The administrative search group that West Johnston High School Principal Brookie Honeycutt used to find the school's next head football coach felt confident they had discovered the man for the job. But they turned to the senior members of the Wildcats' football team for a second opinion, inviting the final three candidates to talk to the players.

Bennett Jones passed that test with flying colors and was officially named the Wildcats' new head football and boys track and field coach Monday night.

“The enthusiasm Mr. Jones had talking about our program was very evident to the group,” Honeycutt said. “The seniors were quite perceptive, and they recognized the passion he had about leading them.

“The student-athletes were very beneficial in facilitating this decision.”

Jones, an assistant coach at Clayton High School for five of the past six seasons and a former head coach at Wilson Beddingfield High School, takes over for Kwame Dixon, who resigned in mid-July.

“I want to build the foundation of a program where we do things right on and off of the field,” Jones said. “When I talked to the seniors during the interview process, I told them they were going to be the bricks of something that we're going to build for 10 or 15 years.

“They're going to be able to come back here and know they helped get things set for the long haul. When you're strong and solid on the field and off of it, you have the chance to win every year.”

Practices for the 2008 season, which begins Aug. 22, will start on Friday.

“I'm excited about the opportunity here,” Jones said. “Becoming a head coach again is something I've been working towards ever since I decided to get back into coaching football [after a one-year absence in 2006]. I just didn't think it would happen this soon. I'm excited about this opportunity and keeping this thing going here at West Johnston.”

“I had all intentions of remaining at Clayton this season but when this opportunity came up and I had the chance to talk with Mrs. Honeycutt and [assistant principal] Mr. [Greg] Butler, I was really motivated by the opportunity that presented itself here at West Johnston, leading a 4-A school,” Jones added.

“I still love Clayton High School and the kids there. This opportunity was just too good to let pass by.”

The 34-year old Jones was 10-11 in two seasons at Wilson Beddingfield, after taking over a Bruin program that had gone 1-10 the season before he was named head coach. But after being replaced at Beddingfield, he returned to the assistant coaching ranks, joining the football staff at Clayton High.

“When I took the job at Beddingfield, I was fine on the football coaching side of things,” Jones said. “I just wasn't prepared for all of the things that came with the job off the field, dealing with the equipment, the media, managing a staff, those types of things.

“I tried to do it all and you can't. You have to rely on your assistants to be a really good head coach. One of my roles here is to learn to work with the good assistants we have already in place and work to make us a great staff.”

Jones realizes that much of the work for the 2008 season is already behind the Wildcats' players and assistant coaches. So he'll be the one making more adjustments than anyone else.

“I realize I can't come in here and make a bunch of changes," Jones said. “I will defer to the assistant coaches who have been here working with these guys all summer. They know the kids; they know the offense and the defense.

“My job is to come in here and get a feel for the kids and coaches and be an overseer for the program, working to bring the Wildcat family back together."

But the matter of coaching football is ultimately important as well, and Honeycutt said Jones' passed the test on that account as well. "He brings a lot of experience to the program,” Honeycutt said. “His energy and excitement set him apart. Obviously, he's a very knowledgeable football coach and has worked under Gary Fowler who is one of the best coaches in the state.”

Jones is also quick to point to working with Fowler and the other assistant coaches in Comet blue as crucial in helping him become a better coach. And West student-athletes under his leadership should expect to learn some of the same lessons — on and off the field — that he helped give over the past few seasons in Clayton.

“ I learned a lot at Clayton about how to run a successful program on and off of the field,” he said. “We're not going to copy Clayton, that's too strong a word, but we will emulate some of their procedures and the things they do that makes them so successful on and off of the field.”

The Wildcats' approach on the football field will continue to be similar as well.

After all, it helped West put together its best season in school history in 2007 (7-5, a second place finish in the Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference, and their first playoff berth). The spread attack, which has some similarities with the run-and-shoot approach Jones' teams at Beddingfield went with, and the three-man defensive fronts will remain in place for the most part.

“I'm not going to come in and make a lot of changes. It's easier for me to adjust,” Jones said. “We'll still run the spread offense and mix up the run and pass. Defensively, they played a 3-5 front here with success so we'll use that but you'll also see us mix in some of the 3-4 that we used at Clayton.

“There will be tweaks but I'm going to have the coaches stay where they are in coaching positions."

Offensively, Jones admits he loves to sling the ball around but realizes a steady running game is essential to any team's success. During his days in Clayton, he was notorious for drawing up wild offensive plays on the white boards in the Comet coaching staff's office.

“We're going to be aggressive on both sides of the ball,” Jones said. “Offensively, we're trying to score on every play. Defensively, we were all about aggression last year at Clayton and it worked well.

“We want to play aggressive and hard. We want it to be exciting for the kids and for them to have fun.”

Jones also helped turn Clayton's track and field program into a consistent conference championship contender over the past few years. Most notably, he coached nine-time N.C. High School Athletic Association state hurdle champion Johnny Dutch during his tenure. At West, he'll work with West cross country and track coach Patrick Shaw.