Interim coach tackles Bulldogs’ summer preparations for season
White Hall High School has resumed preparations for the 2023 football season with a familiar face guiding the Bulldogs.
Offensive coordinator Jason Mitchell took over as interim head coach July 10 following head Coach Ryan Mallett’s death last month. As he gets set to lead the team through an emotionally challenging season, he said his thoughts are on the players more than his new role.
“My main concern is these kids and this program,” Mitchell said. “I don’t sit around and reflect on positions or anything like that. One thing for these kids is the constant that they’ve always had is football, and that’s what we’re continuing to do. The staff that I work with and these kids, we’re just getting ready for the season.”
Mitchell has been on the White Hall coaching staff since 2018, making him the longest-tenured current coach. He attended Watson Chapel High School and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He began his coaching career in 2003 at Jack Robey Junior High School, eventually transitioning to Pine Bluff High School before moving to White Hall.
He said his time in White Hall has been great.
“We have great administration, great teachers, great coaches, great coworkers,” Mitchell said. “Every time you go somewhere in the community, everybody wants to talk to you, have a smile and pat you on the back. It’s just a great place to live.”
With Mitchell serving as interim head coach, he said running the offense will be a team effort between himself and the rest of the offensive coaching staff.
There won’t necessarily be a single offensive coordinator.
Since Mitchell took over, the Bulldogs have been focusing on strength and conditioning. They hosted a small 7-on-7 camp Wednesday but plan to spend the rest of the summer in the weight room in advance of starting practice July 31.
Mitchell said he plans to continue what Mallett started last year.
“We’re going to run the football,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to be physical. We’re going to throw it around some. We’re going to be physical on defense. Coach [Hunter] Vincent, our defensive coordinator, does a great job. They’re going to be physical and fly to the ball.”
The Bulldogs have gone through a lot the past two months. Former teammate Benjamen Redix was shot and killed in North Little Rock in May and Mallett drowned on the Florida Gulf Coast in June. Mitchell will be tasked with not only coaching a football team, but leading a group of high school students dealing with back-to-back tragedies.
Mitchell said kids are more resilient than people may think, but the coaches have been there for these players when they needed to talk to someone. He said one thing keeping everyone going is knowing what Mallett would want.
“Coach Mallett would want them to continue to play football and be student-athletes,” Mitchell said. “Get in the classroom and do good and get out here on the football field and do good in whatever they do. In my opinion, they’ve taken that approach. That’s one thing that Coach Mallett would want. He’d want us to keep on grinding along, and that’s what they’ve been doing.”