My son-in-law, Josh Jones, is the HC at Lamar. His first HC job was at Magazine from 2005 through 2011. His (only) assistant during that period was Doug Powell, who is a close friend. They took Magazine from 0-10 in 2005 to 14-0 and a state championsip in 2010 (and likely would have had another in 2011 if their quarterback's leg had not been broken in the Danville game). Josh won the Coach of the Year award in 2010 and at the banquet said, "I want to introduce my staff. Doug, stand up."

There is a community of the Hmong ethnic group from southeast Asia in the Magazine district, and they played a significant part in the team's success. Because of that, there was a lengthy feature article about Magazine in Sports Illustrated.

In 2012 Josh took the job at 3A Lamar, and Doug took over the HC job at Magazine. Magazine won the district championship last season and Doug got the job at 4A Waldron. In the meantime, Lamar moves up to 4A in the bi-annual realignment.

So now Josh and Doug, best friends, are in the same conference with a grudge match Friday night. It ought to be a close game, but it is at least one of those games where you know a good guy will win.

Good for them both! Those games against close friends have to be bittersweet. I have followed Josh’s teams since the big Magazine turnaround and the Russellville paper always reports on Lamar. I hope Magazine gets a coach that can keep their program going as well[/i]

(10-05-2020 09:25 PM)Karl B Wrote:  I hope Magazine gets a coach that can keep their program going as well[/i]

The new coach is Ryan Chambers, the quarterback on the state championship team. They are doing pretty well so far this year, but as usual, keeping enough bodies on the sideline is a problem.