Cabot dipped into south Arkansas for its new football coach.
The school announced the hiring of El Dorado Coach Scott Reed on Monday night. The Cabot School Board approved the hiring of Reed, a four-time state championship coach at El Dorado.
At a glance
SCOTT REED
AGE 57
WHAT Cabot football coach
NOTEWORTHY Hired by Cabot on Monday night, replacing Mike Malham. … Led El Dorado to four Class 6A state championships in 12 years (2007-2018). … Won a school-record 106 games at El Dorado. … 1979 Jacksonville graduate. … Son of the late Jacksonville coach Bill Reed. … Also coached at Forrest City from 2005-2006.
Reed is taking over for Mike Malham, who retired after 38 seasons as the state's second-winningest coach (301 victories) behind Frank McClellan of Barton, who won 367 games.
Reed, 57, went 106-45 in 12 seasons at El Dorado (2007-2018) and led the Wildcats to four Class 6A state titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013, and seven state semifinal appearances. He also coached two seasons at Forrest City (2005-2006).
El Dorado finished 5-6 in 2018, losing to Pine Bluff in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. It was Reed's only losing season at El Dorado.
Reed, the son of the late former Jacksonville coach Bill Reed, is a 1979 graduate of Jacksonville, where Malham served as an assistant coach before arriving at Cabot in 1981.
Bill and Scott Reed are one of three father-son duos to win state championships in Arkansas, along with C.W. and Bill Keopple and Jim and Bo Hembree.
He played football at the University of Arkansas from 1979-1983, then served as an assistant at the school under Ken Hatfield from 1984-1987.
Reed also has served as a head coach at Bartlett (Tenn.) from 1994-2002, and an assistant coach at Houston High School in Texas from 1991-1994. He returned to college football in 2002 at Stephen F. Austin as an assistant coach and worked at the school until being hired at Forrest City in 2005.
Malham coached at Cabot from 1981-2018. He guided the Panthers to two state championships in 1983 and 2000. In June, Malham announced that the 2018 season would be his last at Cabot.
Cabot was 4-6 in 2018, missing the Class 7A playoffs. The Panthers were 2-5 in the 7A-Central Conference with victories over Little Rock Central and Fort Smith Northside.
With his hiring at Cabot, Reed is one of four coaches in the 7A-Central Conference to win a state championship as a head coach in Arkansas. Bryant's Buck James led the Hornets to the 7A state title this season. North Little Rock's Jamie Mitchell led the Charging Wildcats to the 2017 Class 7A crown, and Jeff Williams guided Fort Smith Southside to a championship in 2006.
Reed could not be reached for a phone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday.
Sports on 12/18/2018