Benton – The Benton School District announced on Thursday the hiring of Brad Harris to become the next head football coach for the Benton High School Panthers. For the last two seasons, Harris has been the Defensive Coordinator and has played a major role in helping turn the program around with 20 wins over the last two seasons.

Harris replaces Scott Neathery, who was recently announced as the new Athletic Director for the Panthers after leading the Panther football team to a 6A South conference championship, trip to the 6A State Finals in 2014 and a trip to the 6A State Semi-finals last season.

Harris is a very experienced coach, having served as a head coach for 11 years in separate stints at Arkadelphia and Lincoln High Schools. He rebuilt the program at Lincoln and lead them to their first ever playoff win in school history. In 2013, they made the 4A State Quarterfinals while winning 11 games.

“Coach Harris has been successful everywhere he’s coached. Most notable, he did an outstanding job of turning the Lincoln Football program around as their head coach”, said Neathery. “Brad made an immediate impact with the Panther defense when he was hired as our Defensive Coordinator 2 years ago. He changed our mentality on defense, resulting in turnovers, sacks, and big plays that made huge impacts on the game.”

Harris feels right at home at Benton. “Of course, I’m extremely excited about being the head football coach of such a great group of student athletes,” said Harris. “Benton High School is such a great program and our family feels so blessed to be a part of such a community. We have a great coaching staff, supportive administration, tremendous faculty, and one of the best community support networks in the state.”

As the program gets ready to move conferences and compete in the 6A West this season, Harris says it will be business as usual. “We know what’s in front of us. Our schedule will be much tougher this season and we lost a lot of experience from the great team we had last year. That’s why we teach preparation and mental toughness. Each player never knows when it will be his time to step up and make plays for his teammates. This is a good group of competitors and I know they will rise to the occasion and continue our success.”

Neathery says Harris was the perfect fit for the Panther program. “Brad’s familiarity with our program and the trust that I know our players have in him – it just made a whole lot of sense. His style is a tough brand of football. The kids love it and really respond to him as a coach. We felt like he was the right coach to take the Benton Panther football program to the next level.”

The Panthers have become one of the perennial powers in the 6A South and open the season September 2nd at the annual Salt Bowl at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Last year, the game drew a record 34,000 fans to the game.