Jan is Back?
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Re: Jan is Back?
Interesting article on Jan from last year where he was coaching in high school:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8656 ... tml?pg=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Published: Thursday, Oct. 2 2014 3:25 p.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — The first time Jan Jorgensen saw stars was in July, when Josh Copeland caught him with a streetcar right behind the left ear.
That was his first loss as a mixed martial arts professional.
“I went down like a flash,” Jorgensen says. “Next thing I knew, the referee was grabbing me and stopping the fight.” The next kayo punch was the Sept. 12 Carbon-North Sanpete football game, a 27-7 loss by the Dinos. Jorgensen, a first-year football coach, knew taking over at his alma mater would be hard work; the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2000. At the same time, the sheer number of hours “surprised me — I’m not going to lie.”
This year he led Carbon to its first 3-0 start since 2011, but just as quickly saw three straight losses. Now he has to try reviving his team on Friday against Judge Memorial. It won’t be easy. The Bulldogs are on a four-game win streak and are 5-1 overall, ranked the top 3A school in the state.
This is life nowadays for the former BYU defensive lineman: He leaves at 6 a.m. for school, where he teaches history and geography, before moving on to his coaching duties, and doesn’t return home until 9 p.m.
The son of longtime College of Eastern Utah coach Jeff Jorgensen, he grew up knowing football. To his surprise, when he took the Carbon job last summer, he found some players didn’t know the basics such as punting on fourth down.
“I understand why coaches become such control freaks,” Jorgensen says. “They’re constantly in a state of feeling out of control, so they become control freaks. You’re chasing that rabbit that you can never catch.”
Jorgensen was a relentless worker at BYU, where his 14 sacks in a season are still the second-most in Mountain West Conference history. Now his job is more about persuading than pushing and punishing.
“At the college level, they know all the basic stuff,” he says. “In high school, kids don’t always know.”
Meanwhile, his mixed martial arts career awaits recharging. He was undefeated through his first eight matches — the seventh was ruled a no contest — but then ran into Copeland’s runaway hook.
“It makes life interesting,” Jorgensen says. “If not for the good and bad, the ups and downs, I’d be living a normal life. I don’t want to be normal.”
No danger there. “Janimal” — his nickname since college — says he’ll evaluate his MMA career after the football season, when he can take time to train.
The coaching aspect, though, appears a certainty.
“I want to coach. That’s why I got a teaching degree. When and where that’s going to be in the next few years, honestly I have no idea,” he says. “But if you were to ask me if I were to be standing where I am, doing what I’m doing six months ago, I’d have said you were crazy — coaching and teaching in my hometown.”
After a few years as a radio personality in Salt Lake, Jorgensen moved to fulltime mixed martial arts. He was sailing along unfettered until one of his biggest sponsors withdrew, "so the money wasn’t coming like it was.”
When Carbon High called, it got his full attention. Though his new team was coming off a winless season, who better to teach history than someone who made it?
Wins over Grand, American Leadership and Duchesne gave way to serious turbulence, via losses to North Sanpete, Grantsville and Morgan. If things go poorly against Judge, he’ll be 0-4 in the last month.
Before playing Morgan, last week, he said, “I expect my team to go out and win that game.” Instead, the Dinos lost 44-0.
“I don’t do moral victories,” he says.
A few days earlier, he received a call from Bronco Mendenhall, inquiring how he was holding up. Jorgensen asked how the BYU coach deals with stress.
“I call it the constant state of readiness,” Mendenhall said.
Ready for what? Coaching kids who might not know a bubble screen from bubble gum? At Carbon High, it’s stressful and rewarding at the same time.
“I still get butterflies before games,” Jorgensen says. “Butterflies are good.”
He expects those.
But knockout punches, both on the field and in the ring?
Sometimes you don’t see them coming.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8656 ... tml?pg=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Published: Thursday, Oct. 2 2014 3:25 p.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — The first time Jan Jorgensen saw stars was in July, when Josh Copeland caught him with a streetcar right behind the left ear.
That was his first loss as a mixed martial arts professional.
“I went down like a flash,” Jorgensen says. “Next thing I knew, the referee was grabbing me and stopping the fight.” The next kayo punch was the Sept. 12 Carbon-North Sanpete football game, a 27-7 loss by the Dinos. Jorgensen, a first-year football coach, knew taking over at his alma mater would be hard work; the team hasn’t had a winning season since 2000. At the same time, the sheer number of hours “surprised me — I’m not going to lie.”
This year he led Carbon to its first 3-0 start since 2011, but just as quickly saw three straight losses. Now he has to try reviving his team on Friday against Judge Memorial. It won’t be easy. The Bulldogs are on a four-game win streak and are 5-1 overall, ranked the top 3A school in the state.
This is life nowadays for the former BYU defensive lineman: He leaves at 6 a.m. for school, where he teaches history and geography, before moving on to his coaching duties, and doesn’t return home until 9 p.m.
The son of longtime College of Eastern Utah coach Jeff Jorgensen, he grew up knowing football. To his surprise, when he took the Carbon job last summer, he found some players didn’t know the basics such as punting on fourth down.
“I understand why coaches become such control freaks,” Jorgensen says. “They’re constantly in a state of feeling out of control, so they become control freaks. You’re chasing that rabbit that you can never catch.”
Jorgensen was a relentless worker at BYU, where his 14 sacks in a season are still the second-most in Mountain West Conference history. Now his job is more about persuading than pushing and punishing.
“At the college level, they know all the basic stuff,” he says. “In high school, kids don’t always know.”
Meanwhile, his mixed martial arts career awaits recharging. He was undefeated through his first eight matches — the seventh was ruled a no contest — but then ran into Copeland’s runaway hook.
“It makes life interesting,” Jorgensen says. “If not for the good and bad, the ups and downs, I’d be living a normal life. I don’t want to be normal.”
No danger there. “Janimal” — his nickname since college — says he’ll evaluate his MMA career after the football season, when he can take time to train.
The coaching aspect, though, appears a certainty.
“I want to coach. That’s why I got a teaching degree. When and where that’s going to be in the next few years, honestly I have no idea,” he says. “But if you were to ask me if I were to be standing where I am, doing what I’m doing six months ago, I’d have said you were crazy — coaching and teaching in my hometown.”
After a few years as a radio personality in Salt Lake, Jorgensen moved to fulltime mixed martial arts. He was sailing along unfettered until one of his biggest sponsors withdrew, "so the money wasn’t coming like it was.”
When Carbon High called, it got his full attention. Though his new team was coming off a winless season, who better to teach history than someone who made it?
Wins over Grand, American Leadership and Duchesne gave way to serious turbulence, via losses to North Sanpete, Grantsville and Morgan. If things go poorly against Judge, he’ll be 0-4 in the last month.
Before playing Morgan, last week, he said, “I expect my team to go out and win that game.” Instead, the Dinos lost 44-0.
“I don’t do moral victories,” he says.
A few days earlier, he received a call from Bronco Mendenhall, inquiring how he was holding up. Jorgensen asked how the BYU coach deals with stress.
“I call it the constant state of readiness,” Mendenhall said.
Ready for what? Coaching kids who might not know a bubble screen from bubble gum? At Carbon High, it’s stressful and rewarding at the same time.
“I still get butterflies before games,” Jorgensen says. “Butterflies are good.”
He expects those.
But knockout punches, both on the field and in the ring?
Sometimes you don’t see them coming.
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