Central Arkansas Athletic Director Brad Teague confirmed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday that Auburn running backs coach Tim Horton, Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield and former Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts are candidates for the vacant football coaching position.
The Bears are looking to replace Clint Conque, UCA’s all-time winningest coach, who resigned after 14 years Saturday to take over at Stephen F. Austin. Conque was 105-59 at UCA and he led the Bears to Southland Conference championships in 2008 and 2012 and consecutive NCAA Football Championship Subdivision appearances (2011, 2012).
Teague said that he wants to have a head coach in place by Friday for recruiting purposes.
Horton, 46, doesn’t have head-coaching experience, but his name is familiar in Conway and at UCA.
Horton, the son of former UCA coach Harold Horton, is in his first season at Auburn, which will play Florida State in the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 6 in Pasadena, Calif. He was running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas in 2007-2012. Horton is a 1986 graduate of Conway High Schooland was a four-year letterman and three-year starter under Ken Hatfield at Arkansas.
Harold Horton coached at UCA in 1982-1989 and guided the Bears to two NAIA co-national championships,ties against Carson-Newman and Hillsdale in 1984 and 1985, respectively. He finished 74-12-5 at UCA and is currently an athletic booster for the school.
Maxfield, 53, recently completed his ninth season at Henderson State, which he led to a second consecutive Great American Conference championship. The Reddies finished 11-1 this season, but lost in the NCAA Division II playoffs to St. Cloud (Minn.) State.
Roberts, 49, spent nine seasons (2002-2010) at Arkansas State, where he led the then-Indians to a share of the Sun Belt Conference title and a New Orleans Bowl appearance in 2005. He is now the athletic director at Cabot High School.
“Those are three really good names,” Teague said Monday. “I’ve spoken to all of them about the job.”
Teague would not say which of the three, if any, had expressed interest.
“I don’t want to breach their confidence,” he said.
Gulf Coast (Miss.) Community College Coach Steve Campbell interviewed Monday. Campbell has coached at Gulf Coast for 10 seasons. He was 27-8 in three seasons at Delta State (1999-2001), leading the Statesmen to the 2000 NCAA Division II national championship. Before arriving at Gulf Coast in 2004, Campbell was an assistant at Middle Tennessee (2002) and Mississippi State (2003) in Jackie Sherrill’s final season.
Also, Delta State Coach Todd Cooley, a former UCA assistant coach, has expressed interest in the Bears’ job, according to multiple sources. Cooley was Conque’s offensive coordinator in 2005-2008 before leaving to take the same position at Northwestern (La.) State. He was 7-3 in his first season at Delta State in 2013, earning Gulf South Conference coach of the year honors.
Abilene Christian Coach and former UCA quarterback Ken Collums, 41, was expected to interview today. Collums is 13-9 in two seasons at Abilene Christian, a transitional member of the FCS. He was the Bears’ quarterback on the 1991 NAIA national championship team and was 30-8-3 in his collegiate career. Collums was UCA’s offensive coordinator in 2002-2004 before going to Abilene.
Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Sports, Pages 17 on 12/17/2013