“Back On The Sidelines”

This past Friday night I covered the Marianna football spring game against Northview. It was not unlike many other spring games that I have covered, with one exception. There patrolling the sidelines for the Bulldogs was an ole familiar face. John Donaldson, or J.D. as some call him, is back at Marianna High School and back coaching in the football program.

This ain’t J.D.’s first rodeo so to speak with Bulldog football. He was a fine player for the Bulldogs in his younger days and went on to play at Florida State. After graduating from college he returned to his alma mater for a long tenure as an assistant coach. He was coaching at Marianna during their big run (1996 -2000, that included four district championships, four straight years of making the FHSAA playoffs and a State Runner Up) under Greg Guy and continued on in his role as an assistant under Don Dowling.

For all the joy that comes with coaching, it also comes with low pay and a lot of long hours away from your family. Over the years the long hours and low pay often takes a toll on coaches. The fire in their eye that they had for coaching is often reduced, at best, to a smoldering ember. That is why you don’t see many old coaches around anymore. And it finally took a toll on J.D.. So a couple of years ago he left the school system and went to work in private industry.

I don’t know much about what type of work he did in private industry. I just know that many of us missed seeing him on the Bulldog’s sideline. So we greeted the news of his return to Marianna High and Bulldog football as welcomed news.

Friday night’s game was just a spring game, but J.D. was on patrol. When his offensive lineman did something good he was showering them with accolades. When they missed a block or used a wrong technique, he was showering them with instructions on what they need to be doing. And if he saw someone loafing he was chomping on their backside. Folks that’s what good coaching is all about and unless I’m badly mistaken, ole J.D. has the fire back in his eye.

I’m in the camp that says the Marianna football program will be better off with J.D. back. But even more importantly than the program, the young men that play for J.D. will be better men for having played for him. And I suspect that the late Coach Hud would join me in saying, Simply Put, it sure was good to see J.D. back on the sidelines. I betcha Coach Hud would say that is where J.D. belongs.


From the Front Porch: Coach said that the race not always goes to the swift but to those who keep on running.