Farewell columns are generally so predictable that I’ll leave those to others.
Besides, while taking a new job with the Associated Press means I’m leaving this space each week, it doesn’t mean I’m leaving altogether. I’m not leaving Northwest Arkansas, and one of my new job’s duties will thankfully continue to include the coverage of prep athletics across the state.
What I’d prefer to do this week is highlight a few lingering issues in the area and the state, some more specific to athletics and others that go a bit deeper. As colleague Nathan Allen labeled it, consider this my “bucket list” of issues that I’d like to see addressed.
• First and foremost, someone in the state — perhaps an athletic director or official with the Arkansas Activities Association — needs to serve up a big dose of common sense to their colleagues regarding the size of classifications.
Of course, these are the same people who cheapened state championships in 2006 when they split the state’s largest classification.
If you are one of the handful of people in the state who understands the current concoction that is the Class 6A/7A football playoff formula, more power to you. A mad scientist couldn’t have dreamed up something more confusing, and most coaches will tell you the same thing.
For all of the tinkering that resulted in the new formula, one glaring flaw remains: The 32-team pool that once produced a true state football champion still results in two marginalized champions.
We’ve laid out the numbers in this space over the years, comparing Arkansas to other states and showing that there are already too many championships handed out in the state. The easiest way to reduce that number by one is to set 32 schools as the minimum for any one classification.
That’s what it was before officials gutted the state’s largest classification, and that’s the minimum number of teams that should compete for one state title, not two.
• I’ve highlighted my respect for Rogers Heritage football coach Perry Escalante over the past few years, and there’s a specific reason why.
While the trend amongst area Class 7A football programs has been to procure and promote football-only athletes, Escalante has gone the other way. Some area football programs force players who take part in other sports to complete their offseason football work even during another sport’s season. Escalante, however, allows his players to focus on their other sports during those seasons, provided they are contributing in games in some fashion.
True, Heritage hasn’t won a conference or state championship in its short time as a varsity program. However, the War Eagles did win nine games last season.
And, frankly, it’s an achievement made even more impressive by the fact it happened in Rogers — traditionally anything but a football powerhouse in the 7A-West Conference.
It’s also a philosophy that has endeared Escalante to his players, who are allowed to have lives away from the field, and their parents.
• Lastly, what would a bucket list of lingering issues be without the Springdale School District?
Forget for a moment everything you think about Springdale. Forget your pre-conceived notions about the differences, or lack thereof, in facilities between the two high schools. Forget whatever reason it is you believe the recent millage proposal failed.
Here are the only numbers you need to know to understand why there’s so much animosity in Springdale these days, particularly between the two high schools:
At Springdale High, 46.5 percent of the population is Hispanic, compared to 23.4 percent at Springdale Har-Ber. Along those same lines, 50 percent of Springdale High’s school population is eligible for free and reduced lunches, compared to just 26 percent at Har-Ber.
Until those numbers are leveled off, any talk of a new stadium at Har-Ber should be put on hold. The Wildcats deserve their own facility, but not before Springdale’s administration and school board are held accountable and publicly admit their failure in drawing up the boundary lines between the two schools.
More importantly, rather than offering up behind-the-scenes promises to look at adjusting the boundaries in the future to level off the socio-economic gaps between the two schools, that needs to happen publicly and it needs to happen now. As in, today.
Kurt Voigt is the preps editor of The Morning News. e-mail [email protected]