When the scoreboard in the south end zone of Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium hit all zeroes following last month’s Class 2A State Championship game between Junction City and Hazen, the Dragons had captured the program’s seventh state title and fifth of the past decade after a dominant second-half rally resulted in a 36-22 victory over the Hornets.
But for two families deeply associated with Junction City athletics, the win on the state’s biggest stage was just a bit more special.
For assistant football coaches Brad Smith (defensive coordinator/tight ends/linebackers) and Kendall Hutcheson (quarterbacks/defensive backs), the championship completed not only another successful season in their tenures at Junction City, but it also saw each of their youngest sons stake claim to their first state titles; completing their respective immediate football family trees that were already littered with Dragon state finals successes.
Smith, a 1982 Junction City graduate and an assistant coach for the Dragons since 2003, has been a part of all nine of the program’s trips to Little Rock. This past decade, he has helped coach all three of his sons, Hayden (2012), Will (2012-14), and Jack (2018) to state finals victories.
Hutcheson, who arrived in the Bordertown in the summer of 2009, experienced his oldest son Brennan (2013-14), a teammate of Will’s, capture back-to-back Class 2A state titles in that dominant Dragon run of 2012 to 2014, and most recently, he witnessed his youngest son Brady team up with Smith’s youngest son Jack as the duo helped lead the Dragons to the program’s aforementioned seventh state championship as the team’s starting quarterback and starting center/place kicker, respectively.
When discussing how he approaches coaching his own kids in comparison to other players, Smith quickly responded.
“That’s part of the key to it (coaching your sons),” Smith said. “You can’t make it any different. If they mess up, you have to get on them, just like you would anybody else and you can’t get into them any more than you would anybody else. I’ve seen both extremes of coaches and their sons. But you just have to treat them like anybody else.”
Additionally, Smith referenced a former colleague of his during a previous coaching stint in regards to how to coach family.
“I had a good example set in front of me,” Smith said. “A guy I worked with at Ruston Junior High, Willie Young (a Grambling State Legends Hall of Famer and a 10-year career with the New York Giants); I watched him coach his nephew and I always said that if my kids want to play ball and if I ever coach them…I want to do it just like Willie. I saw that example and basically said that’s how I am going to do it. Willie would praise and he would correct. He never went overboard either way.”
Hutcheson echoed Smith’s perspective and added, “I think it’s harder for your kids when they play for you than if their dad wasn’t coaching. A lot of people think that if you’re coaching your kids then they are going to get special favors or advantages. It is absolutely the opposite. It puts more pressure on the kids. The last thing you want is for people thinking that your kid is getting special treatment. They have to earn everything they get.”
And “earn everything” can aptly describe the playing careers of Hayden, Will, Brennan, Jack and Brady. These five young men have combined to win eight state championships as Dragon football players and each have played an important role in the successes of their respective teams while carrying a selfless, team-first attitude.
Hutcheson added, “That’s the thing with coach’s kids…they don’t want special treatment. They don’t want anything given to them. They want to be treated like anybody else.”
Brennan, Hutcheson’s oldest son, noted the “growing pains” of being a coach’s son early on in his career, but used it to better himself as a player.
“It was tough,” he said. “I had guys that would tell me the only reason I played was because my dad was a coach. That got to me at first. But then it became the reason I worked hard in the offseason.”
Smith went on to mention that coaching his sons was very similar to coaching any other kid. You have to understand that every kid responds differently.
“Everybody has a different button,” Smith said. “You couldn’t yell at Hayden loud enough that he wouldn’t respond. If you talked to Will real quiet, you could say anything to him. And with Jack, you just had to read him day-by-day.”
Growing up in a football household, conversations revolving around the pigskin undoubtedly took place often, but by the time the sons began their high school careers, the football talk had found its place in the daily lives of both the Smith and Hutcheson families.
“If you want to talk about the game, we’ll talk about it. If you don’t want to, we won’t,” remarked Hutcheson on what he would tell his sons.
