Category Archives: Accountability

A Tribute to Coach Stan Jones… Leadership Beyond the Game

16 Friday Oct 2026

Posted by in Accountability, Appreciation, Attitude, Character, Educational Leadership, Encouragement, Expectations, Importance, Influence, Inspiration, Know Your Why, Leader, Leadership, Loyalty, Motivation, Passion, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Thankful, Transformational, Tribute, Value

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My first true encounter with Coach Stan Jones was in 1994, when I interviewed at Shoney’s with him to be his assistant basketball coach. We talked about basketball, life, and just about everything in between. Near the end of our conversation, he asked me one last question: “If you heard someone talking bad about us at a nearby booth, would you get up and say something to them?”

I told him I would.

When Coach Jones got into town this past Wednesday, we had supper together, and I reminded him of that interview. I told him I still did not know whether my answer to his question was what got me the job. He replied, “You got the job, didn’t you?”

Yes, Coach, I did, and all these years later, I am still grateful.

I have thought about that question many times since 1994, and I have used it in every interview I have been part of since. At first, I just wanted to see what people would say. Believe it or not, the way someone answers tells you quite a bit about them. I believe Coach Jones wanted to know whether I would stand up for the people I worked with and be loyal to the team. I went to Shoney’s hoping to get a coaching job, with no idea that I was also meeting someone who would influence me as a basketball coach, husband, dad, educator, and leader for the rest of my life.

The next evening, hundreds of people gathered at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame to honor Coach Jones and raise money for the Sherard Shaw Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research and the McLean Fletcher Center. His basketball coaching career gave everyone plenty to celebrate, and seeing so many people there showed how far his influence has reached.

Coach Jones’s coaching résumé is impressive. He led Jackson Academy to back-to-back overall state championships before coaching at the University of Miami, with the Washington Wizards in the NBA, at Mississippi State, and then for more than two decades at Florida State. In 2019, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the College Basketball Assistant Coach Hall of Fame. He has coached at levels most of us only watch from a distance. I admire those accomplishments, and I value what he taught the people who worked and played for him even more.

I can say without a doubt that Coach Jones is one of the best coaches I have ever seen. His playbook was about as thick as a Sears catalog and probably could have been used as a boat anchor. I studied it all the time because he expected every player to know not only what they were supposed to do, but what the other four players were supposed to do as well. He wanted us to understand how the whole team worked together.

Then there were his motivational talks. Listening to Coach Jones could give you chill bumps. His players would have run through a wall for him because they knew how much he believed in them and how much he expected of them. Even while challenging us to give our best, he showed us what servant leadership should look like, and was the model of what transformational leadership is.

Coach Jones knew far more than plays. Inside and outside the gym, he held people to high expectations and treated them with respect. He valued execution, and he valued the people doing the work. You never had to guess where you stood with him. He could be brutally honest, but he was fair, and he was willing to listen when you saw something differently. As a young assistant, I was learning how to coach basketball, and I was learning just as much about how to work with people.

Coach Jones would often say, “Be the best,” “Don’t stop believing,” and “Never forget where you came from.” I have carried those words with me long after my coaching days. They have encouraged me through challenges in education and leadership, and they have mattered at home as well. He pushed people to reach for more while reminding them to stay grounded and remember those who helped them along the way.

He also showed me how much a person can accomplish without holding the head coach’s title. Coach Jones had already been a successful head coach when he became a college assistant. For nearly three decades, he helped build programs, prepare teams, and develop players from that role. His example taught me to give my best to the work in front of me and to invest in the people beside me.

As a lifelong mentor, Stan has helped shape the future through the many people he has influenced. We need to remember the value of that kind of leadership and offer it to others. Leadership needs more people like Coach Stan Jones.

I have shared this quote from the movie The Emperor’s Club before, and I believe it speaks to Coach Jones’s influence too:

“A great teacher has little external history to record. His life goes over into other lives. These men are pillars in the intimate structure of our schools. They are more essential than its stones or beams, and they will continue to be a kindling force and a revealing power in our lives.”

I hope you have a mentor in your life like the ones I have had and still have. We need people who will invest in us, regardless of our age, so that we can invest in others. That is true in coaching, education, and every other part of life.

When I think back to that table at Shoney’s, I smile. I was in awe of Coach Jones then, and I was just beginning to learn who he was. His last interview question was about standing up for a team. His example over the years has taught me much more: to be dependable, to give my best, to keep believing, and to care for people beyond the role they play.

