Multiple Ozarks high school football head coaching jobs were filled on Tuesday night, including the move of a coach who recently led his program to a state runner-up finish.
Andy McFarland, previously at Reeds Spring, will take over the Willard High School football program. He replaces Frank Tristan who was recently announced as the next head coach at Glendale.
McFarland coached at Forsyth in 2019 and has been the head coach at Reeds Spring since 2020. He led the Wolves to their first-ever state championship appearance in 2022.
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Willard hasn’t had a winning record since the 2017 season. It will continue to compete in a Central Ozark Conference that will add Lebanon, Kickapoo, Glendale and Waynesville this fall.
Reeds Spring wasted no time filling McFarland’s role as it announced the promotion of Travis Cagle, an assistant on the Wolves’ staff. He also spent time on coaching staffs at Branson and Parkview in the past.
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Outside of the musical chairs between Reeds Spring and Willard, Mountain Grove announced it hired Dan Swofford as its next coach. He was a successful head coach at Ava until he took an assistant coaching job at Evangel after the 2021 season.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Andy McFarland named head coach at Willard High School
