Scott Waymire is starting over - again.
Waymire’s latest coaching challenge is rebuilding Trumann, which finished 0-10last fall and might have the smallest roster in Class 4A this season.
The situation is not unlike what Waymire inherited in 2006 at Class 2A Carlisle, which finished 1-9 the previous season.
“Changing cultures is never easy,” said Waymire, who was hired at Trumann on Feb. 21. “We’re just trying to get them to play hard and like football right now.”
Waymire almost immediately returned tradition-rich Carlisle to statewide prominence, leading the Bison to a71-17-1 record the past seven seasons with seven playoff appearances, four conference championships and a state runner-up finish in 2011.
Waymire, 36, said his move to Trumann - about 15 miles southeast of Jonesboro - probably surprised many people since he’s leaving a perennial state championship contender for a program that has had only one winning season since 2006.
Waymire replaced Greg White, who resigned late last year after going 20-41 in six seasons at his alma mater.
“It was something that I wanted to do because I really felt like Carlisle High School needed a change,” Waymire said. “I felt like we made a lot of positive strides there. I felt real good about what we accomplished, not just on the athletic side for seven years, but the academic and leadership side for one year.”
In addition to heading the football program, Waymire was also Carlisle’s principal in 2012-2013 and said he had the opportunity to return in both roles in the coming school year.
But Waymire said his strong roots in northeast Arkansas factored heavily into his decision to leave Carlisle.
Waymire graduated from Parkin in 1995 and from Arkansas State in 1998. Waymire’s wife is from Pocahontas, and he was an assistant there under Dave Williams.
Waymire said now he’s about 40 minutes from his parents and his wife is about 45 minutes from her parents.
“It’s a chance to get home,”Waymire said. “I enjoyed Carlisle. It was hard to leave. I thought it was what I needed to do for my family. Sometimes, I had never done that. It was always what I thought I needed to do for the school or what I needed to do for the football team.”
Waymire said he will use the same blueprint he did at Carlisle - running the football, hard work and an emphasis on weight training - to try and energize Trumann’s program.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Waymire said. “But sometimes that challenge is the most rewarding thing.”
The transition hasn’t been easy.
Waymire said he began with 41 players in the spring, but Trumann will “very likely” have a roster in the low 20s this fall.
Attrition will continue, Waymire said, until players are committed to change Trumann’s culture.
“I know what being happy is like,” Waymire said. “I know what doing the right thing is because that was seven years at Carlisle. That’s what we’re going to try to turn Trumann into, and to get our kids to be like Carlisle kids in that they’re hard workers and they do right.
“If we do that, I think good things are going to happen.”
Waymire was also named an assistant principal at Trumann’s Cedar Park Elementary School.
Waymire said White remains on staff and is coaching outside linebackers.
Scott Waymire file
POSITION Head football coach SCHOOL Trumann AGE 36 EDUCATION Parkin High School (1995), Arkansas State University (1998)
NOTEWORTHY Was 71-17-1 the past seven seasons at Class 2A Carlisle, leading the Bison to seven playoff appearances, four conference championships and the state championship game in 2011. ... Little Rock Touchdown Club’s Class 2A Coach of the Year in 2007 after Carlisle finished 12-2 and reached the playoff semifinals. ... Was Carlisle’s principal during the 2012-2013 school year. ... Inducted into the Bison Booster Club Hall of Fame this spring. ... Also will be assistant principal at Cedar Park Elementary School in Trumann this school year.
Sports, Pages 25 on 06/23/2013