FAYETTEVILLE — Most college coaches first coached high school ball.
Louis Campbell does it backwards. That puts Sheridan High School football players ahead in class regardless of how they fare on the field.
The Razorbacks’ virtual Mr. Arkansas as a Hamburg native, University of Arkansas defensive backfield coach and/or administrator from 1990-2007, Campbell also had some big-time coaching roles between his UA staff days and those 1970-72 seasons lettering as an Arkansas defensive back.
Campbell coached the secondary at Alabama under Bear Bryant. He coached at SMU, went back to Alabama, coordinated Oklahoma State’s defense and had one NFL year assisting the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Arkansas changes in head coach and athletic director squeezed Campbell out of his alma mater. He fulfilled a two-year contract in 2008 and 2009 coaching and administering at Mississippi State.
Now Campbell is back in Arkansas as Sheridan’s head coach.
He’s never coached a high school game, but coaches at the Arkansas High School Coaches Association convention welcomed him like one of their own.
Because he is. Always has been.
No matter his varied roles, no Arkansas staffer under former coaches Jack Crowe, Joe Kines, Danny Ford and Houston Nutt was more down-home recognizable to high school coaches than Louis Campbell.
They respect him greatly as a coach and even more as a person.
With so many successful college coaches apparently humorless, driven egomaniacs too self-absorbed and self-adored to talk to anyone below a chancellor, Louis always has a word and an ear for anybody. It’s not just good manners but essential, he learned as an assistant AD, to appreciate everybody’s contributions.
“Coaches don’t have any idea about what goes on behind the scenes,” Campbell said. “The people in facilities and maintenance, the time and effort they put in, they probably deserve a lot more money in some respect than the coaches do.
“It gives you an appreciation for all that goes in the program other than coaching football.”
And it makes Campbell appreciate his Sheridan to-do list.
“You have so many other things to keep up with,” Campbell said. “You are the equipment man, the field manager, the clothes washer and dryer and then you are trying to run the kids down and find out whythey didn’t come to a meeting.”
With demands of other ongoing high school sports, it’s hard to get a players quorum in the spring, Campbell has learned.
Coaches, too.
“We started spring practice and we didn’t have three varsity assistants because they were in other sports,” Campbell said. “It’s just a lot more challenges with time and getting everybody together, whether it’s players or coaches.”
But he calls all his Sheridan time worthwhile. He assures he’s not just marking time for a college coaching return.
“I’m through with college ball,” Campbell said. “To be real honest, age [60] has something to do with it. Two, my therapy is being on that tractor and mowing the field on Sundays. I’m enjoying being around the kids and other teachers.
“It’s so easy to get involved with the community and the school and the team. I’ve enjoyed that.”
Enjoy him, Sheridan. Your kids couldn’t have a better role model.
Sports, Pages 16 on 06/28/2010