From one Kehner to another: Steven Kehner promoted to Glen Rose head coach

Mark Kehner will take over as Glen Rose athletic director

Glen Rose has a new head football coach for the first time in 15 seasons, but a familiar face - and name - will now lead the program after it was announced Mark Kehner will be moving into a role as athletic director.  

Mark’s son, Steven, has been the Beavers’ offensive coordinator for the past two seasons and was promoted to head coach via a unanimous decision by the Glen Rose School Board. 

While the move comes as a surprise to many, Mark Kehner mentioned that it is something he envisioned immediately following a quarterfinal loss to Melbourne in the 3A playoffs last fall.

“It has been in the works since I walked off the field,” Mark Kehner said. “I love it here, that is why I have been here for so long, but no matter what anyone says, it is a tough place to win. When it was decided Steven was going to get the job, it made it easy for me to realize that now is the time.”

Mark Kehner has been on staff at Glen Rose since 2002, when he served as defensive coordinator for Billy Elmore from then until 2007, when Elmore left for Arkadelphia. Kehner had a hand in bringing Glen Rose from a team struggling to win a game to a state champion by the 2007 season, when the Beavers defeated Shiloh Christian 35-34 in thrilling overtime fashion for the 3A state title.

“This community is blue collar, and that is all I have really ever been in my coaching career,” Mark Kehner said. “Stick your nose down and show up, work hard every single day. When we got here, we just went to work, the kids went to work and the community bought into that work ethic. Nothing but respect to the community for allowing us to buy into what it took to make a football program as successful as we have been.”

Mark Kehner is the program’s all-time winningest coach with a 140-46 record that includes back-to-back 3A state final appearances in 2012-13.

Having grown up around the team, Steven Kehner expressed his enthusiasm to be in this position after already serving on staff under his father.

“It is something I have wanted since we moved here. and I was wearing the red myself,” he said. “It is a dream come true, and I am excited about the opportunity.”

Along with Glen Rose, Steven Kehner served under Mark’s former boss, Elmore, at West Memphis as well as current West Memphis head coach Robert Hooks, who took over the program after Elmore stepped away from coaching to be the Blue Devils’ athletic director.

Knowing the efforts his father put into the program for two decades makes earning the job as head coach even more enticing for Steven Kehner.

“It is always special to play for your dad and then being able to go into the profession (of coaching) and work with him is something you really cannot describe,” he said. “In our family, we are extremely passionate about the game. That is how he has paid the bills for his family and how I pay for mine now.”

Steven Kehner was a running back for the Beavers from 2008-10 and was named all-state twice, as well as the State Farm 3A Offensive Player of the Year and a Landers Award finalist in 2010. He went on to play at Ouachita Baptist University, where he rushed for 2,138 yards and 34 touchdowns (fifth all-time in school history) in his career from 2012-14.

With a winning culture already instilled, Steven Kehner understands where this program once was as well as the foundation it is currently on.

“When those guys got here (the 2002 staff), Glen Rose was pretty much a doormat, and that is just a testament to them who came in and worked each and every day,” he said. “That is what some take for granted is it is an everyday, consistent thing. That is 20+ years of work and it is not something I am going to change or do any different.

“I grew up under the program and saw the way they run things. It is just a different first name on it now.”