COMMENTARY

Football: Fayetteville recovers quickly with Blankenship hire

I worked in a factory with an old man who carried a black lunch pail to work every day and shuffled along quietly doing his job.

I think his name was William, but I knew him better as the "Messin' up" man. That was his simple explanation for anyone in our department who got into trouble with the bosses.

Late for work?

"Messin' up."

Slacking on the job?

"Messin' up."

Doing dastardly deeds to undermine the reputation our company worked hard to preserve?

"Messin' up," William would say. "Messin' up real bad."

Daryl Patton admitted he messed up badly when he got involved in an extramarital affair, which prompted his resignation as head football coach at Fayetteville High School. We'll leave it at that except to wish Patton well at his new job in Bauxite and welcome Bill Blankenship, who was introduced as the Bulldogs' new coach Wednesday.

Area football fans don't have to be reminded how quickly a team can unravel after an unexpected change in a head coach. They saw it in 2012 when John L. Smith led Arkansas down a rabbit hole after Bobby Petrino was fired. But Fayetteville couldn't be more pleased with the hiring of Blankenship, a former college coach at Tulsa and a high school coaching legend in Oklahoma who was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009. He compiled a record of 154-26 at Tulsa Union, where his teams won 56 consecutive games between 1997-2005.

So, how was Fayetteville able to land a veteran coach of such stature?

Location, opportunity and the potential for success.

In March, U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked Fayetteville No. 3 on the list of best places to live in the United States. Blankenship will soon find out what most of us who live here already know: Northwest Arkansas is a beautiful, energetic and prosperous area with nearly 500,000 people.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Blankenship, 59, added a few more championships to his resume before retiring in Northwest Arkansas, if that's what he chooses to do.

"I had a couple of friends who know this place really well who called and said, 'Look, this is the best job in Arkansas and you ought to check it out,'" Blankenship said. "The football speaks for itself here, but the rest of it is what sold us."

Fayetteville is primed again to take over as the dominant team in Northwest Arkansas and quite likely the state. Blankenship will inherit several standouts from a team that won its fourth state championship with a 28-7 victory over Springdale Har-Ber last season. Quarterback Taylor Powell has received scholarship offers from Vanderbilt and Arkansas State while defensive tackle Akial Byers has a long list of suitors that includes Alabama, Arkansas and Florida State.

Patton's departure and Blankenship's arrival are the latest in a series of moves for a 7A-West Conference that will look much different this season. The biggest change is the arrival of Bentonville West as a second high school in Bentonville. Van Buren will also join the 7A-West while Fort Smith Northside and Fort Smith Southside will likely leave for good after a long history with the league.

Half the head football coaches in the 7A-West are new. Besides Blankenship at Fayetteville, Tony Travis moves from Pea Ridge to Rogers Heritage, Mike Loyd moves from Grove, Okla., to Rogers High and Bryant Pratt now heads Bentonville West after being in Bentonville for a year.

Teams from the 7A-West Conference have won every state championship in Class 7A since 2005. But the league appears weaker this season with the departure of the Fort Smith schools and the arrival of Van Buren and Bentonville West, which will be void of seniors its first year.

Changing head coaches weeks after spring practice can be like a 2-by-4 to the forehead. But the hiring of a Hall of Fame coach means Fayetteville will likely make a serious run at another state championship. He was already at work, gauging the Bulldogs in a 7-on-7 tournament in Little Rock on Friday.

"The train has left the station," Blankenship said. "We're moving forward and getting ready for the season."

Sports on 06/12/2016

Upcoming Events