Greater Than the Gridiron

GREATER

THAN THE GRIDIRON

As many football fans kick back Sunday, Feb. 13 with friends and family to watch the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI, one OCPS educator will know firsthand what it’s like to play at the highest level of the sport. Legacy Middle Principal Jason Jimenez played professional football for nine years – three years with the National Football League and six years for the Canadian Football League. His foray into the world of football and teaching truly is an OCPS full-circle story.

Jimenez’s South American parents (father from Peru, mother from Colombia) moved the family from New York to “small town” Orlando in the 1980s. Jimenez attended Cypress Park Elementary (now Sally Ride Elementary), Walker Middle, Edgewater and Cypress Creek high schools. A player of multiple sports, it wasn’t until the end of his junior year at Cypress Creek that coaches approached the 6’7” student to consider playing football as a means to go to college.

“My dad saw the value in it because they weren’t gonna be able to send me to college,” said the Class of 1998 graduate. “My mom had her reservations … when it comes to [mothers and] their boys playing football. … Sports really played a pivotal role for me because it gave me an outlet.” His work in the weight room and study of the sport garnered him a scholarship to play at Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg, Miss. (For football fans, Brett Favre also went here). There, he continued his strength conditioning and bulked up from 190 to 315 pounds at offensive tackle.

“I worked out, I ate, … it was a regimented program,” he said. “You know, it was the same way that we look at student data here in OCPS. It was, ʻHere’s your data, here’s your next target. Here’s your next goal. Okay. This is what you do to get there.’”

After five years at Southern Miss, the next goal Jimenez set his sights on was to play in the NFL.

“I thought to myself, ʻThis is a young man’s sport. I won’t be able to do this in my 30s, 40s or 50s, or much later in life. It’s either now or never,’” he said.

While not drafted, Jimenez was picked up by the Cleveland Browns. During minicamp, he was released by them and moved on to the Green Bay Packers, where he played on active reserve for 1.5 years. Next he went to the Oakland

Raiders, where he was activated on special teams. (In the 2004 and 2005 offseasons, he also played in Germany for the NFL Europe’s Frankfurt Galaxy and Cologne Centurions, respectively.)

Interested in learning about our northern neighbors, Jimenez moved to the Canadian Football League for six seasons, where he played for teams on both coasts – the British Columbia Lions and Hamilton Tiger Cats. Schooling for his wife (also a Cypress Creek graduate) and the desire to be closer to relatives brought him and his family back to Orlando in 2012.

His former football coach asked him if he would be interested in high school coaching, which set up Jimenez’s next play –studying for and passing the teaching exam. With a double major in political science and criminal justice, he landed a teaching position in June 2012 at Freedom High teaching U.S. History, while also coaching the football team’s defensive line. After two years of coaching, his focus for teaching became greater than the gridiron.

“I love the sport. I would like to always be connected to football somehow, some way,” said Jimenez, who is also treasurer and helps award college scholarships through the Orlando Former Players Chapter of the National Football League Players Association. “But coaching is a small part of the larger whole of teaching. … In order for me to become a better teacher, I need[ed] to give up football.”

Fully focused on education, Jimenez welcomed input to improve his students and himself – with successful outcomes. In his 10-year career with OCPS, he has gone from being a social studies teacher to a dean at Freedom to assistant principal at Colonial High, assistant principal of instruction at Carver Middle to now principal at Legacy Middle.

“A lot of what I learned from the sport aspect of football is easily translatable into my role now as a principal,” said Jimenez, who is in his first year. “It set that foundation for giving me a sense of, ʻHey, here’s the current landscape, here’s our next goal, how do we meet that goal?’”

“So the same way with working with a group of teachers, students and parents – we’re a collective team. The same way that I had a team in high school and college and pro, we’re all we all have. We all have reason and purpose to do what we’re doing.”

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