Stratford doesn't go far for its newest head football coach

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          When Mark Farriba announced his retirement as head football coach at Stratford in early December, it wasn’t much of a secret that a strong favorite of athletics director Mark Farriba to take over was already on the staff.

          Still, Stratford went through the interview process.

          And a little more than a month after the job became open, it was filled with Friday morning’s announcement that Chance Jones has been promoted to head coach.

          He has spent the past two seasons as Farriba’s offensive coordinator at Stratford, helping the Eagles go 16-6 while running the Wing-T that Farriba has used for years.

          Farriba has been a big fan of Jones for years, and it was joked that their brains were pretty similar.

          “His is better than mine,” Farriba said in a recent conversation with The Sports Report. “That’s what I know. It just is. He’s got a better offensive mind than I do.”

          Stratford averaged 29.6 points a game in 2021.

          Jones certainly brings a hefty resume to the new gig.

          The son of longtime and “retired” Westfield legend Ronnie Jones spent little time unemployed following his departure from Tattnall after going 30-15 with a region championship and sub-region title in four seasons. The Trojans made the GHSA Class A Private semifinals in 2016, finishing 12-1, the best overall season of a Macon private school in the GHSA in the recent period since the four private schools moved into the GHSA.

          Tattnall averaged 33.2, 34.2, 28.4, and 26.3 points in his seasons with the Trojans.

          Before that, he spent six seasons at Prince Avenue Christian as an assistant, for four years under Farriba. Jones coached linebackers and receivers before being named offensive coordinator for the Wolverines, coaching for two years under Farriba’s successor Jeff Herron. He was offensive coordinator under both, from 2010-15

          Jones helped Prince Avenue to the GHSA Class A Private semifinals in 2011 and 2015, and the finals in 2012.

          He was a standout athlete at Westfield, graduating in 2002 as an honors graduate and senior class president.

          Jones graduated Cum Laude from Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He went to dental school for two years before beginning his coaching career.

          Stratford returns to the GISA in the fall of 2022, the GISA starting an athletics arm called the Georgia Independent Athletic Association.