The search for the next Lebo football coach is over. Troy McArthur will be the successor to Butch Jones, who has left the program for family reasons after coaching the Wolves for 26 years.
McArthur works as a social studies teacher at Field-Kindley High School in Coffeyville and will teach social studies at Lebo. He has coached the offensive and defensive lines for the Golden Tornado in the past, though he did not coach in the 2010 season to spend time caring for his infant twin daughters.
Lebo will be McArthur’s first football head coaching job. He has been the head baseball coach at Field Kindley and also served as the interim head basketball coach for a portion of a season. He plans to help on the boys basketball coaching staff at Lebo, and said the Wolves’ lack of a baseball team wasn’t a concern for him.
“My first love’s always been football first and foremost,” McArthur said. “So, definitely not. If they had a program, that would be kind of a bonus. But since they don’t, it’s not really much of an issue.”
Coaching at Lebo will be McArthur’s first experience with eight-man football. Initially concerned about the potential change, McArthur began to make calls to coaches he knew with experience in the eight-man game, something he said eased his worries about making the move.
“I’m not as nervous about it now,” he said. “Of course I’m always going to be nervous, nerves get to anybody at any time, especially starting a new program. But I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with it.”
When McArthur got a chance to walk around Lebo’s facilities with Jones, he came away impressed with Jones’ accounts of the players’ work ethic. Jones told him stories of having 35 players in the program and having 30 show up to a summer weight lifting session.
The new coach has already taken advantage of that commitment, having met with the players and provided them with conditioning guidelines before ever being officially employed by Lebo. Lebo-Waverly superintendent Patti Bishop said that was one example of the leadership skills that set McArthur apart during the interview process.
“We wanted somebody that was mature and we felt like could be a good leader for the students,” Bishop said. “And he, during the interview process, it was evident that he was very dedicated to his players, not just athletically, but also in their academic performance.”
The Wolves are coming off a 2010 season in which they went 10-2 and advanced to the state semifinals. Jones went 177-76 over his 26 years at Lebo.