By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
MOODY — Thompson High School co-defensive coordinator Jake Ganus was introduced as the new coach for the Moody Blue Devils on Friday, December 17.
Ganus arrived on campus to meet with the Blue Devils in a private team meeting at 11:30 a.m. Shortly after that meeting ended, the new coach spoke about the challenges and opportunity of taking over at Moody.
Ganus said he’s excited to helm the Blue Devils, even though it will be much different than his work with Thompson.
“It’s obviously different, but honestly that’s what drew me to Moody from Thompson,” Ganus said, “because of where I’m from and where I played at Chelsea. Where I went to high school was very similar in terms of enrollment, in terms of size and size of the community and facilities. That’s really what made me as a football player, and getting back to my roots like that was really enticing to me … facilities are great, but I think people make the place, and I think the people here make this a special place.”
Ganus played high school ball at Chelsea and played linebacker at UAB prior to the closure of the Blazers’ football program in 2014. From there, he was recruited to the University of Georgia. While Ganus went undrafted in 2016, he signed a free agent deal with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in 2016. He was later released and eventually joined the Thompson coaching staff, coaching linebackers.
As for his immediate plans at Moody, Ganus said that he was looking to build on the recent success the team has found.
“You have to build on the foundation that was set,” he said. “There’s no tearing stuff down. There’s no ‘my way or the highway.’ What I want to do is take what I’ve learned, what I’ve been able to take in during my five years with Thompson and apply it to Moody. How can we make Moody more successful. How do you go from that 6-4 year and what ways can I get our kids over that hump. But that foundation is there. These coaches have done a great job of laying that foundation. They’ve got a great group of young players coming back.”
One part of the team that will be missing is a starting quarterback, as A.J. Wallace is expected to transfer.
“I’ll have to get some guys out there,” Ganus said. “I know that there’s a freshman that plays quarterback, and at the end of the day when I was a quarterback at Chelsea, I was not a quarterback — I was just one of the best athletes on the team who could throw the ball OK. That’s something we’ll look at as well. Our offense will be spread, tempo. It’ll be an RPO, air-raid type system so we do need somebody that can spit the ball out and that’s something we’ll have to find in the program or in the hallways.”
Ganus was part of a Thompson coaching staff that has won three straight 7A state championships from 2019-2021.
He replaces Adam Wallace, who was fired after a 6-4 season that saw the Blue Devils narrowly miss the playoffs. Wallace was hired in 2018, and went 11-28 overall.
This will be Ganus’s first head coaching position.