Jackson Jambalaya

It’s because they are still stuck in the Stone Age, right?

Why not let the school release its logo in its time?

Y'all need to go back and read Kingfish's last story on JA. You'll (maybe) get the joke then.

Looks like a tipped over Christmas tree to me.

Maybe they can tomahawk chop. Games are going to have Atlanta-type atmospheres.

The JA Arrows joke was slightly funny the first time. Now, not so much. JA is just doing what the others are doing. It’s amazing the amount of money that is being wasted in an effort to win a ballgame.

The JA over Clinton Football after taking 6 of their players😂😂

They can’t develop talent so they go recruit it.

First I’ve seen it. I think it’s hilarious. And no, sorry, JA is not “just doing what the others are doing”. Tell us another school with 15 high school athletes transferring in this year. I’ll wait. Oh yeah, and 7 or 8 are from 1 school - Clinton Arrows.

Ha. This would actually be very fitting.

Lighten up, Francis. This gets funnier every day.

I don’t think any public or private school has gone this overboard to win some games. If I was some of these recruits, I would be embarrassed to be there

They can’t develop players so they just recruit other schools’ talent.

Damn - felt sure it would be a heads hot of their six- pac NIL deal! What a disappointment

What’s the baseball helmet going to look like this year…
Anyone know the number of recruits baseball has picked up?

Jackson Academy- “The state’s largest private school: half paying kids, half transfer portal”

I was having coffee this morning and over heard a recruits dad say,
Whettack’s motto: “Public athletes first, paying families last.”
Even if not true, disappointing that people are talking like this about a school that was once prestigious.

Eddie Whettack: Turning public school starters into private school starters – and private kids into spectators.

Jackson Academy: “Public kids play, private kids pay.”

How thick are yall????

Clinton (and the other public schools) doesn't have to do anything but let a few years pass and maybe hire a better AD. JA has to keep spending hundreds of thousands a year to stay competitive. Time is not on JA's side. Nor Hartfield's.

Jackson Academy – Recruit, replace, ruin. That’s the whole playbook

JA – Pay $20k a year to watch a recruit from Clint on make your kid look useless

Aw, that’s cute, 7:12 thinks JA was prestigious at some point.

I do feel sorry for Jackson Academy. They had lost for so many years while other private schools were bringing in recruits. They just did it the wrong way. Bringing in so many in one year that are juniors and seniors just doesn’t go well. Hopefully, they can bounce back in a few years but I think they have tarnished their name

Eddie Whettach went from rebooting computers in the IT closet to rebooting an entire school into oblivion in just 30 days. From tech support to total school destruction—fastest downgrade in Jackson Academy history.

I give it a few months before some imported player’s entourage causes an incident.

An arrowhead? What's wrong with Chief John Two Guns White Calf?

JA Baseball - 8 of 9 starters this year will be recruits who transferred to JA this year or last

I grew up in south Mississippi. We would travel to Jackson several times a a year to play Jackson Academy. I did find Jackson Academy a prestige school. It had a tradition of having great students, family atmosphere and all of this done in the heart of Jackson. Over the past couple years, they’ve changed their values. They’ve committed to winning at all costs. It started with basketball, baseball and football. The problem is now they’re so committed to all of these recruits they cannot pull back. I don’t see how the school makes it much further. If it does it will never be what it used to be. That is a sad thought.

Copiah Academy Alumni Class of 2001

School choice is great.
Good for those recruits bettering their lives

I wouldn't brag on my sources if this was the best I got.

Recruiting is happening everywhere. Desoto County schools are losing their athletes to private schools in Mississippi and Tennessee at an accelerated rate. Money. Greed. Unregulated for now. At what point will the private academies be on the hook to pay for child labor? US Supreme Court says you have to pay.

They are paying. That’s the whole point behind this.

When school choice gets here, watch all the public school coaches competing with private school coaches.

@Hookah I'm sure some big Texas schools might generate a decent amount of revenue to the point of making a profit, but do MS private schools? I think that's the only way you could claim they're owed money

I find the post more than slightly funny, albeit sad and embarrassing for everyone involved with creating the situation. They abandoned values much more than a couple of years ago but it has gone unchecked with the parade of weak, short lived headmasters over the last decade or so. Sadly there are board members past and present who should have known better than to have allowed things to reach this point. Maybe it’s purely about survival. Maybe it’s a power trip for the “just doing what everyone else is doing” crowd. Who knows. But Copiah grad is right it’ll never be what it used to be.

I say, go for it. I am relatively sure every transfer will get a better education at JA than they are receiving at there current outlander school.

The recruits are getting the best end of the deal. When they go to college it looks some much better with JA high school diploma than Clinton high school diploma. Good job JA helping these recruits!

Would love to know who are all the JA people are that are funding this!

Anybody remember what happened to Woodland Hills Academy when they tried to recruit players. My, how times have changed.

Football aside, I think the comments about Eddie Wettach are uncalled for. The guy just started in his new role a couple of months ago. I don’t have any ties to JA and don’t know him personally, but he appears to be an excellent fit for the job. He has ties to the school and the Jackson area. This is his home. He appears to be a very bright young man and has the leadership skills to quickly develop into an outstanding head of school for JA for years to come.