Coach Jones, thank you for giving me the job. Thank you even more for the conversations, the lessons, your example, and a friendship I will always value. I am a better person because our paths crossed. Seeing hundreds of people gather to honor him reminded me that many others could say the same. I hope I can pass along even a smidgen of the influence he has given me.

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or on FaceBook at J Clay Norton or follow the blog directly.

The Long Game of Teaching: A Teacher Appreciation

01 Friday May 2026

Posted by in Accountability, Advocate, Appreciation, Classroom Leadership, Education, Educational Leadership, Effective, Encouragement, Leader, Leadership, Respect, Responsibility, Teacher Appreciation, Teachers, Thankful

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Recently, the Stennis-Montgomery Institute for Public Policy and Administration at Mississippi State University held its 50th anniversary. During the evening, many accolades and comments were shared and given by those in attendance. Most importantly was the keynote speaker (that’s what I’m calling him anyway)… Dr. Dallas Breen, Executive Director. During the final part of his speech, he spoke about the Institute’s legacy, serving the public good, and looking ahead to the next stages. In summary, Dr. Breen spoke on three specific thoughts: 1) Public service is a long game, 2) Partnerships are our greatest asset, and 3) The next fifty years matter even more than the first.

Personal side story… Dallas and I have become good friends over the past five years, beginning when my daughter, Breana, started working with the Institute (and he is still been a valuable mentor to her), and the fact that he actually reads my leadership blogs. So, after the event, we spoke. I told him I needed the last three pages of his speech because I was going to turn what he said into a teacher appreciation blog for Teacher Appreciation Week, which starts next week, by the way. So, with a nod of gratitude to Dr. Breen, here is that message reframed as a charge for us, educators…

Good education begins with good information and an unwavering commitment to serving others.

So before anything else, pause.

Pause to reflect on the teacher who challenged you.

Pause to remember the one who believed in you when you did not believe in yourself.

Pause to appreciate the countless educators who show up every day with purpose.

Because teaching, like public service, is a long game.

Looking Ahead While Honoring the Work

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, it is not just about looking back. It is about recognizing what lies ahead. There are three truths worth holding onto.

First: Teaching is a long game.

The most meaningful impact does not show up immediately. It unfolds over years, sometimes decades, in the lives of students who carry lessons far beyond the classroom. Great educators understand that their success is not measured in test scores alone, but in the character, curiosity, and resilience they help build over time.

Second: Relationships are the real curriculum.

The best learning happens through connection. Teachers partner not only with students, but with families, colleagues, and communities. They listen, adapt, and meet people where they are. These relationships are what turn information into transformation, and these partnerships are our greatest asset.

Third: The future depends on today’s classrooms.

The challenges facing our world are complex and evolving. But teachers remain uniquely positioned to prepare the next generation to meet them, equipped with knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking. The work happening in classrooms today will shape the next fifty years in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Honoring the Legacy, Investing in What’s Next

This week, we honor the educators who came before, the ones who built strong foundations. We celebrate those in classrooms today, the ones doing the daily, often unseen work, and we look ahead to those who will carry this calling forward. The commitment to education has never changed. What has grown is its reach, its depth, and its impact.

To every teacher, thank you.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for your persistence.

Thank you for the countless ways you make a difference, often without recognition.

You are part of a legacy that shapes lives, strengthens communities, and builds the future. Here is to you, and to the lasting impact of your work.

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Perspective for a New Year: Reflections from The Family Circus

09 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Accountability, Educational Leadership, Expectations, Growth, Leader, Leadership, Opportunity, Perspective, Responsibility

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The older I get, the more sentimental I become. I’ve always had a touch of it, but time has a way of deepening emotions and sharpening memories. I love Christmas, and I often tell Heather how happily sad I feel when we wake up on December 26th. The celebration has passed, the house is quieter, and the season officially closes. Still, life moves forward, and that particular Christmas becomes a memory, one we carry with us into the next days.

This past weekend, January 4, 2026, The Family Circus comic, created by Bil Keane and now drawn by his son, Jeff Keane, offered, I believe, a quiet but powerful reminder about perspective that feels especially relevant for educators as we begin a new year.

In the comic, Bil, the father, drags a discarded Christmas tree to the curb. The needles are falling, the task is inconvenient, and the season is clearly over. But the perspective that matters most is not Bil’s, it belongs to the tree. Floating above the scene are the tree’s memories: being chosen by the family, decorated with care, surrounded by laughter, and standing proudly as the centerpiece of shared joy. From the tree’s point of view, its purpose was fulfilled. It mattered. It brought people together.

