By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
It’s a change that Reynolds Moore has considered for some time, not just while his Benton Tigers football team was flirting with win after win and falling short nine times this fall.
Monday morning, after 12 seasons as head coach at the north Bossier Parish school, Moore held his last team meeting, to tell his players they will have a new coach in the spring.
Moore, 45, is resigning as head coach and at the end of the school year, as athletic director at Benton. He is making a bigger commitment to ministry at Covenant Church in Benton and plans to step back into classroom teaching next year.
The Mississippi native went 83-54 in his dozen seasons running the Benton program, a 61 percent winning rate that included three district championships and a 10-0 regular season in 2017. That capped a string of three straight years with 10 or more wins including playoff games.
But his contributions go far beyond the numbers on scoreboards, his boss said in a statement.
“Coach Moore has made a lasting impact on the lives of countless student athletes over the years,” Benton High principal Whitney Clark said. “Our school community will be forever grateful for the passion, commitment and dedication shown by Coach Moore and his family over the last 12 years.”
Moore admitted the decision is “bittersweet,” especially considering leaving Benton High.
“I think I’ve given every everything I have, and my wife has, and my family has. My wife teaches here, all three of my kids have played sports here and graduated here. This is home to us,” he said. “I genuinely hope they go win a state championship next year. I want the best for these kids.”
As somebody who decided as a 12-year-old that he wanted to coach football, Moore is now ready to entertain different dreams.
“It’s going to be fun to think about taking off on a Thursday night, take off Friday, and go see my kiddos in Tuscaloosa and Oxford on a long weekend. My wife has often found great deals for vacations over fall break, and I’ve just laughed, but maybe now we can go.
“It’s a little exciting to think about doing those things, but it’s also bittersweet,” he said. “I’ve never thought about coaching being burdensome. It’s been what I loved to do, what I wanted to do, what I get to do.”
Moore has balanced his coaching and AD roles while he has become deeply involved with his church ministry during the last five years.
“More recently, I’ve felt like God has drawn me into a deeper step into that. Both jobs are those you have to do with everything you have to give. That was a big part of this decision,” he said. “As our program continued to grow, from (Class) 4A to 5A, and our ministry grew, it got to where it was a lot.
“As much as I loved football, and always thought this would be what I did, I’ve been praying for clarity and for peace, and I think God gave me both of those,” said Moore. “Through a lot of prayer, and a lot of conversation with people in my life who are wise and who I trust, I felt this was the time to do it.”
His decision was all but set in stone as Benton travelled to play its last game at Natchitoches Central two weeks ago.
“Standing on the field at Northwestern, waiting on my guys to come out for warmups, I’m sure I had the goofiest, craziest looking grin on my face, because there was this immense sense of gratitude that God allowed me to do what I wanted to do. Now that calling has changed.
“All I’ve known as a career has been working with teenagers, and being able to impact their lives. That’s not going to change. This is really something I’ve wanted to do.”
But now, he won’t do it with a coaching whistle around his neck.
“To step out of that, to not know exactly what is ahead, is a little scary, but we’re stepping out with faith and we’ll see where it goes.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com