New Glenbrook Head Coach Reagan Smith has been guiding his team through summer workouts for about four weeks now. He said things have gone smoothly so far.
“It’s just a really good fit,” he said late last week. “The kids are very coachable. They’re used to winning. They’re learning my way of working out. And it just seems to be going really positively.”
Smith was officially named head coach on May 11. The Apaches started summer workouts on June 1.
This is Smith’s first head coaching job after a highly successful career as an assistant with stints at North Caddo, Parkway, Logansport, Evangel Christian and West Monroe.
He spent the last four seasons helping North Caddo enjoy unprecedented success.
“I felt like I needed a new challenge,” he said. “When I stepped back and analyzed what all had occurred in my career I felt like I needed to try it. I needed to kind of expand on what I had already done. And I didn’t know what that would look like. So far I feel really good about it.”
Glenbrook hasn’t played 7-on-7 games against outside competition. But the Apaches have competed against each other.
“We probably won’t participate in any tournaments,” Smith said. “But we have done a little bit with each other and it has been really positive. It’s good or better than I expected.”
Besides regular workouts, weight training has been at the forefront.
A former offensive line coach, weight training is something that’s especially important to Smith, who is an expert in the area.
“That’s my thing,” he said. “I’m a big weight room guy. But not in a traditional sense. I try to track like what is the latest and greatest in basically strength technology. And so we try to implement things that give us an edge in that respect.”
Smith said about 50 players in grades 7-12 have been participating in workouts this month.
The Apaches are coming off a 12-1 season that ended with a 28-27 loss to eventual champion Ouachita Christian in the quarterfinals of the select Division IV playoffs.
Many of the key players from that team are gone.
“The good news is we return more lineman, more functional, capable linemen, than I can remember almost anywhere I’ve been,” Smith said. “So there are tons of linemen and there are still a handful of athletes. So I think that that’s really positive. I think that that’s really something that was a pleasant surprise.”
One player Smith is especially high on is rising senior Landry Powell, who is also an outstanding baseball player.
Smith said Powell will be playing linebacker and could line up just about anywhere on offense.
“He’s a college level player,” Smith said. “On offense he can play all of them, like literally he can play quarterback, running back, receiver. He has the potential to be a really good receiver.”
Rising junior Easton Sanders, a first-team Class 1A All-State pitcher last season, takes over at quarterback. Sanders is the son of Glenbrook Head Baseball Coach Tony Sanders.
“He stepped up there and has been throwing it and buddy he can do it. At the high school level he can do it,” Smith said.