CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Sports editor
New Bearden Head Football Coach Trey Outlaw served as the guest speaker for a recent Camden Kiwanis Club meeting, and he talked about the upcoming football season.
Southern Arkansas University Tech’s Dr. Valerie Wilson introduced Outlaw before the charismatic coach approached the podium.
Outlaw began by thanking the club for inviting him to the meeting and said that he always looks forward to the opportunity to represent the Bearden School District an community because he knows there are good things in the future for the students.
“I cherish being able to represent the students of Bearden,” Outlaw said. “We are in the early stages of something special. Bearden is a phenomenal place.”
Outlaw is originally from Monticello and admitted that he was ready to get back to the pine trees and timber of south Arkansas after spending his college career at Arkansas State University and coaching at Gosnell and Wynne.
Outlaw joked about how expensive northeast Arkansas was.
“It is good to be back home,” Outlaw stated. “When I first moved to northeast Arkansas I went to church and there was a pay phone and it said ‘phone call to God, $100.’ I said, ‘My God, where am i at? This is expensive.’ When I got the call to be the head coach at Bearden. The first week of June, I came home and went to church and I see a sign that says, ‘Phone call to God, 10 cents.’ I go, ‘Man, thank goodness I’m home.’ I asked the preacher why was it so cheap. The preacher looked at me and said, ‘Son, you’re home now. It’s a local call. You’re in the south.”
Outlaw then talked about the FAMILY - family, attitude, mental toughness, integrity, love and you - concept that he and the coaching staff are installing in the student athletes. He spoke about players developing the mindset of helping one another be successful and not just looking out for their own success.
“If they can look at their brothers and say that they did everything they could to make them successful, then we are going to win a lot of games,” Outlaw explained. ”...Hooten’s doesn’t get to determine where we finish, we do. That the same thing with life. We want out kids to understand that no one gets to tell them what they will be in life. They get to decide.”
Along with that, Outlaw talked about how important it is to be honest with his student athletes and treat everyone the same, from the starters to the reserves.
“If we have a student with Division 1 talent, and we allow him to come in late all the time and not workout, then we are setting him up to failure. He may get to college but there are going to be 45 other players that have his talent and he won’t be able to stay long. We hold everyone to the same standard. Everybody has to work.”
Outlaw shared that love is the biggest key to the teams’ success.
“When we play against our rival in Week 1, our pregame speech isn’t going to be for us to hate them,” Outlaw explained. “Its going to be for us to love each other enough that we do whatever it takes to make each other better and get the win.”
Outlaw also spoke about what the community can expect to see from the team on the football field. The “Showgun” offense is a mixture of Outlaw’s coaches - Gus Malzahn, Van Paschal and Hugh Freeze.
The defense is about forcing turnovers and being aggressive. Outlaw stated that special teams is 33 percent of the ball game and that it is important to win in that area to win a game.
Outlaw also complimented his coaching staff for all of the dedication they have shown to the students and their knowledge of the game.