With Kirtland coach Tiger LaVerde in 2021, Ryan Jones shocked the state football finals by breaking the Hornets’ 55-game win streak and winning the Division V state championship. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Named Wednesday as the new head football coach at Troy High School, former Versailles and Troy Christian coach Ryan Jones brings exactly what the Trojans need in the matter of one word…belief!
As an outsider, there was never any question pertaining to who the Troy football program needed to replace Troy Everhart as head football coach.
It was announced Wednesday night, publicly, that former Troy Christian and Versailles coach …and winner of the the 2021 OHSAA state title in Division V at Versailles…Ryan Jones was their man.
At Troy High School on Monday to cover Division VI boys tournament basketball, I even asked first-year athletic director Brandon Wright, “Who’s your new football coach?”
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“You will know in a few days,” said Wright, playing coy. “We’re going to have a good announcement to make.”
Wright was just doing his job, because he could have told me then and there that they were hiring Ryan Jones. The word was out, as was the short list of best candidates who had applied for the position. Jones was the most significant person on that list that had what the job required, and frankly…the only man with proof that he could be what Troy has wanted for years.
By the way, there was one other rumored person, but he wasn’t on the list. Former Minster and Dublin Coffman coach Geron Stokes had taken the Urbana job two weeks earlier…because he lives in Urbana, played at Urbana, and wants no part of high school football at this stage of his career outside of Urbana. And mark my word, the Londons, Jonathan Alders, and Kenton Ridges of the Central Buckeye Conference will soon feel his impact.
As will the Miami Valley League feel the impact of Ryan Jones, who aside from being more diplomatic than Stokes, has every other quality necessary to cut through the community impatience that’s long been a part of Troy football since the departure of Steve Nolan. Troy is no easy place to coach, and you have to be your own man if you’re going to be successful. You have to be able to say what needs to be said, with diplomacy or otherwise. And Ryan Jones is that man…as was Everhart, and before him, Matt Burgbacher. And of course…Steve Nolan.
At a time when Versailles was cycling through football coaches, looking for the closest example of the qualities that Al Hetrick had instilled with ‘Tigerball’ for so long, it was Jones who in a matter of two years had the Tigers believing that a system believed in, and executed, was enough to compete for the MAC title, annually. And in 2021…enough to take down heavily-favored Kirtland for the Division V title championship, breaking the Hornets’ 55 -game winning streak.
Was his system better than Marion Local’s, or Coldwater’s? Not necessarily. And it wasn’t Hetrick’s. But it was Jones who sold the system to a group with talent, and a hunger to win.
It was Jones who believed in what he believed…his principles…and willing in the end to step away from Versailles when he felt like he was no longer the man for that job. And it happens.
The optimists will tell you that life decisions happen for a reason, without judge or jury, right or wrong. One door closes, and another opens.
Jones saw complementing qualities in the players at Versailles, and convinced them before he tried to convince anyone else.
From a writer’s perspective, what makes Jones special is what he sees, and his trust in his decision-making. He saw ability in quarterback Carson Bey at Versailles, and recognized him for being the leader. He saw the complementing qualities of running backs Landon Henry and Jack Osborne, and he convinced them before he tried to convince anyone else.
Jones will see talent walking in the halls of Troy that isn’t playing football, presently, but should be.
Jones will strike some matches that ignite new passion with Trojan football, starting with his own. There are no tougher coaching jobs in area football than those at Marion Local, Coldwater, St. Henry…and yes, Versailles, where they’re still longing for someone with the same qualities and legacy potential of Al Hetrick. Jones’ replacement, Scott Broerman, is eager to prove his own qualities.
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But it takes a perfect union, and it takes a mutual respect that’s lacking in too many contemporary coach/community relationships – one that’s earned, and then trusted.
For the record, I believed that Troy Everhart was that kind of individual, who miraculously won nine games in 2025, a playoff game with Hilliard Bradley, and came within in a touchdown of beating Wayne…and did it without a passing game.
Geron Stokes won two state titles at Minster and finished runner-up once with material that only he recognized when he took the job, and did what only he believed he could do by thinking outside the box – convincing his players of the same.
Ryan Jones did that in a formative sense with Troy Christian before taking the unlikely huge next step at Versailles…because he believed.
And there’s nothing to convince me that he won’t do it with Troy – a man who’s about 5’10” and weighs 170 pounds and bears a resemblance to former actor Bob Denver…the man who starred on Gilligan’s Island.
It took everything I had on Monday to not tell Brandon Wright, “Why don’t you just hire Ryan Jones?” But as it turned out, his timing was right on the money.
There are people just made for certain jobs. I’ll be shocked if this isn’t one of them.
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