New coach eyes spring football

A new era of Siloam Springs football will begin in late April.

Doug Loughridge, the new head coach, said he expects spring football will start the week of April 29 and end May 21 with the MaroonGray Game.

The goal is to get in 10 padded practices between the last week of April and the end of spring drills. Summer workouts will begin the week of June 3, Loughridge said.

The football roster has close to 80 players, and Loughridge said he hopes to add more this week, his first on campus.

Loughridge said he is excited to get started. Loughridge’s hiring was approved by the Siloam Springs School Board at a special meeting in February.

“I am very impressed with the kids and the coaches,” Loughridge said. “We have made great strides in the weight room. We are coming into a good starting point.”

During the spring, Loughridge said he wants to get his staff in the right places offensively and defensively and also start to get to know the players and their skills.

“We want to identify kids and get them reps in the spring,” Loughridge said. “We need to get everyone on film as much as we can and go from there.”

Loughridge was the director of athletics and activities at Alma, a position he had held since 2019.

Loughridge replaces Brandon

Craig, who submitted his resignation in December after six seasons at the helm of the Panthers’ program. Craig was 15-49 overall with Siloam Springs.

Loughridge was the head football coach at Alma from 2012 to 2019 and head coach at Charleston from 2007 to 2012, according to a news release from the school district.

Loughridge’s overall coaching record is 116-45 including a 68-9 run at Charleston where he coached state-title teams in 2008 and 2011.

Loughridge has led teams to the state playoffs 12 out of 13 years, according to the release.

At Alma, he won conference championships in 2013, 2016 and 2017, making the playoffs every year he was the head coach, according to the release.

Loughridge inherits a Siloam Springs program that has struggled recently. The last three seasons have been particularly tough for the Panthers, including back-to-back 0-10 seasons in 2022 and 2023. Siloam Springs has lost 27 straight games dating back to the 2021 season.

Loughridge, a Charleston High School graduate, started his coaching career as a defensive coordinator at Ola in 1997. He had other stops in assistant roles at Cedarville, Russellville, Charleston and Fayetteville before becoming head coach at Charleston, according to his resume.