The Springdale High band played "The Victors" shortly before its new football coach was introduced, which is ironic considering the Bulldogs finished 0-10 last season.
Zak Clark is already at work to put the bite back in the Bulldogs, who were winless for the first time since 1916.
Clark is a smart guy. If you didn't know beforehand, he showed it during last week's pep rally when he handed over the microphone and approached Jarrell Williams, who was sitting in the gym bleachers. That's a good first step, considering Williams' name is on the stadium where Clark will work as a coach.
"I know what he means to this football program," Clark said of Williams, who retired in 2000 after going 262-131-5 with five state championships and 17 conference championships at Springdale. "He means a lot to this community and I'm going to lean on him as much as I possibly can."
Clark knows how the game is played, both on and off the field. He was the first to call Springdale athletic director Wayne Stehlik after the Bulldogs' football job became available. Clark comes from a sports family and knows firsthand what Springdale football is all about after facing the Bulldogs as the Fayetteville High quarterback in high school.
He became even more familiar with the Bulldogs' program while spending two years as an assistant coach at Springdale.
"It was my first coaching job," said Clark, who is the son of Doug Clark, a former longtime baseball assistant to Norm DeBriyn at Arkansas. "There was always something about this place that enticed me."
Clark faces a tough challenge with the Bulldogs, who are only 37-56 since the Springdale School District split in 2006. Springdale Har-Ber has greatly outperformed Springdale High and the Bulldogs' all-conference quarterback, Chandler Fuller, recently transferred across town.
But there is a precedence in the 7A-West for reviving a sleeping giant. Fort Smith Northside coach Mike Falleur did it at his alma mater, when he returned from Georgia to take over a losing team that was getting gashed for nearly 50 points per game. The Grizzlies finished 10-4 last fall, with wins over Fayetteville and Greenwood, after going 3-7 in Falleur's first year on the job.
Any win this year will be an improvement for Springdale, which is a combined 0-15 against Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Har-Ber the past five years. Clark knows the rebuilding process starts by walking the halls and convincing talented athletes to be a part of his program.
"If a kid wants to play football, we've got a place for him," Clark said.
So, what kind of offense can Springdale fans expect from the Bulldogs in 2015? A run-oriented approach like Williams used for 36 years or the hurry-up, no-huddle attack Gus Malzahn preferred in his five years as the Bulldogs' coach?
An offense somewhere in the middle, I suppose.
"Obviously, you've got to have a good run, pass balance," Clark said. "They way we've done it, we're a multiple-personnel formation team. That way, instead of 11 starters, we've got 18, 19 starters that can play."
These are good days for Zak and his brother Cody, who followed him at quarterback at Fayetteville High. Cody languished in the minor leagues for over a decade before realizing his dream by playing in the major leagues with the Houston Astros in 2013.
Now, Cody's older brother gets to fulfill a dream with his first head coaching job just miles from where the two grew up.
Be prepared, 7A-West coaches. A Zak attack is coming your way.
Rick Fires can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWARick
Sports on 01/17/2015