To view the comic strip, click here: https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2026-01-04

The same object, the tree, represents both burden and beauty, depending entirely on perspective.

As educators step into a new year, we often carry a similar mix of hope, exhaustion, and resolve. New initiatives, new students, new expectations, and all the old that carries over, arrive again, all at once. In the middle of that swirl, leadership can feel like carrying something heavy, important, but awkward, tiring, and often unseen by others.

Educational leadership is much the same.

By January, many school leaders are focused on what feels like the “tree at the curb” moment… budget constraints, staffing shortages, test data, compliance tasks, initiatives that didn’t go as planned, and teachers taking days off and subs (or no subs) are in the building. These realities are real, and ignoring them helps no one. But leadership grounded only in problems can unintentionally crush the spirit, our own and that of the people we serve.

Perspective does not deny difficulty; it reframes it.

For educators, perspective means remembering that today’s challenges are often the byproduct of earlier successes. A growing program brings complexity. High expectations signal trust. Accountability exists because what happens in schools matters deeply. When leaders help their teams reconnect daily work to its deeper purpose… student growth, belonging, and opportunity, the weight feels different. The same task, seen through a different lens, becomes meaningful rather than merely exhausting.

Perspective is also a leadership responsibility. Teachers and staff often take cues from how leaders interpret reality. When leaders consistently highlight only what is broken, people shrink. When leaders balance honesty with hope, naming challenges while also lifting up moments of impact, people lean in. They remember why they chose this profession in the first place.

As the new year begins, effective leaders might ask themselves a few grounding questions:

  • What am I carrying that feels heavy right now, and what meaning is attached to it?
  • What moments of success or connection am I overlooking because I’m focused on what’s next?
  • How can I help others see the story behind the work, not just the work itself?

The Family Circus comic reminds us that perspective is often invisible unless we choose to notice it. If the tree could think (and we read that it is), it wouldn’t see itself as discarded, it would remember the joy it helped create. Educators, too, may feel worn down at this point in the year. Yet memories can be made in our buildings every day… the learning, the laughter, the growth, are reasons the work educators do matters, and those small victories can lead to big wins.

As we step into a new year, may we lead with eyes wide enough to see both the burden and the beauty, and help others see it too.

¹ Keane, J. (2026, January 4). The Family Circus [Cartoon]. Comics Kingdom. https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2026-01-04 

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2026 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

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“Asset-based narrative” – It’s what we need in educational leadership for our schools…

25 Wednesday Jun 2025

Posted by in Accountability, Achieve, Actions, Advice, Appreciation, Attention, Choice, Culture, Education, Educational Leadership, Effective, Emotion, Emotional Temperature, Empower, Encouragement, Expectations, Idealist, Importance, Know Your Why, Leader, Leadership, Students, Teachers, Trust, Value

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I was sitting in on a dissertation defense a few weeks ago, and the phrase “asset-based narrative” came up. This phrase, it got my head tingling, and I began to think about a connection to educational leadership. So, here’s what I came up with…

In education, leadership is not about what we meant to do, it’s about what we actually do. Good intentions are noble, but outcomes are what matter. Our schools, communities, and students live in the reality of our actions, not in the shadows of our intentions. That’s why we must begin to define leadership through an “asset-based narrative,” one that sees strength, not deficiency, and leads through what is possible rather than what is lacking.

Society often pressures leaders to control the narrative. Headlines, social media, and political climates push school leaders to respond quickly, to spin, to protect optics. But real leadership resists this impulse. True leadership defines the narrative… rooted not in fear or reaction but in clarity, purpose, and evidence of care. It says: “Here is who we are, what we value, and how we’re building something better.”

An “asset-based narrative” invites us to lead through celebration and contribution. It shifts our focus from what educators or schools “aren’t doing” to what they are accomplishing against real odds. It sees teachers as resilient, students as capable, and communities as partners. It reframes setbacks as opportunities to grow, not indictments of failure.

When we define the narrative, we move from defense to offense. We stop chasing reputations and start building legacies. And we do so by aligning our actions with what we say we believe. Because in education, as in life, leadership isn’t measured by the stories we wish had been told, it’s measured by the stories we choose to write with courage, consistency, and hope.

The question is not, “What did we mean to do?” The question is, “What did we do, and how did it build a better story for those we serve?” I think it’s worth taking a look at to see if we can find and define more of what we do in education based on the thought of “an asset-based narrative.”

As you step into your role today, remember that you are not just an educator and leader but a shaper of the future. Your actions and decisions profoundly impact the lives of those you guide. Go, be the great educator and leader that our future needs.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2025 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… X @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.