The coach behind one of the biggest turnarounds in high school football in Arkansas has a new position.
Maurice Moody, who led Little Rock McClellan to Class 5A state championship games in 2015 and 2017, was hired Thursday night as Jacksonville's new football coach.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District made the hire at a special school board meeting.
Moody turned around a McClellan program that went 1-9 in his first season in 2013 and led the Crimson Lions to the Class 5A state championship game in 2015. The Crimson Lions also played in the Class 5A title game in 2017 despite not playing a single home game because of poor field conditions at their home stadium, Lion Stadium.
In seven seasons at McClellan, Moody, 41, was 46-35 with four playoff appearances and three 10-win seasons.
But with McClellan closing after this school year and combining with Little Rock Fair at the new Little Rock School District high school in southwest Little Rock, Moody was looking for a job.
"I've been watching Jacksonville from afar the last few years," Moody said. "I've seen the talent that was here. I thought they needed some guidance, some structure, some discipline, some tough love. They can do some of the same things we did at McClellan."
Moody had also considered taking the coaching position at the new district's high school, but he felt that being at the only high school in a district was important.
"We're going to have an opportunity to be embedded in this community, to be a fixture in this community," Moody said. "We're the only show in town. That was another thing that drew me to Jacksonville."
The new Titans coach said he plans to start at Jacksonville on Monday. His contract with the Little Rock School District is scheduled to end today.
Moody, an Earle native, also has been a head coach at Earle and Blytheville, and was also an assistant coach at West Memphis.
A resume such as Moody's was a plus for Jacksonville Athletic Director Scott Waymire.
"It's a big hire for us," Waymire said. "He's well known in Central Arkansas. He's what our kids need. He's what our program needs. He's what our community needs. He's what I need.
"I need a guy who's going to come in and build something from the ground up. The sky's the limit and it is with Coach Moody."
Jacksonville finished 3-7 under interim coach Jordan Johnston in 2019. The Titans will move down from Class 6A to Class 5A for the 2020 and 2021 seasons and will compete in the 5A-Central Conference.
Moody said a similar outcome can happen at Jacksonville as it did at McClellan. Jacksonville, which opened its new stadium this past season and will have a new indoor facility opening later this winter, has not won a state championship since 1981 and is looking for its first playoff victory since 2010.
"The buy-in is going to be a major part of building this program," Moody said. "We have to do a really good job of recruiting Jacksonville. We have to beat those hallways. We have to preach the same thing, every last one of our coaches.
"The buy-in is huge."
Sports on 01/10/2020