BATESVILLE – The Lyon College football program is reporting a change in its head coaching position just five days before the 2016 team reports for training camp. Lyon Director of Athletics Kevin Jenkins announced Friday that Kirk Kelley has resigned as head coach and former Scot associate head coach Kyle Phelps has been named the new head coach of the program. Both changes are effective immediately.

Lyon reinstated football three years ago after discontinuing the program in 1951. The Scots practiced in 2014, but did not play any intercollegiate contests. Last season Lyon posted a 0-11 season in its first season, finishing 0-6 against competition in the Central States Football League.

Kelley resigns after being named the head coach of the Lyon program in August 2013 and serving for three years. He is leaving Lyon to pursue other professional opportunities.

“We appreciate the willingness of Coach Kelley to come back and help us start the football program here at Lyon and know he had a tough job building the program from scratch,” Jenkins stated on Friday. “We wish him and his family good luck in the future in all their endeavors.”

Phelps, who played under Kelley in the Lyon baseball program, was Kelley’s first hire after Kelley was named head coach. Beginning his fourth year as the football recruiting coordinator, Phelps was named associate head coach before the 2015 season. He also served as defensive line coach for the Scots.

“We’re excited about Kyle assuming the role as head coach and believe the program will continue to grow and move forward under his direction,” Jenkins added. “He has shown excellent recruiting ability since joining our football staff and he has done an great job of assisting Coach Kelley.

“We have a lot of confidence in Kyle and we’re looking forward to the 2016 season and the excitement that will come with it. We are committed to continuing to build a respectable program and I think that’s what we’re going to do.”

Phelps is a native of Brandon, Fla. He graduated from Lyon and obtained his Master’s degree from Oklahoma Wesleyan University this spring.

He said he is looking forward to the challenges of continuing the development of the Lyon football program, now under his direction.

“This is a great opportunity for me,” Phelps stated. “I played in the baseball program here and graduated from Lyon and I love this place. All I can do is take the opportunity and try to continue to move the program forward and hopefully make the school, my family and the community proud. I’ll continue to work hard like I’ve done since I came back here and to help us continue to move in a positive direction.”

Phelps said he is excited about the return of the nucleus of the coaching staff, which includes the promotion of Del Howard to defensive coordinator in the spring, along with incoming offensive coordinator Shawn Daniel from Midland University.

“Having the coaching staff we have coming back is huge for the program,” Phelps commented. “Going into my first year as head coach, I’m going to lean on those guys a lot. The promotion of Del to defensive coordinator is tremendous. He was here last year as our defensive backs’ coach and has a great history of playing at the University of Missouri. He has played in Big 12 championship games and I think the guys really respect him. We saw a lot of improvement in our defense in the spring.

“Shawn will do a great job as offensive coordinator. He was at Midland University and has coached in the CSFL at Southwest Assemblies of God University. I know he’s going to know the schools we’ll be playing against in our conference and he brings a little different style to our offense. He’s a tremendous man and coach and I’m looking to working alongside of him.”

The Scots are expected to welcome more than 100 players to training camp on Wednesday, as the team prepares for the second season of football. Lyon will open the 2016 season with the first collegiate football game in the country on Thursday, Aug. 25, at Pioneer Stadium when they host Wayland Baptist University in a non-conference affair at 8 p.m. The Scots will host six home games in 2016.

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Well, it’s the second year on the field for the program. For the coaches and administrators, you would have to add in at least a couple more years as to when the work got started to revive a program that had been 62 years dormant.

Much time and effort has been put in by head coach Kirk Kelley and his staff to put together a football program that simply didn’t exist before. And although the team finished its inaugural season in 2015 with an 0-11 record, Kelley said he knows there is more to look at determine where this team is at heading into the fall.

“There’s no way to describe what starting football from scratch really is,” Kelley said. “I know the outside world always measures you with wins and losses, but inside the doors, we see us getting better every single day – bigger, faster, stronger.”

