Antonio Lovelady is excited to lead the Dumas Bobcat football program
The Dumas Bobcat administration recently named Antonio Lovelady as their next head football coach following the departure of George Shelton. Lovelady, a long-time assistant for White Hall head coach Bobby Bolding, is entering his first job as a head coach.
He spoke with ArkansasVarsity.com to give his thoughts on landing his first head coaching job and more.
“This means everything,” said Lovelady. “I worked my butt off at other places to set myself up for this opportunity and I just feel like I’m in a great situation. I am blessed and honored to have the opportunity to lead this program.”
When former Dumas head coach George Shelton resigned to take the same position at Little Rock Central Lovelady had interest in perusing the vacant position. He quickly learned that Dumas had interest in his services as well.
“They approached me, but I would say it was mutual,” said Lovelady. “It is one of those programs that you look at from a distance and say ‘Man, that may be a good situation’. When they approached I was definitely interested and it took off from there.”
The Bobcat program went through some trying times in the past few years, but Lovelady gives Shelton credit for helping to steer things back into the right direction, saying that helped him with the decision making process when he considered the job.
“Everyone is probably aware to the situation previous to Coach Shelton arriving, and he kind of righted the ship and got some things in place to lay the foundation,” said Lovelady. “He and his staff did a great job last year going 9-4 and winning the conference. They were able to have an offseason, so a lot of the grunt work was already laid down. I’m just looking forward to pick up from there and continue to take it to another level. That played a big part in my decision.”
Lovelady has already hit the ground running and is currently working on building his staff at Dumas. He recently hired Ketrin Goodwin as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. Goodwin will follow Lovelady to Dumas from White Hall. Other positions are being considered as well.
“I’m actually talking with a few guys this week for the defensive coordinator position,” said Lovelady. “As of right now that will be the only other spot I have to fill on the staff unless someone else decides to leave.”
With having several current assistants remaining on board Lovelady is looking forward to getting his team onto the field for spring football.
“We plan to have a full spring,” said Lovelady. “We plan to kick off next Wednesday afternoon. We are going to go three days next week and the full week the week after, then we will have a spring game the 27th. We are trying to get the full spring in so I can get around the guys and learn their abilities and see how the program can start operating with practicing and preparing for games. It is very important, and we have got to get it in.”
Lovelady also plans to use the spring to evaluate his players so he can determine what style of offense and defense he and his staff will run.
“We are definitely going to see what we’ve got and build around it,” said Lovelady. “I want to see what the kids can do well and put them in situations to be successful. With me being an offensive guy I do have in mind what I want to do, but it does go back to the kids and what they can do well. That is another reason spring is so important.”
The Bobcats will work throughout the summer to prepare for the 2021 season as well.
“We are going to do a couple 7-on-7’s and a team camp or two, but I want to do a lot of in house things once I get the staff all together so we can take that time to teach, learn, and reteach, then do it all over again with no pressure of getting ready for a game,” said Lovelady. “We can go as fast or as slow as we need to go with the kids and just learn the new system. Summer is important for us.”
Lovelady said that there are a lot of things he learned while assisting Bobby Bolding that will help him as he establishes his new program with the Bobcats.
“Some of the things I mentioned to the kids when I first talked with them is that I want them to play hard and work hard on a daily basis,” said Lovelady. “That work ethic you have to instill in them and I think that was one of the cornerstones of the programs I was involved with previously. Being disciplined was important. Doing what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it how you’re supposed to do it, and being tough. Those teams we had at Pine Bluff and White Hall were tough both physically and mentally, then they were smart. We want to have a smart team and be able to play smart and make great decisions on the field. Those are the things that are important that I’ve taken from those programs, and I want to instill that into the guys here.”
“There were definitely a lot of good lessons learned at Pine Bluff and White Hall,” Lovelady continued. “I’m definitely going to take those over here to Dumas. A lot of those guys and former coaches will be able to look out and see that it is the same thing that we did when we were at Pine Bluff or White Hall. There will be a lot of carry over.”
With the Bobcats playing in the ultra-competitive 8-4A conference Lovelady believes his experience in tough 5A and 6A conferences will help as well.
“I’m used to tough competition,” said Lovelady. “I have an idea of a routine of how to prepare for those type of teams and situations. The big thing is getting the coaching staff used to doing it the way we want to do it then the kids as well. That will take a little time, but we are going to go with everything we have.”
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