Ever since being hired as the Greyhounds new head football coach on Feb. 12, Justin Montgomery has hit the ground running, meeting with existing and future players, working to fill out a coaching staff in addition to other key pieces.
That process accelerated even more last Thursday in full view of the community as the football program hosted a meet-and-greet event at Greyhound Field.
While a degree of attraction came at the start of the event with Dairy Queen ice cream and the opportunity to purchase game-worn jerseys, the prime piece of the evening came later as Montgomery was formally introduced by Jones County Superintendent of Schools Charles Lundy.
Addressing the crowd, Montgomery laid out his plans for the Greyhounds program, both on and off the field. It also included drilling down on the team’s core values underscored by the Greyhounds’ acronym of T.O.U.G.H.
— Truth — Ownership — Unity — Gratitude — Honor
Engaging the community early on is key, Montgomery says.
“That’s one of the things that we want, for the older men in our community to understand the importance of their role and establishing who we are in our community,” Montgomery said. “These guys are going to be leaders in our community, so we want to help open doors to make these guys a group that they call all be proud of.”
Also announced on Thursday was the Greyhounds’ spring practice schedule that will start in late April and conclude May 17 with an intrasquad scrimmage at Greyhound Field with attendees asked to bring full containers of laundry detergent for use during offseason workouts and beyond.
The scrimmage will be a different setup than previous years when the Greyhounds contested a spring game against an outside opponent.
“A big piece of it is just evaluating players, making sure they are in the right position, so we want to maximize that time and get some backup some reps, as well,” Montgomery said.
