DC Jones returns to Benton

Marc Jones has been coaching football for 32 years, and 15 of those came at Benton, including 10 as the head coach.

Jones will tell you in all honesty that the vast majority of his tenure at Benton were some of the best years of his career.

And — like any coach — there were sometimes that weren’t so great.

Winning or finishing in a tie for three straight AAAAA-South conference titles from 2003 to 2005 obviously highlight Jones’ time at Benton. That’s playing a conference that at the time featured teams like Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel, Sheridan, El Dorado, Texarkana, Camden Fairview and Lake Hamilton.

Indeed, there will always be a part of Jones that is a maroon Panther.

But on Friday night, Jones — now Siloam Springs’ defensive coordinator — will be with a

different group of maroon Panthers trying to earn a victory as Siloam Springs visits Benton in a 6A-West Conference game.

Jones has known this day was coming for some time.

“When I saw we were moving into the same conference with (Benton), I can’t say I was excited,” Jones said before Siloam Springs’ practice on Monday.

It’s not easy going against your old team. Just ask former Siloam Springs greats Jason McMahan, Clint Ashcraft and oneyear phenom Billy Dawson, who have recently had to face the Panthers in competition.

Jones said he recently was back in Benton as a pallbearer for the funeral of a longtime Benton friend. He saw lots of old friends on that visit and then the messages started flooding in.

“I’ve had several phone calls and text messages from former players telling me they’ll be at the game Friday night,” Jones said. “That makes me feel good.”

Jones is likely to see a lot of familiar faces on Friday, but the venue of the game won’t be so familiar.

Benton played at C.W. Lewis Stadium during Jones’ time as head coach, and now Benton plays in the brand new Panthers Stadium at the Benton Athletic Complex.

“Everything’s changed — changed for the good,” Jones said. “It’s a nice stadium. But we had a downhome atmosphere at C.W. Lewis Stadium. We had to bus the kids over from the high school. We had some big-time tailgate parties. The kids would walk through it like they do at The Grove (at Ole Miss). It was fantastic.”

Don’t mistake Jones’ nostalgia though. He’s bought in at Siloam Springs and wants to beat the Benton Panthers on Friday night.

But he also knows Siloam Springs has a tough assignment with Benton, which has gone 21-4-1 in the last two seasons and is off to a 2-2 start this year.

— Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at gthomas@nwadg.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.