Norman North Coach Justin Jones
By Mike Moguin
There are a variety of unique ways in which coaching the game of football can make you a better person. Norman North head coach Justin Jones can tell you.
“This is a multi-layered answer that I could write a book on,” said Jones, who enters his eighth season at the helm for the Timberwolves. “To me, football is the greatest sport ever invented. It is a great team game that parallels life in so many ways. First of all, it’s hard, and hard is good. Second, it’s about the team. Our locker room is full of different ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, and experiences that all come together and form a brotherhood, a bond that is often unbreakable. Lastly, this is the only sport where your investment is so much greater than your opportunity for return. We get one shot a week to withdraw from our investment. Win or lose, you have to live with that result until the next week.”
Jones is a busy man with the game. Besides being the head coach at Norman North, he is also the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Football Coaches Association.
But you can bet his players drive him daily.
“So many of them give everything they have to our program, and it is inspiring,” Jones said. “I am one of the few lucky ones who has never worked a day in my life because I have been blessed to be around so many great students and student-athletes in my life.”
Jones also points to his mom, dad, and brother as huge inspirations.
His team has key people coming back for the 2025 season, including two bound for D-I programs.
“Our expectations are the same every year: We want to be first class in all that we do. Our mission is to be the hardest working, best conditioned, and most disciplined team in the state of Oklahoma,” Jones said. “We have high expectations of our players. We expect them to prepare and compete to the best of their ability.”
There are many memories that Jones cherishes as the Timberwolves’ coach.
“I’m proud of how our guys have elevated the culture and standard of our program each year. We strive to live above our standard in our daily actions. We have had some memorable wins and tough losses. However, I am most proud of the young men who grow and develop in their four years in our program. We have some great young men here at Norman North,” Jones said.
The best advice Jones said he has ever given to his team is “1. Stick to your Preparations, meaning that preparation is the key to success; 2. Always be first class and also choose to do it the right way, even though that might be the hardest way; and 3. Success is the result of repeated intentional actions: have passion and be consistent.”
