El Dorado football coach Steven Jones said his team should be full-go coming off the two-week dead period. That includes his coaching staff. There will be a massive change in the Wildcats’ brain trust, coming off Scott Reed’s last season.
“We finalized our coaching staff. We hired defensive coordinator Trey Outlaw,” Jones said. “Trey was the head football coach and athletic director at Bearden last year. He’s bringing a lot of energy and fire to that side of the ball. He’s a very sharp football mind and has the kids playing hard so far. We’re excited to have him on board.
“On the defensive side of the ball as well, we have Jimmy Johnson coaching defensive line. We brought back Luke Lansdell to coach linebackers. We moved up Zack Mitchell from our junior high staff. Zack is going to coach defensive backs.”
Offensively, Jones said he will be hands-on with the quarterbacks. Kris Borosvskis, who coached tight ends last year, takes over the role as offensive coordinator.
“Kris is taking over that role and will coach (offensive) line,” said Jones. “Hal Qualls is still with us coaching receivers. DeAnthony Curtis moves over to offense after coaching linebackers the last two seasons. He’s going to coach running backs.”
Borosvskis will also be in charge of strength and conditioning. Jones said he hasn’t named a special team’s coach, yet.
“We do have Robert Kersh. He’s our ninth coach on the varsity staff. Robert Kersh is taking on kind of a non-traditional role. He’s going to be our football operations director,” said Jones. “He’s in charge of everything off the field as far as like film goes and different weekend duties, administrative roles like meal planning and trip scheduling. He’s going to take care of all of that. He also handles all our social media and communication with parents.
“That’s kind of a different deal. We just felt like we’re moving to that. We need somebody in that role. He fits the need there. He was already on staff with us. He was an eighth-grade coach last year.”
The Wildcats got back onto the field on Monday as they prepare for Friday’s Wildcat 7-on-7 Tournament. Jones said his staff will begin to hone in on the upcoming season.
“We’re going to cut down what we’re doing as far as time goes. We’re going to be in there every day working out,” he said. “We’re actually going to work some with our seventh, eighth and ninth grades the next few weeks. Our varsity staff is going to work with those guys to try and tie everything together and see what the future looks like with those guys. We’ll start implementing what we’re going to do at the varsity level at those younger grades.”
As far as El Dorado’s new coaching staff, the puzzle pieces have been assembled.
“So far it’s been awesome,” said Jones. “It’s got a good mix of young, enthusiastic coaches and very seasoned veterans in the business that have seen a lot and have good ideas. We really feel like we have a good mix of youth and experience.”