Rison High School football Coach Clay Totty is a legend in Cleveland County.
He coached the Wildcats for 25 years, making him the longest-serving coach in school history. This year, he took the Wildcats on an 11-1 season and to the 3A state semifinals before losing 27-0 to eventual champion Charleston.
Totty is leaving the Wildcats to become the Wynne Yellowjackets' coach. The Cleveland County School Board accepted Totty's resignation Thursday night in a special called meeting.
His resignation, Superintendent Craig Dupuy said, was effective Dec. 21, so that Totty will have time to transition to coaching the Yellowjackets in spring.
The Wynne School Board approved hiring Totty in a meeting Thursday night that was held before the Cleveland County School Board met.
Totty leaves a void that will be almost impossible to fill, said Harrell Wilson, the school board's president.
"I'm happy for him, and I wish him the best, but I'm sad, too," Wilson said. "It's rare that a school keeps a coach for 25 years. He wanted to raise his kids here and that speaks a lot for our county, town and school. It's going to be hard to fill those shoes."
Friday night football is a religion in Rison. It's what people talk about on Sunday morning at church and what they talk about Monday morning at the coffee shop.
"You won't find another town as serious about football," Wilson said. "In Rison we think about football in a different manner."
Totty, a Fordyce native, knew all too well when he took the job in Rison in 1998 about the town's love for football. After all, the Fordyce Redbugs are the Wildcats' most fierce rival. Totty understood that, and he understood how important the sport was. Wilson said he took the program to the next level.
With the Wildcats, Totty never had a losing season. He won nearly 79% of his games with a 242-65-1 record.
This year Totty became the state's winningest active coach. With his 242nd win, he topped Van Paschal, the Wynne coach he's replacing.
Totty is tied for 11th all-time in wins with the late George Burke of Stuttgart in Arkansas high school football.
In 2000, Totty was the NFHS Arkansas High School Football Coach of the Year. That same year, the Wildcats won the 2A state championship.
The Wildcats made national headlines that year when as underdogs they upset Coach Gus Malzahn and his Shiloh Christian Saints in overtime to win the championship. The Saints had a 44-game winning streak until the Wildcats ended it.
The Wildcats won another state championship in 2004. In 2015, Rison reached the 2A title game, losing to McCrory.
Totty led Rison to 11 conference championships.
"He's coached a lot of fathers whose sons now play for him," Wilson said. "He coached every member of the third generation of our family that goes over the entire 25 years."
Wilson said his son, a sophomore football player, is sad that he won't be able to play for Totty his junior and senior years.
"It's a life change for him [his son]," Wilson said. "The kids he coaches and have coached have an affection for him and they look up to him. They feel very loyal to him. I'm proud my boys were able to play for him."
Totty didn't just focus on the win on the field. He focused on building teenagers into men, Wilson said.
"He had high standards," Wilson said. "He instilled a belief in them that they could do their best and to make them better human beings and not winning at football. He built character into the kids and a work ethic."
The only coach who has been at the same school longer than Totty was at Rison is Danny Abshier at Prairie Grove.
Totty, who also was the Wildcats' head track coach and athletic director, is going into a football program with controversy.
In November, the Wynne School Board had a hearing to decide whether or not to renew Paschal's contract. Paschal, however, announced before the board meeting that he would not return regardless of the board's decision. He had been suspended with pay since Oct. 20 after the Wynne School District launched an investigation into Paschal and the football program.
Wilson said that he knows Totty will make an excellent coach for the Yellowjackets.
"He has run his program here at the highest level," Wilson said. "He has taught boys how to become young men of character and held them accountable. He knows how to teach teamwork instead of being all about the individual player. I'm truly proud for him and sad for us. He leaves our program much better than he found it."