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Mike Jones Coaches at 75th Shrine Game

Chinook Head Football Coach Mike Jones has barely had any time to catch his breath following the conclusion of the 2021-22 school year.

Jones had the honor of being selected to be a coach for the Red Team at the Bob Cleverly Eight-man All-Star Game in Butte on Saturday, June 4. Jones was the offensive coordinator for the victorious Red Team and had the honor of coaching three graduated Sugarbeeters in the contest.

That following Monday Jones was in Bozeman with 25 current Sugarbeeter football players, taking part at the Montana State University Eight-man Team Camp.

Returning home that Wednesday night, Jones was able to spend a couple days in town before heading back out on the road to be a coach for the East Team at the 75th Annual East/West Shrine Game.

Being selected to coach in a game as prestigious as the Shrine Game is truly an honor and one not to many coaches will ever have the opportunity to do. Being selected to coach any post season All-Star game is an honor in and of itself. For Jones to be selected to coach in two back to back is remarkable.

"The whole experience was awesome. Being able to work with the coaches I did was really a great experience," commented Jones. "Each of these guys do things a little different and for different reasons, I definitely am going to be taking a few things with pregame routines, install, and film."

The East Team was led by Head Coach Mark Sampson. Coaching in his final game and third at the helm of a Shrine team, Sampson is a coach with a lot of knowledge to pass on. "Getting to work with these coaches purely from an X's and O's standpoint was awesome. There are few things better than getting to talk football in a room full of great coaches," added Jones.

With just a week to prepare, getting to know the kids, put in a scheme and develop a game plan is a tall task to take on, "The kids on the team were great. The amount of talent we had on the team was remarkable and then getting to work with them. You could definitely tell that these kids were really good at each of their positions and I will definitely be rooting for these kids at the next level.