Jerry Bennett just told Smoaky.com he will retire from coaching at the end of this school year.

Bennett, who won 154-games in 24-years as the head coach at either Jefferson or Linden-Kildare, said, "I was seriously considering retirement after last season, but, I just didn't pull the trigger until now," Bennett continued, "I recently had back surgery and during the time I was confined to doing nothing, I just decided now was the time, our program at Jefferson is in great hands whether I'm there or not."

Bennett won a Class 3-A State Championship at Jefferson in 1986, beating Cuero, 24-0 at Kyle Field in College Station, and he also took Jefferson to the quarterfinals in 1994, losing to Atlanta in Nacogdoches in what he called, "the biggest coaching heartbreak of my career, I mean we were really good, and we were unbeaten, but it didn't go our way that night."

After stops as an assistant at his Alma-Mater Marshall and then Queen City, Bennett became a head coach for the first time in 1982, taking over a Jefferson program that had hadn't been to the playoffs in sixteen years, "I was proud of the 1986 state championship, but let me tell you, that 1983 team was the first team at Jefferson to make the playoffs since the post-integration years, that's the team that kick-started our success."

So, now what's in store for the 63-year old coach, who also spent 6 1/2-years as an assistant at S.M.U. when one of his brothers, Phil Bennett was their head coach, "Well, first of all, I better start paying more attention to my wife who has been the ultimate coaches wife," Bennett added, "And, I do want the opportunity to do some things while I can still get around well enough, watch some of my former players I've coached play in college, and I want to go down to Waco and watch Baylor with Phil now their defensive coordinator."

Bennett, who earned his college degree at Louisiana Tech believes his replacement is on staff right now, but he'll let the superintendent and school board do their thing, "but they probably know who I believe is the right choice."

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