THE GREYHOUND BRAND
If athletic facilities are a front door to a high school campus, then Jones County’s curb appeal is about to be bigger and brighter.
Anyone taking a drive by the JCHS athletic facilities in recent weeks may notice that the scoreboards at Greyhound Field, Cecil Patterson Field and the softball field have been taken down, but those spaces won’t be vacant for long.
Rather, new video boards are on the way to replace them.
“I’m a guy that wants everything to be first class,” Greyhounds athletic director Chad Alligood said. “If we can be first class with it, let’s go do it.”
Gone will be the traditional metal scoreboards with illuminating bulbs.
In their place will be full-fledged LED video boards, giving the capability to display varied presentations of graphics and video. The one at Greyhound Field will be the largest with a width of 42 feet and 24 feet in height, the size of the current scoreboard that includes the space taken up by the existing scoreboard and billboard signage. In addition to the setup at the football field, boards will also be put up at the baseball and softball fields plus two more in the gymnasium.
“When I was coaching, the atmosphere was always great when you came here,” Alligood said. “Now, we’ll enhance it even more.”
Alligood says that the scoreboards should arrive on July 31 with installation beginning the next day, a process that will take up to 10 days.
JCHS won’t have to search far and wide to staff the scoreboard.
Greyhounds head wrestling coach Adam Gillhouse and his Audio Video Technology and Film Program students will operate the video boards, taking advantage of its capabilities.
“The whole thing is driven by a computer. You can use camera shots or anything else you want to do with it,” Alligood said.
“Coach Gillhouse has been doing training with the company that runs it, and the company will train the kids. It’ll involve lots of people.”
And although the video boards may be at athletic facilities, their use won’t be limited to a narrow scope. Alligood says that elementary schools are already planning movie nights to utilize the video boards.
“More than athletics can use them. You can use them for a lot of different things,” Alligood said.
“We’re excited about that.” The new videoboards aren’t the only enhancements to come soon. Also set to go up within days are windscreens in front of the baseball and softball fields, tennis courts and Greyhound Field.
“You’ll know you are at Jones County High School,” Alligood said.
The upgrades come as part of what’s been a focus of Alligood since before he even officially came aboard with the Greyhounds in January – facility upgrades.
“When I took the job, I was adamant that every time I have been an AD that one of the biggest things was, ‘what we can do to upgrade the facility for our kids?’ Each year, you need to do something to enhance the facility.
That was a big deal for me when I interviewed for this job,” Alligood said. “I think people are big on a first impression, and it’s the first thing they see when they’re coming here from the outside for an event. If our athletic facilities look nice, their perception will be that Jones County High School is a nice place.”
