FORT SMITH -- One of the oldest and most tradition-rich high school football programs in the state will be under the direction of a new head coach next season.
Fort Smith Northside's Mike Falleur officially resigned Tuesday.
Falleur is a Northside graduate and has been a head coach for the past 30 years, including the past nine with the Grizzlies, which is the fifth-longest tenure in the history of the program. Falleur spent 21 seasons as a high school head coach at four high schools in Georgia.
"I grew up here and played at Northside," Falleur said. "When I decided I was going to be a coach many, many years ago, that was my and one of my buddies' dreams was for me to be the head coach and him to be the defensive coordinator. He went to Georgia with me, but he stayed so half of it came true."
Northside finished 7-5 this season, including 3-4 in the 7A-Central Conference.
The Grizzlies lost close games to Conway, Cabot and North Little Rock in consecutive weeks. Particularly difficult was a 23-21 loss at home to Conway. After a measurement, a Northside fourth-down attempt was ruled short with 2:17 left, and Conway went 81 yards for a game-winning touchdown with 22 seconds left.
"It was a great year," Falleur said. "It really came down to one play -- a fourth-and-one against Conway and how much different it might have been if that outcome had been different."
Northside defeated Bentonville West in the opening round of the Class 7A playoffs before losing at four-time state champion Bryant in the quarterfinals.
Falleur began his coaching career at Fayetteville under Alan Fahring while a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas. He then served as an assistant coach at Arkansas before going to Georgia to coach in 1987.
Falleur won his 200th game as a head coach this season and is 202-130 in 30 years, including 50-50 at Northside.
"I've had a great career," Falleur said. "Do you always want to win more games? I guess so, but the people I've met and the kids that I've got to coach and the towns I've been in have all been fun. It wasn't really a job. It was something I got paid that I wanted to do and have fun. I really enjoyed it, and this was a great group of seniors to go out with."
Falleur resigned on the day that the new conference alignments were announced by the Arkansas Activities Association, which placed Northside again in the 7A-Central and apart from Fort Smith Southside and the 7A-West -- which will mean more travel for the Grizzlies the next two seasons.
"I'm not going to say it had anything to do with it, but I'm not going to say it doesn't get old when in your mind it could be structured a different way to where people don't have to travel like that to play games," Falleur said. "Sometimes it kind of frustrates you and makes you feel like do they really have the best for the kids at heart or is it just the easiest thing to do? I'm not going to say it had anything to do with me quitting, but it definitely frustrates me that we have to make those trips, and I know there's another way for it to be done to eliminate that not just for us but for other people."
Michael Beaumont, the director of athletics and student activities for Fort Smith Public Schools, acknowledged the difficulty of replacing a homegrown coach of Falleur's stature.
"It went from not a very good program to being a competitive and state-playoff football program," Beaumont said. "To say that's going to be a big loss to our community and our schools is an understatement. I'm not just talking about X's and O's. He's good for young men. He's good for young people. He's been good for Fort Smith. He's an advocate not only Northside, and he's an advocate not only for football. He's an advocate for athletics and an advocate for Fort Smith. He's from here. I've been blessed in my couple of years to know him and work with him."
Beaumont posted the official opening of the position Tuesday.
"We opened it, and we're looking for the best," Beaumont said. "We will entertain the best candidates, and that's who we are going to interview. We want the best for our kids and for Fort Smith."
Beaumont also said a committee would be formed to help in the decision in hiring the 18th head coach of the Grizzlies in the past 100 years.