Quickly now: what do Dennis Pendergrass, Greg Jones, Eddie Tipton, Chris Hill, Mike Lee, Brooks Coatney and Greg Werner have in common?
Time's up.
They've all taken turns as head football coach at Van Buren, which has struggled mightily since 1996 when the Pointers won the state championship under Gary Autry in Arkansas' largest classification. Van Buren now turns to former Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick to replace Werner, who resigned three weeks ago to take over at Muskogee (Okla.) Hillsdale. Dick faces quite a challenge at Van Buren, which failed to win a game last fall and hasn't had a winning season since 2010 when the Pointers finished 7-5.
Dick is already at Van Buren, preparing for the start of spring practice on Thursday. He said there was no hesitation in accepting a job where there's been little success for more than two decades.
"They've had success in the past, and the administration has a plan in place (moving forward)," said Dick, who spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator at Bentonville West. "We have a chance to do good things. The support system is there."
Football is a hot topic with the completion of the NFL draft, where Baker Mayfield became the first former walk-on to be selected No. 1 overall. Mayfield's ascension should be encouraging to any young player who's felt overlooked, and it's the latest rebuke to the star system that some people place so much emphasis on.
Locally, there were some notable coaching changes last week ahead of spring football practices for high school teams. On Thursday, Fayetteville coach Billy Dawson added Elkins coach Chad Harbison as co-offensive coordinator and Bill Harrelson announced his resignation at Gravette to accept a position with the junior high teams at Fayetteville Ramay.
Keith Fimple, a veteran assistant who has coached at Fayetteville, Fort Smith Southside and Springdale Har-Ber in the 7A-West, will replace Clint Ashcraft as head coach at Conway. Ashcraft, who left Siloam Springs for Conway, will become the school's athletic director.
No one faces a tougher challenge than Dick as he prepares for his first head coaching job. Van Buren is the smallest public school in Class 7A, which is quite a disadvantage in a sport that needs plenty of players to provide depth.
I was reminded of Van Buren's biggest problem years ago while watching the Pointers and Springdale Har-Ber during warmups prior to a game at Wildcat Stadium. Har-Ber players took up half the field while Van Buren formed about four lines.
Van Buren will receive no sympathy from smaller schools that face depth issues each year, including a few schools in Class 2A who should really be playing 8-man football.
Dick has a coaching staff in place with former Shiloh Christian standout Crosby Tuck as his offensive coordinator and Kenneth Chick from Greenwood as his defensive coordinator. Tuck will return to the state after coaching last season in Georgia. Prior to that he was ther offensive coordinator at Pea Ridge.
The two met while playing for the Razorbacks.
"We knew each other at Arkansas and kept in touch through the years," Dick said. "When we traded playbooks, I saw we were in agreement on about 85-90 percent in our offensive philosophy. He'll be a good fit in what we want to do on offense."
Another former Razorback, Kenny Sandlin, texted Dick on the night he was hired and offered his support.
If anyone knows how to succeed at Van Buren, it is Sandlin and Michael Boster, a pair of all-state linemen who led the Pointers to the state championship in 1996 with a 12-1-1 record. It's been mostly downhill ever since for the Pointers, who are usually a few steps slower than the teams they face in Class 7A.
Still, Van Buren won a state championship 22 years ago against faster players at larger schools, and there is hope Dick will bring some new ideas and youthful enthusiasm to make the Pointers competitive again.
The challenge begins Aug. 28 at Alma.
Sports on 04/29/2018