Lincoln Hires Football Coach

LINCOLN — Former Lincoln offensive coordinator Reed Mendoza will return to Lincoln as the head football coach of the Wolves.

Mendoza replaces Don Harrison, whose tenure as head coach ended Jan. 5 after five years at Lincoln. Mendoza was offensive coordinator and head baseball coach at Lincoln before leaving last year for Dover, where the Pirates went 0-10 in football last fall while competing in the 4A-4 Conference.

Mendoza previously coached at Dardanelle, Russellville and Mena.

“Number one, he’s a great person,” Lincoln athletic director Deon Birkes said of Mendoza. “He knows the terminology, so it’ll be as easy transition. He’s a great fit for our community and he’s great with the kids. Football will take care of itself when you teach players to be great young men.”

Lincoln will play in the 3A-1 West Conference after going 5-5 overall and 2-5 in 4A-1 Conference play in 2019. The Wolves last played in the 3A-1 in 2011 when they went 7-4 and gaining only their second state playoff berth in school history under former coach Brad Harris.

Harris coached two more seasons at Lincoln going 5-5 as a member of the 4A-1 in 2012 and achieving the best record in school history, 11-2, during 2013 with the Wolves’ first-ever home playoff victory, 27-13, over Nashville on Nov. 15, 2013 and the school’s firstever road playoff victory, 41-21, at Malvern on Nov. 22, 2013.

Harris resigned before the 20132014 school year was over taking a job at Benton, where he is now head football coach.

Former Razorback, Scott Davenport, coached Lincoln one season with the Wolves going 2-8 during 2014. He, too, didn’t complete the school year as head coach and was replaced by Harrison in May of 2015.

Harrison led the Wolves to two 4A playoff berths with a 4-7 record in 2015 and an 8-3 mark in 2018 highlighted by a 59-48 win over rival, Prairie Grove, ending a 20-game losing streak to the Tigers on Nov. 2, 2018.

Harrison influenced strategic infrastructure upgrades giving the Wolves more of a home-field advantage including the addition of turf to Wolfpack Stadium in 2017 plus completion of a new fieldhouse incorporating an indoor turf field and new weight room at the high school campus alongside U.S. 62. He brought Mendoza to Lincoln as offensive coordinator and head junior high football coach in 2017.