Butch Jones has a 'touches leaderboard' at Arkansas State and it has nothing to do with touching the football

Arkansas State head football coach Butch Jones is well-known for his usage of slogans. 

"Brick by brick" and "DAT way" (details, accountability, and toughness), for example, were among the slogans that were posted around the Tennessee Vols' facilities when Jones was the head coach at UT in the mid 2010s. 

Whether it's slogans or other methods, Jones has always used unique ways to influence the culture of his teams. And one way he's influencing the culture at Arkansas State, according to former Red Wolves special teams coordinator Jake Schoonover, is by using a "touches leaderboard". 

Schoonover, who is now the special teams coordinator at Ole Miss, detailed the "touches leaderboard" during a recent appearance on The Coaches Pod. 

"Butch has a maniacal approach to culture," explained Schoonover. "And he found a study that they did in the NBA about Steve Nash and about how every player that ever played with Steve Nash said he's the best teammate they ever had. And so they were trying to figure out why. When they counted up how many times he physically touched a teammate, whether it be in confirmation, affirmation, whatever it may be -- just a pat on the back, a pat on the butt, whatever -- it was, like, double the rest of the league.

"So anyway, Butch put that into play with us and he had an employee on set, actually a northwest Arkansas boy, a kid from from Bentonville, Hadley Gregg. Hadley was [Butch's] personal assistant. And Hadley would count touches. We had a camera constantly filming practice, and Hadley would count touches during practice -- how many times teammates touched each other in a positive way and an encouraging way. And then they would count touches during the game, we'd have a touches leaderboard. It was unbelievable. And it started out where the kids were like, oh, okay, cool. And then they kind of made it a joke. You'd see kids who never played, but they'd run around the edge of the huddle just touching everybody on the helmet because they're trying to tally up their touches. But then it became a thing. And it became, like, this is a part of who we are. And I think that's the reason that Arkansas State crowd has got that thing turned [around] is because of the connection they have as a group."

A "touches leaderboard" is certainly...unique. 

But hey, Butch's record has steadily improved each season he's been at Arkansas State, going from 2-10 in 2021 to 8-5 in 2024. So things are at least trending in the right direction for the Red Wolves.