Kinston, Zion Chapel bring familiar faces on board as coaches

Coffee County Schools Board of Education members Tuesday night approved head coaches at Kinston and Zion Chapel schools. The board approved employment for Jason Wambles as the new head football coach for Kinston. Wambles will also teach several classes, along with his head coach duties.

A new head football coach was also named for Zion Chapel. Mike Waters will serve as the head coach effective immediately. Wambles’ term will begin for the 2009- 2010 year. Kinston turned to a familiar face in its former player Wambles, a high school offensive coordinator in Tennessee.

Zion Chapel hired from within, tabbing assistant coach Waters, a former head coach at Elba. At Kinston, Wambles returns to his roots to try and spark a sagging Bulldog program that has lost its last 25 games, suffering through two straight winless seasons.

Kinston also has struggled with a low number of players. Wambles takes over for Sam Dean, who was forced to resign last month.

“The first thing we have to do is create some excitement in the community, with the students and kids at the school back into football,” said Wambles, 1996 Kinston graduate. “We have to change the mentality for those kids, that losing is not accepted. “We have to get kids back in the program, wanting to win, and that it is not just something to do in the fall or on Friday night. “It will be a process. It won’t happen overnight, but we want to be competitive (next year), win a few games and build off that.”

Kinston principal Terry Weeks believes Wambles is the person to complete that objective.

“He is a top-notch coach, and he will breathe life into our program,” Weeks said. “He has some excellent ideas. His goal is to come back and turn the program around. His heart is in Kinston.

“We will see a change in our program — a positive move in the right direction. We have a long way to go, but we will see improvement.” Wambles was a Birmingham News allstate selection his senior year at Kinston as a quarterback and defensive back.

Most of his family, including his parents and grandparents, still live in the Kinston area or in nearby Opp. He played for NAIA school Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn., then two years of semi-pro ball with the Franklin Generals in Nashville, Tenn. Wambles returned to Bethel to coach the Wildcats for two years, handling wide receivers and defensive backs. He then became offensive coordinator at Huntingdon High School in Western Tennessee, a program with 500-700 students.

Huntingdon reached the state playoffs all four years he was there, including two semifinal appearances.

Under his guidance on offense, the program had five players rush for more than 1,200 yards in four years. Over at Zion Chapel, the Rebels hope Waters can push the program back into the playoffs after missing three years straight.

Waters was an assistant coach at Zion Chapel last year after spending several years on Wayne Grant’s staff at Pike County. Waters was head coach of Elba from 2001- 03, going 15-17 with one state playoff team. He was also head coach at Carrabelle (Fla.), going 21-3 in three years.

Waters played high school ball at Pike Liberal Arts and attended Troy University. He takes over for Thomas Boswell, who was fired in early March after two seasons, including 4-6 last year.

Enterprise Ledger reporter Carol Brand contributed to this story.