By Malcolm Butler
After five years as the defensive coordinator at Cedar Creek School, Mark Ware is headed back to West Monroe.
Ware confirmed for the Lincoln Parish Journal Monday afternoon that he is returning to help with both football and track and field at West Monroe.
“I love working at Cedar Creek,” said Ware. “It was a great place, great place to get an education, and just a bunch of wonderful people. I enjoyed it the whole time. I absolutely loved coaching those kids, and I’m certainly going to miss them.”
Ware was a huge reason for the Cougars success on the defensive side of the football over the past five years. One of the well-respected veteran high school coaches in North Louisiana, Ware served on the coaching staff of the Rebels for 11 years before retiring from the state system in 2019 and then joining the Cougars staff.
He cited both previous stint at West Monroe, the proximity to his house and the stability that William Parkerson has brought to the Cedar Creek program as reasons for the timing of his decision.
“West Monroe is a lot closer to home,” he said. “I’ve already worked there for 11 years. And you know, Coach (Jerry) Arledge has always been very, very close to me. I felt like Cedar Creek was in very good shape. I think they have a head coach now that’s going to be there for a while. He’s got a very good staff with him, and I just felt like if I was going to get closer to home right now and make the time to do it.
“I think there’s great stability at Cedar Creek now. Everybody knows the stability has not been real good the last few years. We’ve went through a lot of different coaches. But, Coach Parkerson’s going to be there. He wants to be there, and he’s an excellent coach. He’s going to build a very good program. No question about that. And he surrounded himself with some really good coaches. So I felt like it would be a good time for me to go back to my house.“
Parkerson said he is in the process of finalizing who will succeed Ware as defensive coordinator. The Cougars head coach did have plenty of nice things to say about the departing Ware.
“I appreciate, not only Coach Ware’s defensive acumen, but the fact he was a good sounding board to relay ideas off of to see if they would be good or bad,” said Parkerson. “And as great of a job as he did scheming and coaching defense, he did an even better job connecting and showing the guys what being a man is all about.”
