Jordan’s Justin Newman feels at home, aiming to build excitement around program

New Jordan coach Justin Newman listed a number of people when asked about his biggest coaching influences.

There was his dad, of course. Scott Newman is the former head football coach at Shaw. There’s also Charles Flowers, who the elder Newman coached under during the Raiders’ heyday around the turn of the century.

He also mentioned former Pacelli head coach Randy Grace, who helped him learn the ins and outs of the off-the-field responsibilities of being a head coach, and former Valdosta head coach and current Georgia Southern offensive coordinator Rance Gillespie, who Justin Newman said influenced his zone blocking scheme.

One other name jumped off the list: current Spencer coach Pierre Coffey. Newman praised his ability as a coach and teacher, and also pointed to the success the Greenwave had last year in Coffey’s first season as a head coach.

Spencer went 8-4 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. It was the team’s first winning season since 1977. That is what Newman is trying to inspire in his new program as a first-time head football coach: put 19 losing seasons in the past, and build a new future.

“Why can’t it be you?” he said he asks his players. “You guys are just as talented, watching the film. It’s always been the little things. It’s a discipline thing and making sure we’re doing the little things that add up to the big thing.”

Despite an incredibly active alumni association, Newman is fighting a culture at Jordan that hasn’t, for one reason or another, embraced the football program over the years. Numbers are consistently low, and Newman said he has seen students wearing shirts for schools like Spencer, Carver, Shaw or Hardaway.

Immediately upon being hired, he reached out to a friend who made 100 Jordan shirts with the slogan “C-Town Takeover.”

“We’re trying to change something here and get people excited,” he said. “There’s a good base here, so it’s just more of an awakening that, hey, we play football here.”

Football is, of course, a passion for Newman. He played minor league baseball in the Cincinnati Reds organization, but a torn hamstring ended his career. He didn’t have plans to become a football coach until his dad took him along to a coaching clinic with Rance Gillespie. Newman understood the zone blocking scheme the best, and his dad convinced him to join Shaw’s staff.

After that, he was hooked.

“There’s nothing like a Friday night,” he said. “Preparing for that one day. It’s a big atmosphere, you’re under the lights, it’s just exciting.”

And he’s hoping that excitement is the antidote Jordan needs to get things trending more quickly in a positive direction.

“Everybody wants to win,” he said. “I think we’re talented enough. We need to make the playoffs this year. But being competitive in all the games and having the chance to win is big for these guys. If you show you can be competitive, more people will get excited.

“Hopefully (the players) get that Coach Newman does care about them. They ask me, ‘You don’t want to do college?’ No, I do not. This is what I’ve wanted for the longest time. I don’t want to do nothing else.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Jordan’s Justin Newman feels at home, aiming to build excitement around program."