LITTLE ROCK — From worst to almost first.
Greenbrier’s Randy Tribble is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Coach of the Year after the leading the Panthers to their best season in almost 30 years.
Greenbrier finished 9-4 overall and runner-up in the 5A-West, and advanced to the playoff semifinals for the first time since 1980.
The Panthers were 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the 5A-West last fall, Tribble’s first season at the Faulkner County school.
“I knew we were going to be better, but I didn’t know what that was going to translate into,” said Tribble, 54, who coached Harding University from 1994-2007. “A lot of people were thinking that if we win four or five ballgames this year that that would be a big improvement over last year. I kind of joked that I knew we were going to be better. But does that mean we’re going to get beat by seven instead 28 or 35 all year? I wasn’t sure how that was going to translate.”
Greenbrier needed only one game to match its victory total from 2008, beating Beebe 31-22 in the Sept. 4 season opener.
Greenbrier beat Mayflower the following week.
A 36-33 last-second victory over tradition-rich Alma on Oct. 16 then positioned Greenbrier for its first playoff appearance since 1995.
“That made us feel real special after that,” Tribble said. “At that point, did I think, ‘Hey, are we going to be a semifinalist?’ No. But I liked how our kids had grown up and started believing in themselves at that point.”
Greenbrier won four of its next five games, including 54-50 over Little Rock Christian in the playoff quarterfinals before an energized home crowd at Don Jones Stadium.
The Panthers trailed 42-33 with 7:17 remaining in the game and 50-47 with 4:28 to play.
“That was an awesome testament to how our kids grew up and believed in eachother,” Tribble said. “Just kept believing that it wasn’t over. If we’ve got a few ticks on the clock, we can go make something happen. That was a huge, huge win for us.”
Little Rock Christian had beaten Greenbrier 42-19 in their previous game when both were members of the 5A-West in 2007.
“People talk about wins and losses and all of that, but that’s really not the hard part,” Little Rock Christian Coach Justin Kramer said. “The hard part is changing the kids’ attitudes and getting them to believe in themselves. That’s what they did a good job of.
“We were up two scores late, and they could have folded. But they kept fighting and came back to beat us. Obviously, I’m not happy at all about that, but that says at lot about them and their coaches and where they’ve brought that program.”
Greenbrier’s turnaround mirrored a dramatic increase in production from a Spread offense.
The Panthers averaged 403.7 total yards and 34 points per game this fall. They averaged only 14.6 points per game last season.
Greenbrier had a 3,000-yard passer (Neal Burcham), a 1,000-yard rusher(Hunter Winston) and three players (Winston and wide receivers Brady Day and Tyler Hardee) with more than 40 receptions.
“Thought we were going to win some ballgames,” Tribble said. “Early, we saw that we did have a chance and won those first two ballgames and our expectations changed real quick.”Randy Tribble file POSITION Head football coach, Greenbrier High School RECORD 10-13 (two seasons) AGE 54 EDUCATION Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) Choctawhatchee High School (1973), Harding University (1977) PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE Assistant, Fort Worth Christian High School, 1977-1978; head coach, Fort Worth Christian High School, 1979-1980; assistant, Harding University, 1981-1993; head coach, Harding University, 1994-2007
Sports, Pages 31 on 12/27/2009