Benton hires former Southern Arkansas coach

After 23 years of coaching at the college level, Steve Quinn finally added head high school football coach to his résumé. As expected, the Benton School Board introduced the former Southern Arkansas coach Tuesday night after an hour of executive session.

"Honestly, I think we hit a home run," Benton athletic director Scott Neathery said. "I talked to (Quinn), and we really hit it off right away. He is exactly what we were looking for, and I think we made a statement with this hire."

Quinn compiled a 39-47 record in eight years at SAU before being fired in November. He also served stints as an assistant coach at SAU, Northwestern (La.), Northwest Missouri State and Eastern New Mexico State. His only experience in high shcools is three years ass offensive coordinator (1989-92) at Pascagoula (Miss.) High School.

"I don't look at it as going back (to high School)," Quinn said. "This is one of the best jobs, if not the best job, I've had."

Quinn was at a crossroads in November. The Mena native didn't want to move his wife and four children to another part of the country. He decided to try to land a high school job in Arkansas. He received a strong recommendation from his former boss at SAU and Northwestern (La.) State, current Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts. That was enough for Neathery, a former head coach at Sheridan.

"Some coaches' egos would get in the way of taking a high school job," Quinn said. "I don't have that. I'm doing this for my family, and I'm doing it for me. This is a great community and a great school district. I just wanted to coach football. To me, coaching football is coaching football. I wanted to go to a good community with a good administration. That's why I applied at Conway and Benton. I feel like they are two of the best jobs in the sate."

Quinn admitted he's a bit uneasy about leaving his comfort zone. He said the biggest adjustment will be getting to know his staff and players and the high school routine." For the first time in 15 years he won't be able to recruit players.

The experience was also new for Neathery in his second year as an athletic director. Neathery moved to administration after a bout with leukemia.

"You have to sell yourself to your kids when you coach. I spent the past two months selling the city of Benton, Arkansas and our community and program," he said. "We just wanted to find the right fit. We looked at coaches at the junior high, high school and college levels."

Quinn's SAU teams were known in the Gulf South Conference as a strong running team employing the Triple Option. Quinn, who called the passing plays, said the Muleriders were more multi-dimensional the past two years. SAU racked up more than 1,400 passing yards and more than 1,800 rushing yards last season.

Quinn understands pass-happy offenses are the rage at the high school level and appeal to prospective players. He plans to make passing an emphasis in his arsenal and could use a Spread set scheme and "I" set like Lake Hamilton uses with The Spread and Wing-T.

"You have to be able to pass the ball to be able to be successful," he said. "A lot of it is going to depend on our personnel. You have to play to your strengths. We will do both (run and pass)."

Neathery said he "didn't talk much about X's and O's" with Quinn. He said he was more concerned with a candidate's integrity and character.