Former Somerset assistant J.J. Everage hired as Paris football’s new head coach

By IVAN K. RICE, Bourbon County Citizen
Commonwealth Journal

Paris May 05, 2008 06:48 pm

— It was announced last week that the Paris High School football program will have a new man walking the sidelines next season in former Somerset Briar Jumpers’ Assistant Coach J.J. Everage.
The new Greyhound coach will take over for Matt Thompson, who decided to step down after one season. The Greyhounds, under Thompson, finished 2-8 this past year.
“What led me to Paris was the friendship I had with a former player and coach of Paris, Mark Allen Crain,” said Coach Everage. “We used to play Houston Oaks Golf Course and I fell in love with the scenic beauty of Paris. The stories Coach Crain told me about the state title teams of ‘81 and ‘82 and the tradition of the football program just made it even more enticing.”
The coach went on to say that with the legendary coaches Paris has had such as (Blanton) Collier and (Bill) Arnsparger two coaching legends of the NFL, (Ben) Pumphrey, (Randy) Reese, (Homer) Goins and on and on, “it's an honor to now be a part of this coaching fraternity.”
Coach Everage, who is originally from Hindman, Kentucky, graduated from Knott County Central High School where he lettered four years in varsity football. His family includes his wife Lisa, a registered nurse and graduate of the University of Kentucky, four daughters, Taylor age10, twins Brynley and Riley age two and Ashlyn age 14 months.
“They bring me more stress than any coaching gig could,” Everage said, “These five women are my life and I have been truly blessed.”
After high school Everage’s football playing days were over due to a knee injury, but according to the coach, others may say differently.
“Some may say a lack of athletic ability is the reason why I never had the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.”
More importantly, the coach did go on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University in social sciences. Upon his departure from Morehead, Coach Everage became an assistant coach at Class A heavyweight Hazard High School for a year before becoming the head football coach at Knott County Central for two years. While at Knott Central, he was named the 2002 NFL State Representative, started a grid that is continuing on and re-created the King of the Mountain Weight Meet.
From there, he proceeded to take an assistant position at Somerset High School as the wide receivers and defensive backs coach. At Somerset, the new Paris coach had the privilege of coaching the 2007 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Kentucky — John Cole. This young man broke every receiving record the state of Kentucky has and finished second nationally in career yards receiving.
The problem, however, is the fact that Somerset’s and Paris’ football programs are going in different directions. Paris will be looking at their eighth coach over the past 14 seasons, while just two years ago, Somerset reached the Class A State Semifinals for the second straight year and kept their winning ways going despite moving up to Class AAA this past fall.
However, despite all of the problems that have surrounded the Paris program of late, a lot of good candidates applied for the Paris opening and the reason for that is simple … it’s Paris football, just the name in itself makes the job intriguing because of its rich tradition — and that’s one of the reasons Coach Everage decided to be Paris’ next football coach.
“I know there has been friction surrounding the football program or within the football program and I will not dwell on this. It would be detrimental and unfair to the players for me to concern myself with the negativity,” Coach Everage said. “These young men deserve better from all sides, coaching included, and I’m going to make sure they get it from my end. What has always kept me interested in the job has been the tradition of the program and the challenge of rebuilding an empire that once was.”
The Greyhounds return most of their key players from a year ago so the well isn’t dry but at the same time, most of those players returning (seniors) will be learning their third system in as many years. As of right now, that’s the least of the coach's worries because he knows that he needs to do more then just teach them a new offense or defense because this program is hurting and a lot of work and catching up needs to be done.
“My immediate plans are to bring respect back to our football program. I know winning would cure all that ails us, but I want to make sure that our seniors can go out with their heads held high knowing that they were the ones who brought R-E-S-P-E-C-T back into this program. Obviously we want to bring championships back to this storied program and that is a goal. But, for change to occur you have to have three things … Time, Patience and Pressure.”
For the ones who support the program, it needs to be understood that time and patience should be two reasons to ease off on the pressure. It’s not going to happen over night and the people and backers of the program will need to understand that. Playing such schools as Mason County, Montgomery County, Bellevue, LCA, Raceland and Fairview doesn’t make anybody’s job that much easier and Paris will face those teams again this fall.
Yes, it’s going to take time and patience because any head coach understands the pressure they face when they try to rebuild a program. It starts with his program as well as his feeder program, which includes the Middle School and Elementary.
“I have met with (Clayton) Brooks (Middle School Coach) and (James) Clark (Little Hounds Coach), who are heavily involved with our feeder programs and I have every bit of confidence in the job they are doing. I think they are doing an outstanding job,” said Coach Everage. “You know you have a solid tradition when former players are involved in your program. They have something that I can never have… they played for Paris High School and they are the true meaning of what Paris Football is all about.”
The coach went on to say that he plans to be involved with both programs and will help Coach Brooks and Coach Clark in any way he can. The Greyhounds, according to Coach Everage, will be having a Youth Camp June 17-19th where he will be running the practices alongside the coaches and hopefully some of the current players.
In closing, this is Paris Football and a new era has begun and now it's time to get down to business, the business of restoring a program that was once one of the best in the State of Kentucky. Everage will be the overseer but it's going to take more than just him. One man cannot rebuild an empire but the support of the school system, community and more importantly the players, can make his job a whole lot easier.
The rebuilding process starts today … so let the work begin!

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