Photo by Brian Hoffman
James River alum Jack Baker will make his head coaching debut with the Knights this Friday when the River team opens the 2025 football season. The Knights will be in Riner to play Auburn at 7 p.m.
Auburn was struggling to field a team when summer practice opened but the Eagles have a roster of about 25 for Friday’s game. They’re coached by Scott Mikowicz and did not field a team last year after going 2-8 in 2023. They played just five games in 2022 and four in 2021, all losses.
“They’ve struggled to keep a team on the field but, from what I’ve seen, they have some tough kids,” said Baker. “They do some things well on offense. I expect we’ll get their best effort.”
River is looking to get off to a fast start in Baker’s first season. The Knights scrimmaged at Craig County on August 15, but last Friday’s scrimmage at Nelson County was cancelled due to the death of a James River student.
“It just wasn’t the right time to be playing football,” said Baker.
Jack was looking forward to the scrimmage as he came to Springwood from Nelson County, where he had coached the past three seasons. He doesn’t think missing the scrimmage will be much of a setback in the preparation for Friday’s game.
“We’ve been working pretty hard,” he said. “There will be no excuses.”
