New Gardens coach stresses accountability
Clark promises culture of hard work, discipline.
Palm Beach Gardens didn’t look far to find its new head football coach.
Gators offensive coordinator Billy Clark was promoted to the role Wednesday, the school confirmed.
Clark replaces Rob Freeman, who was let go last week after five seasons as head coach. Palm Beach Gardens finished 35-23 overall under Freeman and made the playoffs in each of his five seasons.
The Gators were 5-6 this year and advanced to the Class 8A regional semifinals.
Clark has spent the past two seasons on Freeman’s staff at Palm Beach Gardens. Prior to that, he was the offensive line coach and a recruiting coordinator and admissions counselor at two Lindenwood University campuses: one in St. Charles, Mo., and the other in Belleville, Ill.
“It is a true honor to be named the head football coach of Palm Beach Gardens High School,” Clark said. “It has always been a dream and goal of mine to be a head coach and to be able to serve this football program.”
Clark takes over a talented Gators team that struggled this season, on the field and off.
Palm Beach Gardens lost three of its first five games and then had to deal with distractions involving star linebacker VanDarius Cowan, who was benched during a loss to Wellington on Oct. 20 and removed from the team three days later.
But the Gators rebounded to clinch the District 9-8A runner-up spot and then upset unbeaten Park Vista in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Atlantic a week later.
Clark said he hopes to create a new culture of disci- and, you know, it takes me five games to get it.”
With Messier — who has been invited to South Florida by the Panthers — and Jagr tied for second, the next step is for Jagr to take his spot behind Wayne Gretzky all by himself.
“For me, it’s like No. 1,” Jagr said recently when asked what passing Messier would mean, calling Gretzky’s mark unbreakable. “I don’t really count Wayne Gretzky. He was from another planet. I don’t think he was from this planet.”
Gretzky’s record of 2,857 points likely will stand a long time after Jagr retires.
No one knows when that day is coming — but it doesn’t look like it’s close.
“I just go out there and play,” said Jagr, who has six goals among 19 points this season.
“When I feel good, I think I can make a difference. I told my linemates, we need to score right now,” he said of Tuesday’s game. “I feel good, so let us go do it. We got to go. There’s no other pline, accountability and hard work with the Gators, and he plans to put together a staff that shares those ideas.
“The tradition of football in the Palm Beach Gardens and Riviera Beach community is great, and we plan on giving back and being very involved within our schools and neighborhoods in this area,” he said.
“The student-athletes will be challenged in the classroom, in the weight room and on the practice field. To be successful as a program, we have to be better in all three phases.” way. That’s the way you have to do it.”
Jagr says he lost between 15 and 20 pounds during the offseason as he tried to lessen his bulk and add speed to his game.
“If you see him with his shirt off, not to get craz y here , b ut he i s r i pped, ” coach Tom Rowe said. “I can’t believe it for a 44-yearo l d g uy. He’s 1 0 pounds lighter and definitely quicker because I have seen him pull away from guys. That’s just amazing in itself.”
The new style led to some a dj us t ments, a nd a s t he points c ame slowly early in the season, Jagr says he didn’t lose faith that what he did in the offseason was right for him.
He wanted to keep playing at a high level, at an advanced age, through the rigors of an 82-game season plus playoffs, and was committed to make changes to see that through.
Af t e r bei ng hel d wi t hout a goal in Florida’s 4-2 opening-round series loss to the Islanders last season, Jagr made a promise things would be different, and he stuck to it.
“I said after the playoffs last year that I needed to make a change, needed to change my body,” Jagr said after a workout Wednesday.
“I lost at least 15 pounds and when you lose that much that quick, you’re losing muscle, too. I didn’t know how it would affect me, but I didn’t feel as strong. The past few games? I feel great. It’s coming. I believed what I did was a good decision, one that will help me later on.
“I don’t get tired anymore. I could play 30, 40 minutes. I’m good. Right now, I’m not even breaking a sweat.”
Fans and teammates alike celebrated Jagr’s accomplishment during Tuesday’s win as he received a standing ovation following Nick Bjugstad’s tying goal in the third period.
After the game, the locker room remained closed for a few extra minutes as teammates joined in on the special moment.
“It was incredible to see how pumped the fans were, the environment here — it was just fun to be on the ice,” Bjugstad said.
Jagr, who is rarely reflective on the accomplishments of his career, says he gets what a big moment this is and is happy to be able to share it with his teammates in Florida.
“No question, this is fun,” Jagr said. “You could feel the energy coming from the crowd, and that’s pretty cool.”
For Messier, going to No. 3 on the all-time scoring list is merely a formality, and he says it would have happened already had Jagr not spent his ages 36-38 playing three seasons in Russia. He said the huge numbers Jagr put up early in his career deserve credit on their own, and now he merits more of the same credit for staying so fit and committed at this point in his life.
“This is kind of anticlimactic for me in a way,” said Messier.
“I understand the amount of time that he put in overseas when he left the NHL a n d c a me b a c k a n d t h e amount of points he amassed over there and where he would be if he would have stayed here.
“So I guess in my own mind he surpassed me a long time ago.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.