JTV Sports Coach of the Year
After seven wins in five years, Farley took Jackson to district final on the gridiron
By Mike Moore
Staff Writer
Jackson – This certainly wasn’t the best of situations to walk into.
A program teetering on the edge of becoming irrelevant, and maybe worse, an expectation that it couldn’t change.
After making the postseason in 2009, the Jackson High football program went a staggering 1-17 the next two seasons.
Enter Scott Farley.
Commence the turnaround.
“We knew from the beginning this would all be part of a process,” Farley said earlier this week of his approach when he took over at Jackson prior to the 2013 season. “You saw all the things that were building, the things I thought we were capable of. We had some adversity, but we were able to grow from it.”
It would take time, and Farley knew patience would have to accompany his teaching.
In 2013, the Vikings went 2-7.
In 2014, just 1-8.
“When you have kids that buy into the vision, it makes a big difference,” Farley added.
The Vikings bought in, and their patience paid off this fall with an 8-3 record, a trip to the Division 2 district final, and a sideline general who earned the 2015 JTV Sports Coach of the Year honor.
“It was a very gratifying year,” Farley said with a very modest tone. “Football is different than so many sports because it takes so many people to be successful. We have a great staff, guys that work so hard. Then we have the kids, who all bought in. You have the lower-level teams working so hard, the moms and dads helping with boosters. It’s such a group effort to be part of this whole process.”
But the process is what he’s believed in for three years now.
It took the Vikings two weeks to start this season to double last year’s win total.
Then the guys in orange and black shrugged off a 1-2 stretch to close the regular season on a four-game win streak, highlighted by the 35-34 overtime upset of Lumen Christi.
The 42-35 victory against Churchill in the playoff opener was the first for the program since 1999, and just the second ever.
“These are very talented kids, very good football players, let’s not kid ourselves,” Farley said with a laugh while explaining the success. “That’s part of this. But they were also very good kids. They wanted to be successful, in school, in academics and on the field. … Every bit of this year was so enjoyable. We had our fair share of adversity, but we stayed the course.”
And now the challenge is to do just that in the future.
Farley wants to avoid a drastic fallback to the way things were before he arrived. Too many times in program history has a step forward been followed by multiple leaps back.
“Expectations and outcomes are very different,” Farley said. “But the input won’t change. We’re going to expect the same things we’ve expected before, but now the kids can see the success that can come from this.”
Mike Moore is a play-by-play commentator and Sports Writer for JTV Sports. You can reach him at mjm12@albion.edu. He’s also the author of ‘Love, Defined; A Dedication to the Love, Sacrifice, and Magic of Motherhood.’
Love, Defined is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tate Publishing or by contacting Mike directly.
Photos by Ryan Kerwin, JTV