Reed hopes to be steady hand for Arkoma football

Auston Reed comes to Arkoma with hope of extending the Mustangs’ run of winning football seasons while giving them a mainstay at the helm.

Reed, a first-time head coach, replaces Jack Armstrong, who went to become the defensive coordinator for Heavener after leading Arkoma to a 6-4 record last year.

“It feels good. There’s an opportunity in front of me. There’s goals I can work toward,” he said.

Reed served on the Roland coaching staff for three years, standing as the defensive coordinator last year.

Reed acknowledged that he will be the Mustangs’ third coach in four years, the third that the group of rising seniors has had in high school.

“First and foremost, I want to continue the success. I want to create a stable environment,” he said. “They’ve had a chaotic time. It’s hard to trust a changing environment.”

Even though Reed is taking on an 8-man football program after having all of his football years before this in 11-man, he said he is eager to show what he can do as a head coach.

Among the schools he attended while growing up was Keota, although it was shortly before the Lions went to 8-man football.

Under the new alignment, Reed’s Mustangs will be contending with his former head coach, Eric Henry, for the district crown after struggling against the Lions for several years.

“Hopefully I can rally the troops and change that. I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Henry and coach [Jeremy] Jones,” Reed said.

Reed said his football values include dedication and hard work.

While at Roland, he learned about running practices: keeping them from being too long, but putting ample time into doing quality work and dividing it into segments.