In the last year PikeView’s football program has been through three head coaches.
Jason Spears disclosed before the start of the 2023 season that it would be his last and resigned after it ended. Larry Cook, who was hired in the offseason to replace Spears, resigned in April according to the Board of Education minutes. Cook’s resignation paved the way for Jack Turner, a longtime coach in Virginia.
Turner’s job? To rebuild a program that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve taken over a couple of programs that are similar here in Virginia,” Turner said. “I was very honest with the kids and everybody from Day 1. I said, ‘Hey, it’s going to take a year so give me a year and hang in there with me.’ Give me a year to build the culture and build the standard of how I want it done, and if they hang in there, come 2025 we’ll be okay.”
Despite the late approval of employment, Turner’s done a good job of rallying the troops with a turnout of 35 players, a high number for a programs that’s finished seasons with less than 20 players on several occasions.
That’s largely boosted by a group of freshmen that experienced much success on a county-wide level in middle school.
“A lot of the kids are rising freshmen and sophomores,” Turner said. “I don’t single out any individual, you know. I just kind of talk about the team. If you single out an individual, it’s not fair to somebody else. So I always just speak about the team. And you know, all the kids are working hard and they’re competing, and they’re getting a little better every day at how we want to play football at PikeView.”
The way Turner wants to play football is different than most ways you’ll see it played in this day and age.
Corbin Justice, Peyton Mounts, Logan Cook, Braden Huggins, Josh Hedrick and Braiden Mullins all saw meaningful carries last season and Turner’s preferred style presents opportunities for a shared workload.
“I run the wing-t and I’m not going to deviate,” Turner laughed. “If you do a lot of things, you don’t get good at nothing. And so no, we’re going to run the wing-t and we’re going to get good at one thing. And you know, I told the kids if we just run one play for the whole game, we’ll do that one play until we figure out how to do it right. There’s no use in trying to do two things if you can’t do one thing right.”
With his hire coming so late into the offseason, Turner understands that he’s building from the ground up. He’s starting with the basics and that includes off the field work. The head strength and conditioning coach at Ferrum College prior to his arrival, he’s interested in laying the foundation for success.
Though if his players take to the system and develop quickly, success isn’t out of the question as the Panthers were reclassified from Class AAA to Class AA two weeks before kickoff, making their path to a playoff spot more manageable.
“I got such a late start, I’m just trying to teach them how to lift weights,” Turner said. “You know, we have to lift weights and we have got to get bigger and stronger. You can’t play football unless you’re strong up front and you can’t get strong up front unless you lift weights. And I don’t care what offense you run or what defense you run, football is a line of scrimmage sport and you have to be able to control the line of scrimmage. For us to do that, we’ve got to get bigger and stronger. And one thing we’ve really focused on is our offseason weightlifting. And even now that we’re in the season, we’re lifting weights because it’s just such a detriment if you’re weak up front. So for me Year 1 success is if everybody sticks with the program, gets stronger and learns the system. Everybody learn the standard and then after that, then we can focus on winning.”
PikeView will open its season at home Thursday Aug. 29 against Summers County.
