The countdown to Ozark’s announcement of its next head football coach could be down to a week, what with the school district scheduled to hold a school board meeting next Thursday.
It’s that time of the year sports fans. Earlier this week, Camdenton and Webb City named their new coaches.
It’s an exciting time, as we await word on who will next lead the Tigers. Interest in the job from the perspective of applicants reportedly has been very good. Likewise, we are all keenly interested in who the hire will be.
To spur a bit of excitement and with the preface of there being no insider knowledge from this corner, let’s have some good-natured fun by speculating on who could be a good choice for Ozark (anyone making this list, please take it as a compliment):
— Dustin Baldwin, currently the offensive coordinator at Nixa
A veteran coach of 25 years, Baldwin has been a head coach at Miller, Neosho and Republic. He joined Nixa’s staff two years ago initially as the running backs coach and was named offensive coordinator a year ago.
Baldwin was at the controls of an Eagles offense that averaged 42.6 points a game last season.
Nixa luring Eagles kingpin John Perry all the way from his native Mississippi three years ago arguably rates as the best hire any school in any sport in SWMO has made in recent years. Their next hire, whenever that may be, might be much easier. If Perry would return to Mississippi in the near future, one naturally would assume Baldwin might emerge as a candidate to replace him.
Perhaps Ozark could beat Nixa to the punch and hire Baldwin.
— Ben Mauk, currently the offensive coordinator at Glendale
Actually, anyone named Mauk might make a good hire.
Falcons head coach Mike Mauk has his three sons, Ben, Johnathan and Maty, on his staff.
Mike is well-known nationally as the mastermind of the Falcons’ ridiculously proficient passing attack since his arrival in 2014. His W-L record at Glendale is 57-51.
Mike has had an age-discrimination lawsuit against the Springfield Public Schools pending since 2021.
Ben has been on his father’s staff since 2014 and is 38 years old. In addition to his offensive coordinator's role, he has been the quarterbacks coach for the Falcons.
As a prep quarterback in Ohio, Ben set a national record with 17,364 career passing yards. That mark was later broken by Maty with 18,932 yards. To get further appreciation for those figures, consider that Nixa QB Connor Knatcal enjoyed a stellar career while passing for a little more than 4,000 yards.
Ben had an injury-plagued career at Wake Forest, before enjoying a productive senior season at Cincinnati under current LSU coach Brian Kelly.
Johnathan is Glendale’s linebackers coach and Maty is the Falcon’s defensive backs coach.
Maty, a former Mizzou QB, has worked with many area quarterbacks and wide receivers at the Mauk Passing Academy and Higher Power Athletics. It seems long ago since Maty burst upon the scene at Mizzou, but he’s still only 29. As a coach and trainer, he’s earned a reputation of being very charismatic among his pupils.
If the Mauks would move to Ozark, Maty could net a nice commision check. He dabbles on the side as a real estate agent.
— Garrett Hawkins, currently the outside linebackers coach at Branson
It would seem remiss not to have at least one Ozark grad on this list. Hawkins was a standout running back and qualified for State four years as a wrestler for the Tigers in the mid- to -late 1990s. He is a 1998 Ozark grad.
Hawkins likely has found his niche on the mat. He has been a head wrestling coach for 16 years, the last eight with the Pirates.
All the while he’s remained an assistant on the gridiron. It's also worth noting football was the sport he went on to play in college at William Jewell.
— Tom Cox, currently the head coach at Mt. Vernon
It would make for quite a surprise story for Cox to return to Ozark. But he’s made such a move before, having originally coached at Mt. Vernon in the mid-1980s, before finding his way back to the Mountaineers in 2014.
Cox coached at Ozark from 1988-1990 after one season at Webb City.
In between his stints at Mt. Vernon, he also stopped coaching for a while and sold insurance.
It was football’s gain that Cox returned to the gridiron. He has established Mt. Vernon as one of SWMO’s most consistent winners. A humble and jovial sort, there aren’t many finer ambassadors of the sport.
After a rare losing season in which Mt. Vernon went 1-10 in 2021, Cox quickly had the Mountaineers rise to prominence again with an 8-4 mark in 2022.
— Nate Thomas, currently the head coach at Kickapoo
Thomas has done an underrated job gradually improving the Chiefs’ fortunes since his arrival in 2017.
After starting off with two straight 2-8 seasons, Kickapoo has improved on its record from from the previous year four straight seasons, culminating in last season’s 7-3 mark.
A Nixa grad, Thomas previously was a head coach for two years at Marshfield and an assistant for 13 years at Liberty.
— Paden Grubbs, currently the head coach at Marionville
Grubbs qualifies as a rising young coach who perhaps could be ready to make a big jump. At the Class 1 level, he’s very much established himself as a winner.
Grubbs and the Comets were 12-1 in 2022 and 2020 and 11-1 in 2021.
Grubbs in his seventh year at Marionville and very well could be happy and content at his alma mater.
— Kris Conley, currently the head coach at Forsyth
Conley deserves credit for the exceptional job he has done with the Panthers.
Forsyth, a starter program as recently as 2015, captured the Mid-Lakes Conference championship for the first time last fall. The Panthers swept their games with the Mid-Lakes' perennial powers, Strafford and Fair Grove, for the first time. They own three straight wins over Strafford.
In addition to having produced 20 wins over three seasons, Conley has made himself a popular figure in Forsyth due to his affable and enthusiastic nature.
— The great unknowns
Out-of-state hires have been a recent trend around the COC. Ozark posted its opening on various job boards, web sites and perhaps even on Indeed, for high school and college coaches across the country to see.
Best of luck Tigers!
