Walker returns to his alma mater as Jays football coach

Blair Oaks head football coach Terry Walker talks to his team after the August 2015 Jamboree in Wardsville, Mo.
Blair Oaks head football coach Terry Walker talks to his team after the August 2015 Jamboree in Wardsville, Mo.

There weren't any surprises Wednesday when Jefferson City named its new head football coach.

Terry Walker played under legendary coach Pete Adkins and has already coached the Jays as an assistant. Plus, his desire to coach and ability to get the most out of his players helped lead to three perfect regular seasons in as many years at Blair Oaks.

He was the clear-cut top candidate for a job that has certainly crossed his mind.

"Have I thought about it, you know, when I lay down at night, 'Hey man, it'd be cool to be the Jays head football coach?' Yeah," Walker said during a press conference in the film room at Adkins Stadium. "But I don't spend any waking brain cells on the next job I want to do because I'm focused on the job I'm currently doing."

Now the thought of being the head football coach at Jefferson City can be etched in Walker's head, since the dream is now reality.

Before arriving Wednesday at Adkins Stadium, Walker said his goodbyes to the Falcon players.

"It was certainly a tough conversation because those kids have given us their very best," Walker said. "It's always tough when you've got to say goodbye, especially to a group of kids that you've invested a lot of time in and they've invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears in things you've asked them to do."

In three seasons at Blair Oaks, Walker compiled a record of 37-3, including 10-3 in the postseason. The Falcons made it to the semifinals in 2015 and 2017, and the quarterfinals in 2016.

"We've been blessed to have the opportunity to have Terry as a part of the Blair Oaks Family the last three years," Blair Oaks said in a statement. "Our football program has flourished under his leadership and will continue to do so in the years to come."

Blair Oaks finished 13-1 this past season, winning a third straight district title under Walker. The season ended with a 49-20 loss to Maryville in the Class 3 state semifinals.

"This year's team, we had some talented guys, but we won a lot on just the fact that the kids played incredibly hard and they were fundamentally sound," Walker said. "And that takes time. You cannot build that in one year. It takes time to build fundamentals throughout your program and I'm sure that's going to be the case here."

Once arriving at Adkins Stadium, Walker met with his new team.

"I asked them if they had any questions and they didn't have any," Walker said. "I'm sure they are just trying to process some of the stuff I was saying. My initial reaction to their body language was that they were eager and they were excited and happy that they had a head coach standing in front of them."

The Jays finished 3-7 with a loss in the opening round of district play this past season, the 12th under Ted LePage, who resigned last month. The last district championship for Jefferson City came in 2009. The previous season was the Jays' most recent trip to the state semifinals.

"If I didn't think we could win soon, I wouldn't be here," Walker said. "I mean, we're going to do the work. I can promise you that."

Before the wins can come, Walker has to learn more about the players he'll be coaching. Other than what he's heard, read and saw on some film, Walker said he's not too familiar with the roster.

"I think you always have to play to the strength of your kids, and I learned that out at Blair Oaks because I went into Blair Oaks with a certain mindset as far as I want to do this, this and this," he said. "And it didn't take long for me to discover the kids, that was not their strength. So we kind of gravitated to the strength of the kids. We'll do the same thing here."

Before Walker can familiarize himself with the roster, he has the task of deciding who'll coach alongside him.

This could be a quick process since Walker has known many of the current Jays' assistants for years, including Scott Gschwender, Cameron McDaniel, Kevin Steinmetz, Lerone Briggs and Tony VanZant.

"I've spent some time thinking about assistant coaches," Walker said. " Out of the respect of the guys who are on the current staff, I plan on meeting with some of those guys tomorrow and then again Friday evening. Some of those guys may not want to stay here, I don't know. Some of them may really want to stay. I do know that there will be some changes to the staff.

"There's several guys on this staff that I do know from my previous time here and that I trust, so we will spend a lot of time talking as a staff where we think kids fit."

Walker is taking over a program that will undergo changes once a second high school opens in 2019. Jefferson City will likely drop to Class 5 when the split is complete.

Walker said he's not concerned about the addition of another school.

"I told the Blair Oaks kids even though I'm trading green white for red and black, I'll still do anything I can to help those kids over there," he said. "Whether we have 75 kids next year and 55 the following year, if there's something I can do to help a kid even though he's going to a different high school then I'm going to do that. But that doesn't really concern me because the split is going to happen. I'm not going to waste brain cells on it."

What Walker is concentrating on is what he has done the past three years at Blair Oaks: Getting his team as prepared as possible to win each week.

"I really enjoy the preparation aspect of it," Walker said. "I don't know if the kids necessarily enjoy that quite as much as I do, but you really get to learn about the kids in the process of a lot of hard work out there on the football field. I spent two years at Jeff City and I established great relationships with a lot of those kids and a lot of those kids definitely needed some adult leadership, and I feel like I have an opportunity to have a similar impact as a head coach."