At East Rankin Academy (ERA), there is a new sheriff in town. This past off-season, ERA hired Brian Jones as the new baseball coach. Jones is a seasoned head coach with over 20 years of experience. He has coached at South Leake, Neshoba Central, Starkville, and most recently, Pearl. While at Pearl, Jones led the Pirates to nine winning seasons with multiple playoff appearances. In 2020, he was named All-Metro Jackson Coach of the Year as he led the Pirates to an undefeated record during the shortened season. As Jones looks to begin the season next spring, he expects to win by placing maximum effort into the development of his players.
Jones maintains a philosophy that is laser-focused on winning and an attitude that is willing to strive to get there. Jones stated, “My expectations are to win. If we’re not there to win, then why are we there? We want to do all the little things right so we can ultimately win. Every single day, we’re going to practice and play like we’re trying to beat the best team out there.”
This upcoming season will be a very new experience for Jones as it will be the first season he has coached at a private school. Also, Jones will not have as many players to work with as he once did in the past.
“Baseball is baseball wherever you coach. The depth is not quite as strong, but the philosophy and intent will not change. That’s who I am. We’re going to roll with it.”
Additionally, most of Jones’ players are currently taking part in other sports, leaving only a few guys to work with this fall. However, Jones is looking to take as much of an advantage as possible to prepare his players for the season.
Jones stated: “The biggest thing for us is that we have a lot of guys that play football. For the ones I do have, our biggest issue will be strength training. We’ll also develop the fine skills of baseball. We’ll do drill work that I showed players this summer and implement things I can do with individuals. As everyone else gets here, we can do more team-oriented stuff. Mainly, we’ll work on individual development from a skill standpoint and of course, physical training to get stronger and faster.”
Coach Jones also stated: “My players know I want energy and effort. Attitudes are one of those things you bring every day, and you can control them. Good things will happen, and bad things will happen, but you control the effort and attitude.”
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