where he is.

Jackson returns Friday night when the Mavericks open with another Class AA power, Wayne.

“Everywhere I went in the community, there were people who wanted me to do it,” Jackson said of returning to the sideline after a five-year hiatus. “I missed the guys I worked with and my wife probably wanted me out of the house.”

It is truly a family affair at James Monroe. Jackson has four nephews — Taylor Robertson, Jake Williams, Braxton Thompson and Brad Jackson — on the team.

The Mavericks are coming off a state championship game appearance, where they lost to Bluefield. And while they return a plethora of skill position standouts — Robertson and Brett Kisell to name two — the Mavericks lost their entire line from that team.

Former coach David Witt, now the athletic director at James Monroe, ran the single-wing during his five-year tenure.

Jackson is installing his offense and it’s taking time.

“I never realized how important it was to have continuity in the offense,” Jackson said. “You go a couple days and you’re up and going. Putting in an offense that most of these kids never ran, it takes time. I am having fun putting my offense in, but it’s taking a little longer than I probably thought it would.”

Still, Jackson is pleased, especially with his quarterbacks. The single-wing employed no quarterback.

John Ballengee, a junior, will start, but Jackson is also pleased with a pair of sophomores for the future, John McKinney and Andrew Evans.

“Nobody had played quarterback, so what we need to do is get them some experience,” Jackson said. “We might even set (all-state running back) Taylor Robertson in the shotgun a little bit, but he isn’t really a quarterback.”

Jackson said his offense is a collection of the years.

“It’s a hybrid type of thing,” Jackson said. “It’s a little bit of the good things from a lot of different offenses. Part of it is from the single-wing, although we’ll sit a quarterback back there. Then we go to the pro set and we’ll also spread you out a little bit. Everything I do, it’s already been done. We just combine it all.”

Jackson won 164 games over a 20-year career at Peterstown and James Monroe. That includes a 1991 state championship.

“We haven’t really set any type of goals,” Jackson said. “We have a tremendously tough schedule — Wayne, Bluefield, Scott, Greenbrier East, Oak Hill, Wyoming East. All those teams are going to be tough.

“Down here we expect to go to the playoffs. I guess my goal for now is to make them play the best they can and hopefully we’ll have enough skill to win some games.”

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com