While everyone is awaiting word on the new coach at Arkansas, the coaching carousel is turning on the high school level as well.
The coaching profession lost two good men recently with the resignation of Darrell Henry at Fort Smith Northside and Todd Dilbeck at Alma.
Henry, in particular, should be family to high school football fans in Northwest Arkansas. He played at Southside and was an assistant coach for the Rebels before taking over as head coach in 2002 at Northside, where he went 57-64-2.
Henry’s final game came against Fort Smith Southside when the Grizzlies lost 45-26 to finish 3-7 on the season.
“I think the world of coach Henry,” Springdale Har-Ber coach Chris Wood said. “When I first came into the league, there were a lot of little things that I didn’t appreciate as a young coach, like the importance of fi eld position. I learned some of that by watching coach Henry and by playing his club.
“Looking back at the fi lm, you could see he was always strategic in the process of the game.”
It was hard watching the proud Northside program struggle in recent years, especially with the Grizzlies allowing nearly 50 points per game on a regular basis. Henry was victimized by increasingly low turnouts at Northside and a changing landscape that saw suburban schools like Greenwood emerge. It’s a problem innercity schools face throughout the country, but Henry never once complained to me about his situation or placed blame on his players.
“We can’t grow them any bigger,” Henry said many times while complimenting his team’s effort following a defeat.
Henry was always a real gentleman and excellent in dealing with student-athletes. Hopefully, he’ll remain in education, if not Fort Smith, then somewhere else in the area.
Dilbeck is a former college assistant at Rice who was unable to follow the success of Frankie Vines, who won 270 games at Alma from 1976-2006. Vines’ teams relied on straight-ahead power football and defense, but Alma went with what was becoming popular and hired a coach who implemented a Spread off ensive attack.
The Airedales were only 35-31-1 during Dilbeck’s tenure, but he left for other reasons following the recent death of his father. He’ll likely move back to Oklahoma, where he has a daughter in college and other family members in the Oklahoma City area.
RICK FIRES IS A SPORTS WRITER
FOR NWA MEDIA