Former Greenwood standout happy to be part of Airedales
By Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Some people go through four years of college not knowing what they want to do.
Parker Gill knew his destiny long before he hit puberty.
“I did a second-grade project because I remember taking it home to my mom and dad, and it said, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up? And I drew a football coach, and that’s because of my dad.’ Growing up, being around the football team, I always wanted to be with my dad,” beams Gill, a first-year Alma assistant. “Anytime he was at practice or in the locker room, I wanted to be right beside him, doing everything he was doing.
“I knew pretty early that I loved football and I wanted to be just like my dad.”
A longtime assistant at Greenwood, Jason Gill was a high school teammate of Alma head coach Rusty Bush at Fordyce in the early 1990s. The elder Gill landed at Mansfield for a short period in the early 2010s before eventually being hired by Rick Jones at Greenwood.
Jason Gill has been an integral part of the Bulldogs’ last five state titles - almost half of the 12 the school has won since 2000.
“Parker and I have a little history together,” Bush said. “His dad and I played football together in Fordyce and have stayed close through the coaching ranks while he was at Rison, and then Mansfield as the coach, and now at Greenwood as the defensive coordinator. Being able to hire a guy from Greenwood that has a rich football tradition, he’s a guy that you’re getting the first year out of college, but with years of experience.”
“Parker’s been around as a player but also the last two years as a volunteer,” Greenwood coach Chris Young said. “He’s not a normal first-year coach. Being the son of Jason Gill, who I think is one of the best, if not the best, defensive coordinators in Arkansas, he understands the time it takes to be a coach.
“He’ll do a great job over there.”
A 2022 Greenwood grad, Gill sped through college in just three years. He played on the Bulldogs’ 2020 state title team.
Gill and his dad coached together last year while he volunteered at Greenwood. But getting his first paying gig is meaningful in its own right.
“I know he’s (Jason Gill) proud; he’s just happy I got a job,” Gill said. “We always talked about wanting to coach together when I got older, but my first job wasn’t coaching with him, and to be honest, it wasn’t a big deal to me. I’m proud of my dad, but I want to be known for what I do in coaching.”
Gill will coach receivers and defensive backs for the Airedales. He’ll work on Jeremie Burns’ junior high staff, which also includes veteran coach Ryan Meyers.
“I’ve been eating it up,” Gill said. “When I moved into Greenwood in the second grade, the Greenwood-Alma rivalry was still going on, but it wasn’t as good as it was in the early 2000s. You hear about it; I just never experienced it.”
Until now.
Next year, the two-storied Arkansas programs will renew their conference rivalry when the Bulldogs compete in the 5A-West.