Former Jimmies making a mark on Blue Jays football coaching staff

Oct. 2—JAMESTOWN — When looking at the coaching staff for the 2024 Jamestown Blue Jays football team, a lot of familiar faces will be seen if you also root for the University of Jamestown.

This season, the Blue Jays staff includes former Jimmies football players Tyler Spanton, Steve Justice and Paul Vandal. The staff also includes former Jimmies men’s basketball player Brady Birch.

“They’re the young energy, a lot of them just got done playing between Tyler whose probably the oldest,” Blue Jays head coach Bill Nelson said. “I met Steve through some different things, he helped out with a couple camps and I got to know him from a reffing standpoint. I started visiting with him and coach Justice is a pretty hard guy not to like. You can give him 10 things he needs to do and he’s got energy with everything. He can bring energy, he gives a little bit of love, there’s a lot of sincerity there. Brady Birch was somebody who soon taught with Mr. (Andy) Fitzgerald and I got to know through him and he actually helped us out one summer in BAD (Blue Jay Athletic Development) and did a great job. He’s a basketball guy. … Then Pauly V, that goes way back, him and I go way back to when he was young and played for us for four years. We’ve always kept in touch and planted the seed.”

This school year, Birch was hired to work at Jamestown Middle School which opened the door for him to get into coaching.

“I got working in the district so I wanted to find any coaching possibilities that I could,” Birch said. “I played football in high school and I’ve always been interested in it so just felt like a nice spot to jump into the freshmen football.”

As of Oct. 1, the Blue Jays ninth-grade team has played six games.

“I’ve been kind of removed from the football coaching or being a part of football for seven or so years,” Birch said. “So it’s…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/former-jimmies-making-mark-blue-164900856.html

Author : The Jamestown Sun, N.D.

Publish date : 2024-10-02 16:49:00

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