Gravette tabs Greenwood as new head football coach

Doug Greenwood has been named the new head football coach at Gravette. Greenwood has spent the last five years at Jenks, Okla.
Doug Greenwood has been named the new head football coach at Gravette. Greenwood has spent the last five years at Jenks, Okla.

Doug Greenwood has spent the last 25 years as a football coach, but he hasn't had the opportunity to become a head coach -- until now.

The 50-year-old Greenwood, the former assistant coach at Oklahoma powerhouse Jenks, was named Gravette's new head coach during Thursday's school board meeting. He replaces Bill Harrelson, who resigned to accept a similar position at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville.

"I needed to make sure the community and the school would be a good fit for my family because I have a large family," Greenwood said. "I did the same thing before I left southern Illinois to go to Jenks. There were some of those same characteristics that I saw in Jenks in Gravette.

"Coach Harrelson has done a great job with the program as far as character and morals, and I see a similar situation in Gravette as I did in Jenks, even if it is at a smaller scale."

Greenwood comes to Gravette after spending the last five seasons at Jenks, with his first duty being running backs coach before being moved to offensive line coach. He was named assistant head coach after head coach Allen Trimble stepped down following the end of the 2017 season.

He was chosen out of about 35 applicants, according to Gravette athletic director Norman Mitchell. Mitchell said he personally visited with 12 of those who applied, then the final five were interviewed by a school committee before Greenwood was recommended to the school board.

"He seemed liked he had a good overall plan for the program," Mitchell said. "He's a guy that will be a good fit for our program and not just the football team. He's been part of a winning culture at Jenks, and we are hoping we will bring a winning culture to us."

Greenwood said his desire is to bring a multiple, pro-style offense to the Lions and hopes to establish the running game to set up the passing game. Defensively, he said he will use multiple fronts in order to be prepared for a number of offensive attacks, which could go from a wing-T alignment to a spread formation while playing teams in 4A-1 Conference.

Because of his late hire, Greenwood won't benefit from installing his systems during Gravette's spring workouts. That will make the needed work during the offseason much more critical.

"Early on, we're going to have to reach out to the community," Greenwood said. "We'll have to hit the ground running once we get over there, and that means we'll need more commitment from our athletes. We'll have to hurry to get this beast going and attack."

Preps Basketball on 05/18/2018

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