Southside and Newport now have new head football coaches.
First, Newport‘s school board made it official Tuesday night by naming Brian Reardon as their next head football coach.
To Reardon (pictured above, left), who has been the head football coach at Southside, that means going home. Reardon grew up in Newport and played on one of Coach Bill Keedy’s championship teams. His mother, father, and brothers also live there, so it will be a homecoming for Reardon.
The coach told White River Now’s Gary Bridgman Tuesday that it was not an easy decision to leave Southside, but going home to Newport was exciting for him and his family.
“The only job in the state that I was going to answer a phone call to was from my hometown of Newport,” Reardon said. “Had I not got to coach here and had the success with that, I probably would not have had the opportunity to go to Newport. When you’re a kid, you seem like you just want to get out, then you’re a teenager, and then for the rest of your life, you find ways to get closer and closer (back) to home.”
It did not take long for Southside to fill the head coaching position. And, the head man is not new to the job.
Kenny Simpson (right) was the head football coach at Southside for many years before leaving to coach at Searcy. He did not take long to realize the Searcy job was not for him, and he came back to Southside as an assistant to Reardon.
Now, Simpson has been elevated to the head football coaching position again. Bridgman asked Simpson about his family’s reaction to the news.
“I was actually able to pull both my children out of class before we made the official announcement, so we had some big smiles and hugs. And I know my wife is behind it as well,” Simpson said. “This is a family deal, not one person. That’s really allowed me to do things that not every coach is blessed to do when his family’s not behind him.”
Simpson said one of the first orders of business is the hiring of two coaches — one to field the coaching spot left by Reardon and the other to replace Coach Deerick Smith. Smith will be spending his time leading, teaching, and coaching the weight room for the Southerners in all sports.
Smith has built a reputation as being an expert in the operation of a weight program.
The Southside strength and conditioning program was recently selected as a program of excellence by the National High School Strength Coaches Association. The honor recognizes Southside’s strength and conditioning program operates at a high level of professionalism.
Article by Gary Bridgman, White River Now
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