Jon Clements joins Clay-Chalkville staff; Chris Mills moves to assistant principal post

By David Knox
Sports Editor

CLAY – Former Pinson Valley offensive coordinator Jon Clements has been approved by the Jefferson County Board of Education to move to Clay-Chalkville.
Clements will coach receivers. He replaces Chris Mills on the staff. Mills has accepted the position of assistant principal at Clay-Chalkville.
“He’s a fantastic young coach,” Cougars head coach Jerry Hood said. “The thing you do as the head coach is you always want to have the next coordinator ready. So he can come in and learn what we do. So if someone like Stuart Floyd, Drew Gilmer or Sean Talsma gets a head coaching job, I’ve got another guy that knows the system. He will be a great asset to us because I think he’s very detailed. I think he’s a football coach. There are some guys that are football coaches and some guys that coach for a while. He is a ball guy. I like that about him.”
Hood said Clements already knows some of the Clay-Chalkville coaches. “They kind of run in the similar circles. Coach Talsma, Coach Gilmer and Coach Floyd, they’re all buddies. So it just fits so easily.”
Mills, who helped develop star receivers such as T.J. Simmons and Nico Collins, now will impact other students in his new role.
“I think Coach Mills was ready to move on to a different phase in his life,” Hood said. “I think he’s done coaching. And for some folks it’s just the natural progression. This opportunity came up, and it worked out for him. He’ll do a good job as an assistant principal at our school.”