Prep Football: Patton hired at Bauxite

Former Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton was hired Thursday as the new head football coach at Bauxite.

A special school board meeting was held to approve Patton’s hiring. Bauxite athletic director Josh Harrison confirmed Patton’s hire became official Thursday.

“We’re extremely excited to have coach Patton lead our program,” Harrison said. “He grew up in Saline County and played baseball against several guys from Bauxite.

“We have a strong tradition in football here at Bauxite, and coach Patton remembers what it was like here when he was growing up.”

Patton, who resigned as Fayetteville coach May 12, takes over a Bauxite program which has fallen on hard times recently. The Miners are just 10-50 overall and 5-37 in conference play in the 4A-7 Conference since 2010, when the school moved up from Class 3A to Class 4A.

Dustin Prescott, the previous Bauxite coach, left after just one season.

“Coach Patton has built some amazing programs in his career,” Harrison said. “We’ve struggled in the 4A-7. There’s as many Division I athletes in our conference than anywhere in the state. Competing against the (Pulaski) Robinsons, Nashvilles, Malverns and Arkadelphias has been tough. But we want to be able to compete at that level.”

Patton began his high school head coaching career right down the road from Bauxite at his alma mater, Bryant. He led the Hornets to a 34-20 record from 1998-2002 before leaving for Fayetteville in 2003, where he guided the Bulldogs to Class 7A championships in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2015.

Patton posted this on his Twitter account Thursday night: “Thank you to Miner Nation for giving me opportunity to come back home to Saline County. Ready to Restore that Tradition!! TNT!!! Go Miners!”

Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon.

Sports on 05/27/2016

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