Union High School got its next football coach on Monday night.
The Union School Board approved West Lauderdale assistant Jordan Wren as the school’s next football coach on Monday, replacing long-time head coach Brad Breland, who stepped down last month to start his retirement.
Wren comes to Union after three years as an assistant at West Lauderdale where he helped guide the Knights to the Class 5A playoffs all three years. Before that, Wren was an assistant at Class 6A Olive Branch for seven years and helped the Conquistadors win the 6A state championship in 2011.
Wren was quick to acknowledge what he is inheriting at Union.
“Coach Breland was here for 18 years and he set a strong culture here and built a nice program,” Wren said. “Coming in, I’m just going to build off of that. He will be here until May so I am going to lean on him for some advice. There is a culture and tradition here that coach Breland has built. It’s a known school, and when he decided to retire, it opened up a lot of eyes who wanted to be a part of the success he has already built. It’s a great, great community. I’ve been coming here to this community since I was a teenager and fell in love with it, and now I get to lead it.”
Superintendent Tyler Hansford said there were 44 people that applied for the job and a committee of himself, counselor Deanna Rush, W.T. Smith, softball coach Jacob Casey and tennis coach Bryan Norman narrowed that to a group of 10. Those 10 candidates were interviewed and narrowed to four, who were talked to more in-depth.
“We had 44 people apply for this job. It really blew me away,” Hansford said. “It speaks to where coach Breland is leaving the program and the fact that people want to work with us. He comes highly recommended from as many people as I can find to talk to — not only as a football coach, but as a person of character. I’m happy to have he and his wife and his kids here in the district.”
Wren said the first thing he has to do is get with the current coach staff and figure out who is coming back and start trying to build a staff for next season.
“I think the first thing is trying to figure out who is going to be on staff and who isn’t going to be on staff,” Wren said. “There are some rumors of people retiring so I think the first task is to figure out who I can hire in what spots.”
Wren said he has watched some film on Union and doesn’t see any drastic changes on the offensive or defensive side of the football.
“Offensively, I have seen film on them, we are very alike in offensive and defensive schemes,” Wren said. “It’s not going to be too much of a change from what I have seen this past team. We will be spread and then in short-yardage situations we will be in a 21 personnel. You could see multiple formations on any given drive. Defensively, we will be in an odd front. Our thing on defense will be to attack the offense and make them uncomfortable.”
Wren said he is happy to get closer to his wife’s family. His wife, the former Hannah Gressett, is from Chunky. The Wrens have two small children, 3 1/2-year-old Ivy Rae and 4-month-old Livi Jane.
“It means a lot having the in-laws right down the street with two young kids and being a football coach is time consuming in general,” Wren said. “So them being here right at us is awesome. It means a lot to us because family is the first thing.”
