SPRING GARDEN – Before Jason Howard arrived at Spring Garden, the Panther football program hadn’t tasted much success.
From 1969-2002, Spring Garden’s football teams had an overall record of 65-226-1. On average, those Panther teams won two games per year, and made the playoffs just two times in that span.
That all changed when Howard was hired in 2003.
In 17 years at Spring Garden, Howard has compiled a record of 119-76. He’s guided the Panthers to four consecutive region championships, 15 playoff victories, a Class 2A state semifinal appearance in 2020, the most wins in school history (12 in 2020 and 2021), and the only undefeated regular season in school history (2021).
On Friday night between the junior varsity boys and varsity boys home basketball games against rival Cedar Bluff, Cherokee County Superintendent of Education Mike Welsh honored Howard by presenting him a resolution naming the football field at Panther Stadium in his honor.
“There have been 14 different head coaches serve as head coach at Spring Garden High School. Three of those have served two different tenures as head coach. They’ve all brought something very positive to the football program.
“We’ve had coaches who started the program. We’ve had coaches who have sustained the program. We’ve had coaches who revived it after a brief hiatus. We’ve had coaches who have had milestone victories and first-ever successes. I think we can all agree that no one person has done more to influence the Spring Garden High School football program in such a positive way than our current head coach Jason Howard,” Welsh told the crowd inside Dale Welsh Gymnasium.
“I’m extremely excited to share with you this resolution that has already been approved by the Cherokee County Board of Education at a previous meeting. I’m very happy to present it to my friend and head coach Jason Howard.”
Welsh then presented Howard with the framed resolution as current and former players and coaches unveiled a sign that read “Welcome to Jason Howard Field at Panther Stadium.”
Howard was humbled by the gestures.
“I had no idea about it whatsoever. They kept it under wraps,” he said. “It was very, very special. Getting to see a lot of the former players that came back tonight meant a lot to me. My mom and two nephews got to come down and see it.
“I went up to my mom before the game and said ‘What are you doing here?’ She said ‘We just decided to come down and watch since y’all were playing Cedar Bluff.’ I still had no idea.”
Howard thought Welsh was going to declare the day in honor of the football team for posting the school’s first undefeated regular season in 2021. Little did he realize that it was much more than that.
“I thought that’s gonna be pretty neat having a day dedicated to this football season for being undefeated, but I had no idea,” he said. “Me and Mike started this. We were together when he gave me the shot. He’s the one who hired me. For him to be able to present that to me meant a lot.”
“Most of the time, you don’t get anything like that until you’re out of it. A lot of times you’ve already passed away, so you never get to see it. I told Rat (basketball coach Ricky Austin) when we were walking out after the game I think it’s pretty neat we’re at a school where the field is named after me and I’m still coaching, and the floor is named after him and he’s still coaching.”
For Austin, the feeling is mutual.
“This is not an insult to anybody before him, but he’s really done something special,” Austin said. “I went to school here and I saw some of those early struggles in my days here. Sometimes I still wake up on Saturday mornings thinking ‘Wow, what a performance.’
“To work along beside him, to see how hard he works every single day, there’s nobody here who outworks Jason Howard. That’s the results of it right there. That’s fun to see somebody who works so hard get recognized and have those accomplishments. It’s much deserved, well deserved. I’m blessed to have a son (Cooper) play for him. That’s probably the biggest honor I’ve had, having a son who could play for a guy at that level. It’s much deserved.”
Howard said he hasn’t thought of how it will feel for him to walk out on the field that bears his name next fall. He said he’s still trying to “absorb everything that’s going on.”
“I don’t know if you can put into words what this community means. And it’s not just the community, but the brotherhood,” Howard said. “After the game, I checked my phone and the first two texts I get are from (former Cedar Bluff football) Coach (Jonathan) McWhorter and (Sand Rock football) Coach (Alan) Heath congratulating me. It’s not only this community, but this entire county, this whole area is just a tight-knit group. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“Everybody plays such a big role in it. I’ve been blessed. We’ve had a coaching staff here where there’s not been a lot of turnover. Coach (Damon) McDonald has been with me since day one. I think that says a lot to sustaining the program when you’ve got that.”
