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Fort Scott, Dodge City picked for fifth-place tie
WICHITA, Kan. -- Butler Community College was the choice of coaches to win its sixth consecutive Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference football championship at a preseason media conference at the Best Western Airport Inn Friday afternoon. Fort Scott Community College, under first-year head coach Jeff Sims, was picked to finish in a tie for fifth place with Dodge City.
Coffeyville was picked to finish in second place. Garden City, with a rookie head coach, was tabbed for third while Hutchinson, with former FSCC head coach Rion Rhoades taking over there, was chosen fourth. Independence was selected for seventh place while Highland rounded out the poll in eighth.
In addition to Sims and Garden's Lucas Aslin, Highland will also have a new head coach as Mike Beagle takes over. In all, four schools changed coaches but all of them expect the parity that began to show in the Jayhawk Conference to continue this season.
"It's going to be an exciting season not only for us, but for the entire conference," Dodge City head coach Marcus Garstecki said. "It's amazing how close the teams have come. A few years ago, you saw 55-0 and 47-7 scores. You don't see those type of games anymore."
Sims took over at FSCC in December. He has previous head coaching experience in Minnesota but is ready to move into one of the best conferences in the nation.
"I've been wanting to be a head football coach in the Jayhawk Conference since I went to Baker University," Sims told the assembled media. "As a player, all I heard was exciting things about the Jayhawk. I've been fortunate to coach in the Mission Conference in California and in the Minnesota Conference against (current Independence coach David) Ward, who did a tremendous job there.
"It's been important for me to become a part of the Jayhawk Conference. There are great coaches in this league."
The Greyhounds had their first winning season since 1992 when they went 7-5 last season under Rhoades, winning seven of their last 10 after closing out a 24-game losing streak. Expectations are now high at FSCC and Sims is ready to step in.
"It's really fun to be at Fort Scott -- to be at a college that really wants to have a quality football program and compete for national titles," Sims said. "And that's our goal. We don't believe that we're going to try to do anything unless we're going to be the best at it. There's a long way to go to do that but we get up every day and we work towards that. We're very proud of our institution and we're working very hard to do that."
The foundation for the Greyhounds' success this season will be in a strong sophomore class that set the bar with its performance last season. Among the returning players Sims spoke about was quarterback Greg Cross, who threw for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns last season.
"I couldn't ask for a better young man to lead our football program," Sims said. "I saw him as happy as he's ever been yesterday because he got an A in biology because he's worked his butt off all summer long so he can graduate in December. I'm hoping he has a great year, so he can have an opportunity to lead a Division I football program."
Also high on Sims' list are offensive lineman Jared Koechner, receiver Anthony Riley, linebacker Matt Glades and defensive backs Todd Adkins and Lucien Antoine.
"We have an outstanding class of young men coming back," Sims said. "I'm very fortunate to follow coach Rhoades at Fort Scott. He worked his butt off. He turned a program that was really down into a quality football program. I'm hoping that we can continue on that road. There are some great young men at our school.
"There have been some transfers from our school out because I'm not Coach Rhoades. We all have different philosophies. We work our programs very differently. But the young men who have stayed are very committed to Fort Scott Community College and are tremendous young men."
Butler, which also won the NJCAA Region VI Playoffs and the Dalton Defenders Bowl on its way to finishing 11-1, has only one returning starter: Defensive back Maurice Gray, who had six interceptions. But Grizzlies head coach Troy Morrill has faced similar situations a couple of times before and has still managed to come out on top.
Press Taylor is contending for the Grizzlies' starting quarterback job. He is the younger brother of former Butler and University of Nebraska signal caller Zac Taylor.
Coffeyville, 7-4 in 2006, also doesn't have many returning starters. But one of them is running back Nate Gullory, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and 13 TD's last year.