Shiloh Christian (Arkansas) hoping to hire football coach this month

Defensive coordinator Ashley Henley is the interim head coach

By Nate Olson | Photo by Sadie Rucker 

Shiloh Christian superintendent Keith McDaniel said Thursday he hopes to hire a new football coach in the next two weeks. 

The school is searching for a new coach after longtime Saints head coach Jeff Conaway resigned Monday to take a job with The First Academy in Orlando, Fla.

If the six-person search committee doesn’t find a viable candidate during that time, the program will be led by an interim head coach and the search for a permanent replacement will move into the school year, McDaniel said.

McDaniel said newly promoted defensive coordinator Ashley Henley, the father of former Saints star linebacker and current University of Arkansas linebacker Kaden Henley, was appointed as the interim head coach to lead workouts.

Henley was the Saints linebackers coach but moved up when former DC Jacob Gill took a head-coaching job at Brentwood Academy in Tennessee in the offseason.

Henley has expressed interest in filling the head-coaching job, McDaniel said but added “that things are so fresh” he hasn’t talked in detail with Henley, who served as a longtime defensive coordinator and head coach in the Oklahoma prep ranks before coming to Shiloh Christian.

McDaniel said he has been pleased with how Henley has done so far with the abrupt transition.

“One thing [Conaway] does is empowers his assistant coaches to where they could run the program,” McDaniel said. “The players know that and feel that.

“After Jeff told the team, they were sad, but they know he is obedient to God, and it was His calling,” McDaniel said. “After [Conaway] talked to them and I talked to them, Coach Henley talked to them, and they had a great practice.”

McDaniel said he was aware that former Shiloh Christian star quarterback and head coach Josh Floyd’s name is circulating “in the rumor mill” but wouldn’t comment if Floyd, who is currently the head coach at Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.), has applied for or is interested in the job.

McDaniel said he isn’t releasing information on any candidates so that their interest doesn’t conflict with their current jobs. 

“We are handling it the same way for everyone. It is just so late in the summer, so I think the best way to handle it is with integrity,” he said.

Floyd won two state championships as a Shiloh Christian quarterback under former head coach Gus Malzahn and won four titles and notched a runner-up finish for the Saints as a head coach. Floyd, who took over the Huskies program in 2014, has led them to Top 100 national rankings every season since 2017.

Conaway was 99-28 in nine years with the Saints and had guided the program to four straight state championship games, including the Class 4A state final in 2020.

“Obviously, I wanted Jeff to stay, and my goal was to keep him here for a long time,” McDaniel said. “Jeff is a great friend, and I want what is best for him and his future and his family.

“This is not his first offer. This [opportunity] scratched his itch, and it was God’s will. He spent a lot of time in prayer about this, and if he feels God is putting him there, who am I to say different? I hope he does well and takes care of business.”