Arkansas State University head coach Butch Jones took the Little Rock Touchdown Club stage Monday morning to talk about his time so far with the Red Wolves, building a team culture from the ground up and what he sees as the “DNA” of A-State football.
LRTDC creator and host David Bazzel celebrates his 60th birthday this week, so the first portion of the event saw his co-hosts at 103.7 The Buzz take over for a bit of surprise programming. In preparation for today’s meeting, the LRTDC crew collected a series of happy birthday videos – as well as a book full of even more appreciative messages – from across the football world and beyond. In recognition of everything he has done for his adopted home state, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Senior Editor Rex Nelson also announced that Bazzel would be getting his own entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas – and Nelson will be the one writing it.
“I can think of nobody who promotes our state, its people, its cultural institutions, more than David Bazzel,” Nelson said.
During the main portion of the meeting, Jones’ comments to the Touchdown Club were focused on his assessment of his time so far at A-State. Jones has been at the helm as head coach since 2020, and while the Red Wolves are currently 3-3, he described it as “really exciting times at Arkansas State.” Jones emphasized that the focus for this young team is not to compete against an opponent, but against the standard they have built for themselves.
“We were the ones that discovered that Oklahoma is for real,” he added, referring to the Red Wolves’ brutal 73-0 season opener in Norman. “That was a great learning experience.”
Over the course of more than three decades in coaching, Jones has a record consisting of four conference championships, two conference coach of the year awards, six bowl game wins out of eight appearances and six top-25 finishes. The former Central Michigan University head coach led the Chippewas to their first undefeated season in the Mid-American Conference; as offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Ferris State University, Jones led the Bulldogs to become the nation’s top-ranked offense for three years in a row.
When it comes to why he decided to take the A-State job, Jones described himself as “a builder,” and as the third youngest team in the country, the Red Wolves certainly present a worthwhile challenge.
“When I talk about building the program from ground zero and being an expansion team, that’s what we were,” he said. “That’s the reason why I took this job… I love building cultures. I love going through the phase of instant gratification and saying, ‘No, we’re going to do it the right way.’”
Jones was not shy to admit to the team’s growing pains, as evidenced by the weekend’s loss to Troy, during which “we didn’t play up to our standard.” Still, Jones is encouraged by what he and his coaching staff are building, and he seems to be winning the buy-in he needs from his players. Even the loss at Oklahoma proved key in cementing the team’s mentality.
“We lose [73] to nothing, we get back to Jonesboro, and our team calls a team meeting with no coaches,” he said. “They went to the weight room when nobody was watching, at 9:30 at night, and they worked out for an hour, led by our leadership group… I knew, culturally, we had a chance.”
Jones outlined the core pieces of A-State “DNA” that he sees as fundamental to the team’s long-term success: toughness – physical, mental and emotional – connection, resilience and composure. Moments like the impromptu late-night team workout, he said, are “behaviors that drive winning.”
After the Red Wolves finished September with three successive wins, Jones said, the next step was not learning how to win, but “learning how to handle winning.”
“We’ve gone through some growing pains, but we’re building something that’s going to be able to last for a very long time, and something that everyone in this state will be extremely proud of,” he said.
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