And he pointed how just how close they were to breaking through last season.

“We lost two games last year on the last play and lost another one late in the game, so we know we’re headed in the right direction.

“I like our team, it’s just we’re very youthful. We went into (last) year with two kids that had ever played with college snaps. That was tough.”

One of those two was Michael Bowles. The senior heads into 2016 coming off a year in which he was third in the country in rushing yards (1,431) and earned first team all-conference honors in the Central States Football League.

Kelley mentioned that the offense was built around Bowles in ’15, but that his offense would always be a run-first attack.

One of two quarterbacks that got the ball into Bowles’ hands last year also spent time as a receiver. Sophomore Dwane Robinson completed 38 percent of his passes out of the backfield, but was also the team’s leading receiver.

The other quarterback, Tanner Stevenson, is no longer with the team.

And while there may be some depth building up at the QB spot with recruits, Kelley said how the team builds its offense will depend on what it does with Robinson.

Changes have already been made to adjust issues on a defense that gave up 46.9 points per game a year ago, as Kelley promoted Del Howard to defensive coordinator.

Howard, who played football at the University of Missouri (2006-09), was the defensive backs coach last season and Kelley touted the position.

“We bumped (Howard) up,” Kelley said. “Our defensive backfield is very strong.

“We had a first team all-conference player as a true freshman in Stephen Benedik. Both corners were freshmen played really well.”

Kelley said the linebacker corps was going to be young, but that they like them.

“And our defensive front had a great spring, so we’re going to be able to build on that.”

And Kelley that although the team is now strengthen with some experience, maturity is something that happens on many levels.

“We’re still very young,” Kelley said. “But hopefully the returners, they’ve been through it. You know the old saying, ‘Been there, done that?’ Hopefully that will help us.

“When you talk about young kids, you talk about physical maturity. But there’s also mental maturity. There’s also emotional maturity. And so hopefully we improved in all three of those areas.”

The Scots report to camp on Tuesday, Aug. 3. And they kick off the schedule of football games for the state with the only college football contest in August this year.

Lyon hosts Wayland Baptist (Texas), also a reinstated program in just its fifth year back, on Aug. 25, at 8 p.m., at Pioneer Stadium.

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For the first season of varsity football at Lyon since 1951, a winless year may have been expected by some. The Scots came excruciatingly close twice in October – a loss in overtime and a loss as time expired in regulation – but still finished the opening campaign in the revival of the program without a win. But that year is done and in the books and the experience has been gained for a young team ready for Year Two.

OFFENSE

Coming into camp, there will be competition for the starting role at the quarterback position with Dwane Robinson the lone returning with significant experience from last year. The headliner of the team in 2015 was Michael Bowles, who will be the featured running back for the Scots again. Bowles was third in the country last year with 1,431 rushing yards and had eight rushing TDs. Robinson and Bowles are the only two returnees that recorded at least 10 receptions last year, while tight end Jonathan Hendrix was a first All-CSFL performer in the run-oriented offense.

DEFENSE

Del Howard has been promoted to defensive coordinator as adjustments have been made to the defense which gave up 46.9 ppg in 2015. As a whole, the defense will still be a young group, but the defensive line had a solid spring. There will likely be new faces emerging in the linebacking corps again this season. But the Scots already have a strong secondary, led by first team All-CSFL safety Stephen Benedik, who led the team in tackles with 89.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Scots didn’t have to look too far to find a solid kicker in Osvaldo Espericueta, a sophomore from Batesville. Espericueta was 6-for-12 in field goal attempts with a long of 47 and made 23 of 24 PATs. The versatile Dwane Robinson made honorable mention all-conference as a kickoff returner.

OUTLOOK

More than 50 Lyon players return for the sophomore season for the Scots and almost of them are sophomores. With many more recruits and much-needed experience earned in 2015, the Scots head into this year with much possibility ahead. With another strong year from Bowles and favorable bounce of the ball here or there, this team could pick up some close wins and surprise a few other teams.

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