Following the retirement decision of head football coach Brent Daniels, Minford has decided to hire one of it’s own in Jesse Ruby who has been an assistant with the Falcons for the past 10 seasons.
Ruby is ecstatic with the opportunity to follow in Daniels’ footsteps but realizes it won’t be a walk in the park.
“It’ll be a great opportunity but it’ll be challenging to follow someone as successful as coach Daniels,” Ruby said. “I think he has the most wins in school history as the head coach, and the success that he’s had with winning SOC II titles and making multiple appearances in the playoffs, it’s going to be hard to follow that up.
“I’ve got my work cut out for me and I’m sure the coaches that are going to be on the staff with me are up to the challenge, and we are going to do the best that we can do.”
Ruby is also eager to continue touching the lives of his players, albeit this time as the head coach and not assistant coach.
“I think it’s going to be a challenge but it’s a great opportunity,” Ruby said. “For me being a former player at Minford, I’ve always looked at the role of a teacher and a coach as very important to young kids lives. I’ve always tried to be a positive influence as a teacher and a coach for the youth of Minford.”
While his goal as always been to be a head coach, Ruby also believes he’s fortunate to have the chance to coach at his alma mater.
“As a player, you fall in love with the game,” Ruby said. “It becomes part of your life. It’s what you work on it seems like (24 hours a day), 365 days a year. I know how much of an impact my high-school football coaches had on me and to get an opportunity to be a head football coach is great. It’s even bigger when it’s your home school and the school that did so much for you.
“From the time I got into coaching, I thought it would be great to do but I never thought I would have the opportunity to be the head coach at Minford. To get the opportunity to do so, it’s a dream come true.”
Scheme wise, Ruby will run more Spread looks while continuing to run a 40 front (four down lineman). While he may favor those schemes, Ruby wants to be as multiple and flexible as possible from year to year.
“You need to have a system that allows you to adapt to the talents of your kids because your teams can be so different every year based on the kids you have come out, the size of the kids you get, the speed of the kids you get; so, I think being as flexible as possible within your system can give you a chance to have some success so you’re not trying to drive a square peg in a round hole,” Ruby said. “You’ve got to adapt what you can do to what your kids can do well.”
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