Good grief. I have no dog in the hunt. My kid plays public school ball and likely won’t get recruited to play anywhere else. But why are so many commenters on here so upset with JA boosters spending the money how they please? Recruiting and paying for kids to leave another team doesn’t mean that a school has abandoned academics or ethics. It means that they want to bring in talent and are willing to “scholarship” kids to do so. Who cares? I can’t really even understand why I’m so annoyed with you all. Maybe it’s the pompous piety on display. Anyway, let the schools and boosters do what they want. Let the kids and parents decide what they want to do. Boy, do we know how to tilt at windmills, or what?

@7:34… wake up! They’re not paying.

I don’t think anyone doubts that they could be good kids. It’s the purpose of recruiting kids just to win. The kids are in 11th and 12th grade. They have multiple siblings that are not coming to Jackson Academy. If they’re coming for a better education why aren’t the siblings coming?

Yeah, because Clinton schools are crap schools. Right.

Above board on a W2?

It's more about the athletes and institutions NOT paying them for their talents. Just watch...these classless NIL parents wandering around MAIS looking for "the bag"

@11:27 thanks Ms Wettach for your comment.

Eddie is in over his head. He knows it. The board knows it. The staff know it. But don’t worry mom, his job is safe for now. The board wont fire him this soon bc they don’t want egg on their face for hiring him. This is a PERFECT example for anyone really wanting to understand JA’s downfall.

So because they are black, y'all don't think they can afford tuition? Are some of y'all pricy to JA books and know who is paying what?

Pricy? Huh? Yes...JA is rather pricy.

Catch a clue, Goob. It's a joke.

Kingfish, that’s exactly what some people know. It’s amazing how a mama of five that lives in an apartment can now send her senior to Jackson Academy. The other four kids aren’t coming.

11:48, like you I have no dog in the hunt. And never have. But I did pay private tuition so maybe this is why I can see how parents shelling out five figures a year might want their kids to have an “opportunity” to play sports with a “level playing field.”

Private schools have become little kingdoms for the headmasters and coaches to run as they please, including building a team with recruits that have non-paying parents.

Also, it sure is funny how they have the sit out a year rule when transferring from private school to private school. Hypocrisy.

Are you that stupid?

I was driving from Yazoo city this afternoon. Went through Clinton on the way home. I’m not sure why these kids transferred. Clinton high school is a much nicer high school than Jackson Academy will ever be.

I guess the empty promises of professional professional sports is driving them.

@4:52 The saddest part about all of these post and comments is that you, and people like you, view this as a bad thing. A mother of 5 who lives in an apartment has an opportunity to send one of her kids to a prestigious private school that could provide better education and opportunities for her family. What a terrible thing. BTW, I believe several of the “families” leaving JA because of “recruiting” left younger siblings at JA.

JA is the largest area private school in enrollment today but the size difference between the area's largest private schools is minimal and fluctuates. What should matter most is how their students do on national tests and college/university acceptance rates. Indeed, private schools have a numerical weight assigned to them by universities that factor into the college acceptance. Might ought to find out for college administrators what that number is.

You must have lost count of how many 36 ACT scores Clinton has produced over the last decade.

Cost does not always equal prestige.

Not only does it 'not always'. It doesn't 'ever'. Prestige is nothing more than an awkward observation by those who engage full time in judgment.

I remember when the private schools only poached players from each other. My how times have changed.

Two things come to mind:

1) I remember, 25-40 years ago when Clinton was considered the best school system in this state. If you were moving anywhere neat the state capital, you were encouraged to locate in Clinton.

2) Up until about six years ago, South Panola Public recruited football players from Memphis, sixty miles north, and put their parent up in a trailer in Batesville.

Greenville Christian School, formerly an all white private academy, suddenly turned the team into an all black team and is excelling on the field.

St. Joe, also in Greenville, a staunch, all (white) Catholic Academy at one time, miraculously located about thirteen black Catholics and now competes with the best private schools in the region.

I heard at the teacher’s back to school meeting, the teachers asked what they should say when they are questioned about recruits by parents and Mr Whettach didn’t have an answer. Strong leadership skills out of the IT department at JA.

August 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM only a "goob" says "goob", and it's not a good joke.

@8:04 AM You "heard" wrong - might want to fact check. I was there. A few kids enrolled with no $ from the school, a few parents got mad and pitched a fit. Such is life.

Basketball season must be close—JA just swapped another loyal student for a last-minute recruit.
#NewEra
#RunningRaiders
#RunningLoyalStudentsToTheBench

Jackson Academy out here #RunningRaiders- straight off the court and on to the bench. Full pay kids traded for overnight recruit. Loyalty don’t start anymore. #NewEra

What is the new cell phone policy at Jackson Academy? Anyone know? What’s the reasoning behind it?

I'm a long time JJ fan and supporter. I don't have family at JA and am not an alumni, but know some great families at the school who don't deserve having their choice mocked. When you create content (instead of reporting) to bash anyone/any institution, it dilutes your relevance IMO. I enjoy your news coverage, but heaping coals and mocking anything good that still stands in my home of 50+ years dissuades me from continuing to support JJ or even listen to you guest hosting on the radio. It's just a bad look...