He added, “It’s up to them. None of the other kids have to go home and listen to me gripe at them, so they shouldn’t have to listen to it either. We try to keep family and football separate. We don’t want to bring anything negative to the house.”
Brennan confirmed those statements.
“We would barely talk about football at home unless I had questions about the opponent’s scheme,” he said.
That was the same atmosphere that existed in the Smith household.
“At home, you know, he’s dad so we talk about numerous things all the time. But once practice starts, it’s all business and no games,” Jack noted.
Will remembers how much preparation went into the games.
“There were some nights he would have watched so much film during the week, that the last thing he would want to talk about is football,” he said.
You can ask any of the sons to talk about some of their favorite moments of getting to play under their dads and you will get different responses from each.
For instance, Hayden remembers the film sessions and executing his dad’s game plan as a linebacker on Friday nights, while Will vividly recalls his dad’s halftime speech of the 2013 state championship game against Des Arc where he challenged the Dragons to make a statement and be remembered after the Dragons carried a huge lead into the intermission.
It was a little more difficult for Brennan to nail down a favorite moment.
“I enjoyed them all. From pushing sleds to winning that last game,” he said.
Playing his final season for the Dragons next fall, Brady’s fondest memories so far include his dad’s approach to the role of father and coach.
“If I get something wrong, he acts like a coach and helps me do things the right way. Off the field, he supports me by telling me and showing me ways that helped him while he was growing up,” stated the youngest Hutcheson.
In similar fashion, both coaches have different memories of each son’s playing careers; special moments that come to life when thinking back on their boys’ time as Dragons.
But sometimes coaching responsibilities take precedent over watching their sons perform.
“Truthfully, the only one I ever watched was Hayden. He was in the position that I coached. Will also played tight end one year and I was working with the position. But that’s it. I never really saw them play. I was watching too much other stuff,” remarked Smith.
But on the other side of the father-son coaching spectrum, Hutcheson, who has directly coached both of his sons, added “There are moments when something doesn’t go well that you think, ‘Well, I hope he doesn’t let that bother him.’ So you always have a little bit of anxiety there, because you always want your kids to succeed.”
But unanimously, the fathers and sons all look to those post-game celebrations with family in Little Rock as some of their fondest memories on the field together.
“I found him (Dad) and gave him a big hug. Knowing all of the hard work that the both of us put in throughout the year had finally paid off was a great feeling,” Jack said. “We had talked about that moment (winning a state title) a lot here in the last year and they (my brothers and my father) were all telling me that there was no other feeling that could compare to that one. Seeing both of my brothers and my mom after the game and the fact that they were probably more excited than I was meant a lot to me.”
“After the game is over with, that’s always been my favorite moment (seeing family)…that sense of pride that you feel. Not only because you won a championship, but because your kids had a part in it. There is a lot of pride there,” said Hutcheson.
Brady agreed.
“Just being able to hug my family made it that much better,” he said.
Will didn’t hesitate.
“My favorite memory of playing under dad is 100 percent the pictures after the state championship games with him holding the trophy,” he said.
Brennan added, “After my first state championship, it didn’t matter that I didn’t get to play after just having moved up from junior high. I was just happy I got to do it under my dad.”
For Hayden, the first of the five sons to play under his father at the high school level, a conversation between him and his dad several days after the 2018 state championship game sits richly at the front of his mind.
“We were just sitting at home talking and I couldn’t help but smile as we talked about how all three brothers won a state championship with our dad,” he said. “You see that in movies, but not really anywhere else. That’s probably one of the best conversations we’ve ever had.
“That was a special moment. Jack had never been on a state championship winning team as far as a player. He wanted one first and foremost for the accomplishment of winning one, but also for some bragging rights with his brothers. When you’re a state champion, you can hold your head up a little higher than everybody else.”
With rings on their hands and a heart full of memories, the debate for the brothers of both families can now turn to things such as who was the better player or whose teams were the best. But one thing is for certain and isn’t up for debate, the journey was experienced together…as a family.
“The best part of it is,” Smith concluded, “is that in a job that takes you away from your family, you get to be with your family.”