33rd year finale for Williams
Longtime Pocahontas Coach Dave Williams said he will retire following the 2013 season.
Williams, 70, has coached the Class 4A Redskins since 1981 and has more than 200 career victories.
“This is it,” Williams said.
“I feel good physically. It’s just time.”
Williams said late last year that he would decide by February whether he would retire or coach again in 2013, adding the timetable would give the school several months to find a possible successor.
Williams said he quit for one day before being talked into returning by Pocahontas officials.
“I’m a glutton for punishment, I guess,” Williams said with a laugh.
A Van Buren native, Williams also coached Carlisle in 1978-1980.
Williams is the father of Fort Smith Southside Coach Jeff Williams, who led the Rebels to the Class 7A state championship in 2006.
NORPHLET
Not playing this fall
Norphlet, a member of the powerful 8-2A, announced last week that it would not field a team this fall because of insufficient numbers.
Leopards Coach Doug Means said about 14 players went through spring practice before a “couple of ineligible” players “dropped us down to 10.”
“We had a few small classes,” Means said. “Just couldn’t get it done.”
Means said Norphlet had 14 players before promoting four ninth-graders during the middle of the 2012 season.
Norphlet, which is just north of El Dorado, finished 6-5 overall last fall, including 5-3 in the 8-2A, and advanced to the first round of the playoffs.
He said school officials decided against starting freshmen immediately on the varsity to save the 2013 high school season.
“We thought it would be the better thing for them to stay down and get quality experience with that group instead of throwing them to the wolves against Junction and Bearden,” Means said.
Junction City and Bearden, two other 8-2A members, played for the Class 2A state championship last fall.
Means said Norphlet’s numbers are more robust in junior high, with about 24 players in grades 7-9.
“We’re just going to focus on the junior high team this year and try to get them as good as possible,” Means said.
MINERAL SPRINGS More shakeups
Mineral Springs Coach Nick Evans said he is leaving after one season to become offensive coordinator at Class 4A Maumelle.
Evans, 37, led Mineral Springs to the Class 2A semifinals last fall, but said he began to explore other coaching opportunities following a tumultuous spring at the Howard County school.
“Little too much uncertainty at Mineral Springs,” Evans said Saturday afternoon.
The state took over the financially troubled Mineral Springs School District last month, and Evans said only four players showed up for summer workouts during the first two weeks of June.
Mineral Springs had already lost its defensive coordinator - Jake Monden left this spring for the same position at El Dorado - and Evans said a second assistant will take another coaching job.
The departures, Evans said, leave only one of four paid coaches on staff last fall still at the school.
Evans said Maumelle Coach Mike Buchan, who was the team’s offensive coordinator last season, will oversee the defense this fall.
Evans had been an assistant at Mineral Springs before being promoted after Vince Perrin left to pursue a business opportunity following the 2011 season.
CROSSETT Moving on
Crossett Coach Mark Kelley has left after one season to become offensive coordinator at Searcy.
Kelley, only 25 when he was promoted from offensive coordinator before the 2012 season, said the Searcy job was attractive because he will be able to work under new Coach Jeromy Poole.
Poole is a former assistant to Rick Jones of Greenwood, one of the most successful coaches in Arkansas high school history.
“I want to be the best coach I can be, and learning from Coach Poole and the rest of coaches will help me get there,” Kelley said in a text message.
Kelley threw for 2,050 yards and 20 touchdowns as a junior at Morrilton in 2003.
He also played quarterback for Arkansas coaching legend Red Parker as a senior at Fordyce in 2004, played quarterback for Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze at Lambuth (Tenn.) University and coached receivers at Ouachita Baptist before moving to Crossett in 2011.
MORRILTON Criswell OK
Morrilton Coach Cody McNabb said he believes running back Jamar Criswell suffered only a sprained wrist during the first quarter of Friday night’s Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game at the University of Central Arkansas’ Estes Stadium.
Criswell rushed for 18 yards before he was injured on his third and final carry of the game.
McNabb said Criswell’s lower arm or wrist was struck when it was sandwiched between two helmets.
McNabb said Criswell wasn’t sent to the hospital for treatment.
“At worst, it’s a small fracture,” McNabb said Saturday afternoon. “I think he’s going to be fine.”
Criswell has signed with NCAA Division II power Missouri Western State.
COACHING CAROUSEL
Johnny McMurry, who led Monticello to the Class AAA state championship in 1994, has come out of retirement to be an assistant at the school. ... Kevin Youngblood, defensive coordinator on Stuttgart’s 2012 Class 4A state championship team, is the new defensive coordinator at Hamburg.
Stuttgart secondary coach Justin Wylie has been promoted to defensive coordinator, Ricebirds Coach Billy Elmore said. ... T.J.
Burk, a standout quarterback on Jessieville’s Class 2A state championship team in 2006, isthe new wide receivers coach at Hot Springs Lakeside. Burk had been an assistant at Genoa Central. ... Bearden offensive line/ outside linebackers coach Josh Bradley is leaving to become junior high offensive line coach at Hot Springs Lakeside. ... West Memphis Coach Lanny Dauksch said offensive line coach Maurice Moody has resigned, a strong hint that Moody will be Little Rock McClellan’s new coach.
Dauksch said Moody is a finalistfor the McClellan job. ... Dauksch said he’s added Memphis-area assistant Rob Altman to his staff, likely for defense. ... Arkadelphia assistant Eric Allen is the new running backs coach at Little Rock Christian. ... Harding University student-assistant Ben Caudill is the new outside linebackers coach at Harding Academy. ... Mills Coach Patrick Russell said he’s promoted ninth-grade coach Ed Roberts to defensive coordinator to replace the retired J.C. Comet.
Sports, Pages 25 on 06/23/2013