Interview with Spencer Riley, Head Football Coach for the Jefferson County Patriots

August 19 is a date that many citizens in Jefferson County are patiently waiting for. It has been 9 months since fans have been able to see the Patriots on the football field take on an opponent, and there is much for the fans to be excited about.

Coach Spencer Riley has only been at the helm for 3 months, and already has begun the process of not only getting settled in to his new duties, but also changing the culture of Patriot Football – remembering the past, but also writing a new chapter in the history of Jefferson County Patriot Football.

How are you getting settled in?

“Fine, it’s been great – a really good transition. The kids have bought in to what we’re doing, working hard. It’s been pretty smooth at this point. There’s always little bumps in the road, just growing pains with a new coach coming in, new staff getting in order, and getting the kids to understand how we do things. It’s just been a little bumpy, but other than that it’s been okay.”

How have you personally been getting settled in? How does it feel to be home in Jefferson County?

“Well it’s been pretty good because I’ve lived in Jefferson County for six years before I took this job. I was Driving back and forth to Tusculum College every day. It’s not been a hard transition by any means for us. My daughter’s been in school here and there’s been no problem with that transition.

How’s the community been receiving you as head football coach?

“It’s been great. People who I’ve not seen in years have been coming up to me saying they’re glad to have me back. People are really excited and those who haven’t been to ball games in a long time are getting their season tickets. So there’s a lot of community excitement, and we’re hoping it continues. It’s like a product, and whatever you put out on the field is what everyone wants to see, and hopefully we’ll be able to come out and show them that we’re making improvements each and every week.”

What kind of tweaks and improvements have you made since the red and blue game?

“Well, as a coaching staff we’ve redone the weight room. We’ve done away with the old, and brought back the new/older traditions of teaching kids and showing them the old – like the early 80’s, trying to teach them about Jefferson County Football, about the History behind it, because some of these kids don’t know. They don’t know about the Collins Brothers, they don’t know that Coach Quarrels of Maryville played here. They don’t know that those guys were part of the reason that Jefferson County was a predominant powerhouse in the 80’s and early 90’s. We’re working on laying that foundation of tradition and history. … That’s how I’ve come in, is with a ground-up attitude. Building the traditions, knowing the old. But we’re also building our own traditions. You know it’s a new era here at Jefferson County High School. It’s different from the 80’s, it’s different from the 90’s. The 2016 season starts a new tradition, starts a new era, and we want to make sure they understand that history, and keep that history, and know what it means and take pride in it, but we’re also writing our own history.”

Do you have any standouts that you’ve noticed in summer practices and training?

“You know, the biggest thing, and what’s shocked me, is how quickly all the kids have started to buy in – that was the biggest surprise to me. How receptive they were to being coached hard. They’re receptive to me, and they understand ‘Hey, look, this is how things are going to be done, this is how you do it.’ They want the structure. They want the demands of a structured football program.”

What can fans expect to see when they come to the ball games?

“Offensively, we’re going to be a very physical football team. That’s what we’re going to be known for. We’re further along physicality-wise than I thought we would be. We’re demanding that each and every game. We’re going to be very multiple in what we do. We’ll be five wides in one snap, three backs in another, very multiple, and make people defend the whole field. Our defensive line, you know, we lost a bunch of those kids last year, so we’re kind of rebuilding. We still feel like we’ve got a talented group of guys that just haven’t played much. There’s going to be some growing pains with our D-line, and that’s okay. That’s part of it. The football game is won in the trenches between offense and D-line, so we’ve got to stay healthy in both of those lines in order for us to be productive like we want to be.”

Any thing else you would like to add?

“We appreciate the community’s support. We’re looking forward to seeing them on Friday nights. We’re looking for having eight, nine thousand people in the stands, supporting our kids – supporting our football program, not me. It’s about these kids. Setting the tone for the expectations for these kids, and saying ‘you know, that kind of crowd of people is fun to play in front of’.”