Why would a successful head football coach leave to take a job as an assistant coach?
Why would he leave after turning a perennial loser into a conference champion and why would he leave with good players, including his son, set to return?
Family first, that's why.
Brad Harris will move his wife and kids from Lincoln to Benton, where he's accepted a job as defensive coordinator with the Panthers. Harris and his wife's father are both in poor health, especially Brad's dad, who spent much of February in the hospital with a heart condition.
Both parents live in Arkadelphia, which is a 45-minute drive from Benton. Lincoln to Arkadelphia is a four-hour drive with no easy way to get there.
"Plus, I'll have a lighter work load at Benton," Harris said. "That'll free me up to spend more time with my dad and do what I can."
Harris' dilemma is one many of us have faced or will face with elderly parents. It's a situation that's hit hard in my own family, where my sister has become the primary caregiver for our mother, who has cancer.
There are no easy choices. Only ones that are slightly less tough than others.
"Brad will be missed, but we certainly understand his decision," Lincoln athletic director Deon Birkes said. "We wish him nothing but the best."
Harris will leave with his head held high after turning losers at Lincoln into a tough team that finished 11-2 last season and reached the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. To fully realize how good the Wolves were this season, you have to remember how bad they had been.
Lincoln had consecutive winless seasons before Harris was hired from Arkadelphia in 2008. His first team went 0-10 and his second team 1-9 before a breakout year in 2011, when the Wolves finished 7-4 and made the playoffs for the first time.
"We had 16 kids out for football that first year here and now we're up to the mid-40 range," Harris said. "We got this program headed in the right direction and I'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish."
Lincoln football has become an event with a new stadium and a winning attitude, although those noisemakers primarily used for soccer can be annoying. Opposing teams were more annoyed by a Lincoln team that won 11 of 13 games, including victories over Nashville and Malvern in the playoffs.
Lincoln's success in football carried over into basketball, where the Wolves finished 22-6 and won a league championship for the first time since 1986. For those accomplishments, Harris and boys basketball coach Tim Rich were each selected as NWA Media Coach of the Year for schools Class 5A and under.
"Brad came here and created a winning atmosphere that just showed completely this year," Birkes said. "He is a class person with integrity and the perseverance to continue when others would have quit. We want to keep the momentum of what Brad and his staff created moving forward. We will settle for nothing less than the best for our student-athletes and for our school and community."
Harris is also the baseball coach at Lincoln, which beat Prairie Grove 6-1 in an important 4A-1 Conference game Friday night. Drew Harris, a two-year starter at quarterback for the Wolves, hit a home run and pitched a one-hitter as Lincoln improved to 13-4 overall and 6-0 in conference.
The move to Benton could be especially tough for Drew, who must leave his friends and teammates and, basically, start over at a larger school. But it's one he and his parents are willing to make.
Family first.
RICK FIRES IS A SPORTSWRITER FOR NWA NEWSPAPERS
Sports on 04/20/2014