FAYETTEVILLE -- Brooks Coatney, head football coach at Van Buren for the past four seasons, will leave the Pointers to join the staff at Fayetteville.
Bulldogs' head coach Daryl Patton confirmed the move to the NWA Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, indicating Coatney had informed his Van Buren team of his decision. Patton said Coatney is expected to join the Fayetteville staff in March.
Coatney was 10-31 as Van Buren coach from 2011 to 2014. He also was head coach at Ozark where he compiled a 10-11-1 record from 2009-10.
Coatney, who graduated from Greenwood and led the Bulldogs to a state runner-up finish as a sophomore in 1996, also spent time as an assistant coach at Central Arkansas Christian and Bryant.
Coatney will take over the duties of wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Fayetteville and has also been named assistant head coach.
The staff was in need of a replacement for the offensive coordinator position and offensive line coach role, as former offensive coordinator Zak Clark accepted the head coaching job at Springdale High and former offensive line coach Bryant Davis went with Clark to Springdale.
Patton promoted named Benji Mahan as Fayetteville's new offensive coordinator.
Mahan, who coached wide receivers last season at Fayetteville, will also coach the offensive line this fall.
"Benji has coached the offensive line a lot in his career and Brooks knows a lot about the passing game so he'll start with the wide receivers," Patton said. "And I'll go back to coaching quarterbacks. All three of us have called plays before, so there's a lot of experience there on the staff."
In another staff change, Tim Miller returns to the offensive side of the ball and will coach running backs and will be the running back coordinator.
Fayetteville expects to fill two more positions with coaches who coach both the ninth-grade and varsity teams.
Sports on 02/19/2015