ALTAMONT — Bradley Argabright, who’s served as a longtime coordinator for the Labette County Grizzlies, has been tabbed as the interim head football coach for the school.
Argabright replaces the outgoing Sean Price, whose contract was terminated by the USD 506 board last week after it received several complaints of inappropriate, sexual comments made about girls at the high school.
“I want to earn their trust by doing the right thing. We’re going to play hard, work hard and do things the right way,” Argabright said. “Being around the kids and the program for nine years, I know what expectations are. But they’re going to be different this year. I know our kids will be ready to battle. I expect the best out of them.”
Argabright will retain the interim tag throughout the entire fall season.
“I appreciate the district letting me have the full season. I’ll come in and do the best I can with our staff and our kids. It won’t change my focus at all. I plan on coaching here and we’ll do the best with what we have.”
The Grizzlies experienced highs and lows on the field during Price’s decade-long tenure helming the sidelines.
Labette County won its first-ever home playoff game and won an SEK League title in 2017. But from 2020-23, the Grizzlies won just five games over four seasons. Labette County rebounded last fall, finishing the year 5-5 with a road playoff win.
“The biggest priority is getting the most kids out for football,” Argabright said. “I need to get in the hallways and get kids back out. We want kids in the room that are excited to play football. And we need to get them working in the summer as much as we can. But we still have kids excited to play football. None of that is changing.”
Argabright told the Sun he wants to retain the position of head football coach on a full-time basis after the fall season.
“Part of the interim tag, which I wanted, is to make sure I can handle three sports,” Argabright said. “If it’s not the best fit for Labette County or my family, I can step back. It’s good for the school and myself to have the interim tag. We’ll play it by ear. Hopefully, I’ll be around football for a long time here.”
One concern for Argabright is familiarity breeding contempt — he already serves as the head boys basketball coach in the winter and the head boys track coach in the spring.
“The good part is that I’ve already been doing three sports,” Argabright said. “I’ve been around them all for four years. It’s just a different title change. And I have to be consistent with our kids and bring the same energy every day. When I’m in a certain season, I’m in that season. Housekeeping things will take care of themselves. When I do that, usually, good things happen.”
One change on the field Grizzlies fans will notice is on offense. Labette County, under Price, operated exclusively out of the shotgun.
Not anymore. “Right off the bat, we’ll be under center about 50% of the time compared to being exclusively shotgun,” Argabright said. “I’m a smashmouth coach with some flair. So we’ll have a lot of formations offensively that we haven’t done. We’ll probably run with a true fullback. We’ll do some different things.”
Labette County will be on-paper contenders for an SEK League title this year. With a .500 record a year ago with key pieces, including 1,000-yard back Jamaal Jackson, returning, the Grizzlies will bear lofty goals.
“Our No. 1 goal for the season is to win a league title. We haven’t done that in a couple of years. And that means we have to play whistle to whistle,” Argabright said. “We want to start on a positive note, and that starts with Parsons in Week 1. We’ll try to string as many wins as we can and keep momentum. We welcome high expectations. They want to do better than 5-5.”
