First time head coach Bryce Jones to lead Renton HS football

Renton High School football’s search to replace Mark Cross as head coach has come to a close for a second time this summer.

Back in June, Todd Craig was hired, but has since stepped down from the role as head football coach.

Now, Renton has hired Bryce Jones to take over as head coach for his first ever head coaching stint.

“We are excited to have Coach Jones’ youthful exuberance, passion, and commitment to excellence leading our program,” Renton Athletic Director Rashaad Powell said.

Jones has no doubt been thrown into a difficult situation — but Powell likes what he has seen from the rookie head coach.

“Coach Jones has shown great commitment to continuing the foundation of success our previous coaching staff left behind, while making his imprint on the program,” Powell said. “While Coach Jones and his staff had a late start, they have been working hard and tirelessly getting to know the student-athletes and preparing them for the season ahead.”

The Jones hire is almost a 180-degree turn experience-wise from the previous hire. Jones played college football at Arizona Western College and Western New Mexico University in the Lone Star Conference. He then was a graduate assistant at Arizona Western, and with a move from his girlfriend to the Pacific Northwest, the Louisiana native got a coaching gig with 2A KingCo rival Evergreen as the defensive coordinator.

Craig, the previous hire, had taken over for Mark Cross, who departed the Renton Redhawks program after taking the head coaching position at Foster. In his tenure with Renton, Cross took the Redhawks to three playoff appearances and an overall record of 17-12 in three full seasons.

With Jones entering his first year as a program leader, coming from a football rich area and having the playing career that he did, the philosophy is simple — play to the final horn.

“We want to be a four quarters team… We want to be more gritty, understanding adversity and things we go through being an inner-city (school). Having that on our shoulders and coming with that attitude, ‘We all we got, we all we need,’” Jones said.

Jones is coming into a program as a 27-year old young gun. He is one of the youngest head coaches in the state of Washington. Being a young coach gives him an advantage of relating to the players on his roster.

“I can go 100% every single day, no days off. I’ll be in the community a lot. Renton is my home… I’m letting (the community) know who I am from all angles,” Jones said.

On the field, Jones is bringing a new style and mentality to Redhawk football. He’s planning on sprinkling some Southern flare into the Redhawk offense and dialing up the heat on defense. At Evergreen, the Jones-led defense created 31 turnovers, the most in the state.

“We want to be a defense with attitude… We want the ball, we want to hit hard, run to the ball… We want to make sure we are imposing our will,” Jones said. “Renton has a lot of athletes and we are going to bring even more pressure. We are going to be versatile in our back end and play with our length and be disciplined.”

Renton ran the ball a lot last year — it was their identity. It is going to take program-wide buy-in, and Jones believes he has the tools and the skill to do it. Patrick Turner, Jayden Saechao and Mykah Golden are going to be key factors for Jones.

“We got the guys and I trust my quarterback. I think it is a lot to be seen for what we are going to look like this year,” Jones said. “Golden is a name in the state that everyone in the state is going to be hearing about. He has the skillset to go however far he wants to. His catch radius and his hard work shows how much maturity he has.”

One thing Renton will have to account for this season is replacing 27 players who have departed the program. That is the combined number between seniors and transfers over the last calendar year.

But as far as a position group that is here and ready? Those are the big boys up front. The offensive line has been showing that they can be a positive for the Redhawks.

“We don’t have many big concerns about an offensive line or running back (Patrick Turner). We throw to score points, but we run the ball to win games,” said Jones.

The Redhawks haven’t made the state tournament in football since 1998. But that doesn’t faze Jones, who puts state at the top of the list of accomplishments this group can achieve. It’s a lofty goal, but Jones doesn’t want to lower the expectations: “We want to get to the top. If we are a playoff team, let’s be a state championship playoff team.”