At the beginning of this month our longtime football coach Tony Arnston made an important decision; after 24 seasons coaching the Bengals he has decided to take a position as assistant coach for the Saints. Recently, assistant coach Jim Hogan retired; he mentored the offensive line, as well as leading the conditioning program. Coach Arnston will be taking his position in the upcoming season.

When Arnston was offered this position he described his feelings as, “it felt good, it felt right.” He also expressed how great of an opportunity is it is for him being able to work beside Coach Van Diest, “I had the pleasure to coach both of his sons in high school football, he’s coaching both of my sons at Carroll, and now I get a chance to work underneath him.”

Arnston is also very thankful for the time he has had working with the Bengals. He was lucky enough to come into the job very young at the age of 26 and continue that up until now. Even before Arnston became a coach he had many successes; he quarterbacked CMR to a state championship in 1984 then led on to a collegiate career with the Grizzlies.

Although Arnston does have a great understanding of the offensive play, he admits that the proper technique and fundamentals are his biggest challenge. “Physically and mentally, the combination of physical play and mental play at that position is unbelievable,” Arnston described. While coaching here at Helena he had the great assistance of Bob Sampson as his offensive line coach; therefore Arnston is looking forward to getting back together with Sampson to learn several fresh tricks to apply to his new coaching adventure.

In addition to being able to have this opportunity to learn and grow with the fighting Saints, Arnston also decided to make this move because of family. Both of his sons; Ryan and Troy, attend Carroll and are on the football team. Being able to join the Saints coaching staff means that Arnston will have the chance to coach the boys once again; as he did when they were attending Helena High.

Arnston is flooding with emotions with leaving everything he has built up over the years with the Bengals, although he is definitely excited for this next phase of his career. Based off his success building our Helena High football program, Arnston is expected to make a significant impact for Carroll and especially their recruiting program.

Arnston overall describes his move away from the Bengals as “there are going to be a lot of tears shed before this is all done.” We will definitely miss his longtime impression on the school, but we wish the greatest of luck to Coach Arnston on his new adventure.