Jacksonville hires Brandon Barbaree as football coach

By Kyle Sutherland

The Jacksonville North Pulaski School Board voted on Monday evening and approved the hiring of Brandon Barbaree as the next head football coach at Jacksonville High School.

Barbaree reunites with Jacksonville athletic director Scott Waymire, who he worked with at both Carlisle and Trumann. He takes over for Maurice Moody, who resigned to take the Watson Chapel job in December after spending the past two seasons with the Titans. 

Barbaree brings almost two decades of coaching experience in multiple areas, serving as a head coach and athletic director and administration. During his time as head coach at Carlisle and Gosnell, he led both programs to conference championships and was named 3-4A Coach of the Year twice while at Gosnell. He also served a short stint at Fountain Lake and in 2020 he coached the offensive and defensive lines on the Benton Junior High staff and was the head varsity wrestling coach. 

Barabaree did not coach this school year and instead served in an administrative role in the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District. 

In a statement released by the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District, Barbaree said, “Our football program will be something all will be proud of; a team that has positive attitudes, dedication to each other, academic success, community involvement, and growth.”

The Titans have endured a rough stretch, having not achieved a winning season since 2012 and coming off a 1-9 season. With the new conference alignments that will take shape for the 2022 season, Jacksonville will move up from the 5A-Central to 6A-East with Benton, Greene County Tech, Catholic, Marion, Searcy, Sheridan, Sylvan Hills, West Memphis and defending 6A state champions El Dorado.