Fayetteville Has Their New Coach

[FANONTHEHILL]

Administrators, please move to correct forum if needed.  Fayetteville has been a factory for Razorback Football in recent years under former Coach Daryl Patton.  There are currently 6 Purple Bulldogs on the roster. There were 9 on the 2015 roster. Fayetteville has hired former Tulsa Golden Hurricane Head Coach Bill Blankenship as their next head coach. Hopefully the PurpleDog to Hog  pipeline will continue under Coach Blankenship.

[hog.goblin]

Very solid hire:

Blankenship served as the coach of Tulsa's Union High School for 14 years until 2005. There he compiled an overall 154-26 record. During his tenure, Union won eight consecutive district championships, qualified for the playoffs fourteen times, reached the quarterfinals ten times, participated in the state Class 6A championship seven times, and won the state title in 2002, 2004, and 2005. Union also amassed an unbroken home winning streak of 56 straight wins between the years 1997 and 2005.

[pigture perfect]

Didn't we have a player from Tulsa Union back in Nutts early days?

[TexHog188]

Blankenship is an excellent hire.  He had his pick of talent at Union, competing only against Jenks for the most part and sometimes Broken Arrow.  Kids moved in to that district to play for him, same thing at Jenks.

[Inhogswetrust]

I'm not sure if I remember a better hire in Arkansas High school for as long as I can remember.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Administrators, please move to correct forum if needed.  Fayetteville has been a factory for Razorback Football in recent years under former Coach Daryl Patton.  There are currently 6 Purple Bulldogs on the roster. There were 9 on the 2015 roster. Fayetteville has hired former Tulsa Golden Hurricane Head Coach Bill Blankenship as their next head coach. Hopefully the PurpleDog to Hog  pipeline will continue under Coach Blankenship.

Bill Blankenship is not only a great football coach but a very fine man. I'm not sure how long he will remain at Fayetteville, he is 60 I think at this time. But he is certainly a man who can instill quality values in a program and produce a winner. He has a great personality and the Administration and parents alike, as well as the players, will love him. Great pick by FHS. I think everyone will be very happy with this hire.

[hog.goblin]

Bill Blankenship is not only a great football coach but a very fine man. I'm not sure how long he will remain at Fayetteville, he is 60 I think at this time. But he is certainly a man who can instill quality values in a program and produce a winner. He has a great personality and the Administration and parents alike, as well as the players, will love him. Great pick by FHS. I think everyone will be very happy with this hire.

I think he retires here.  Whether that's 5 years or 15 I'm not sure.  He'll love Fayetteville.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I think he retires here.  Whether that's 5 years or 15 I'm not sure.  He'll love Fayetteville.

We'll see if he brings in his son Josh as the QB Coach. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. He's a class act as well.

[oldfart]

correct me if im wrong i thought i saw he was 56. still some pretty good years ahead

[MikePiazza]

He's 59. Will turn 60 in December.

[IronMountainHog]

He will do fine beating up on local school districts who had the ambition to build additional high schools in their cities. I have zero respect for FHS in this regard. They finally can win state titles beating subpar competition. I do like the hire, but FHS is a joke of a program. Good thing Fort Smith, Springdale, Rogers,  and Bentonville all have split high schools because FHS is finally top dog after 50 years of previous mediocrity.

[MikePiazza]

He will do fine beating up on local school districts who had the ambition to build additional high schools in their cities. I have zero respect for FHS in this regard. They finally can win state titles beating subpar competition. I do like the hire, but FHS is a joke of a program. Good thing Fort Smith, Springdale, Rogers,  and Bentonville all have split high schools because FHS is finally top dog after 50 years of previous mediocrity.

I sense some saltiness in this post. And it's laughable that you think these school districts had "ambition" in building additional high schools. They had to because their student populations dictated that they had to. Why don't you go sue Fayetteville for not growing enough?

[ricepig]

He will do fine beating up on local school districts who had the ambition to build additional high schools in their cities. I have zero respect for FHS in this regard. They finally can win state titles beating subpar competition. I do like the hire, but FHS is a joke of a program. Good thing Fort Smith, Springdale, Rogers,  and Bentonville all have split high schools because FHS is finally top dog after 50 years of previous mediocrity.

You do know that Fayetteville is the 5th largest school district in the state? That both Springdale and Har-Ber are larger by about 200-400 students? I'm far from a fan, but the facts don't entirely support your argument.

[IronMountainHog]

I sense some saltiness in this post. And it's laughable that you think these school districts had "ambition" in building additional high schools. They had to because their student populations dictated that they had to. Why don't you go sue Fayetteville for not growing enough?

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

[ricepig]

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

The size of the city has nothing to do with the size of a school district, lol.

[PorcineSublime]

Bill Blankenship is not only a great football coach but a very fine man. I'm not sure how long he will remain at Fayetteville, he is 60 I think at this time. But he is certainly a man who can instill quality values in a program and produce a winner. He has a great personality and the Administration and parents alike, as well as the players, will love him. Great pick by FHS. I think everyone will be very happy with this hire.

I'll second the fine human being comment. Used to go to church with his family and there really wasn't a bad apple in the bunch. Gerald and Bea raised some good ones.

[ceegar]

I've been out of the loop.  Where did Patton go?

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

Bentonville is just now building their 2nd HS, but it is no secret that FHS has balked at the idea. S'dale has Shiloh Christian, as well, but both SHS & Har-Ber are larger than Fayetteville.

AAA classification numbers link, FWIW:
http://members.ahsaa.org/public/userfiles/Admin/2016-18_Classification_Numbers.pdf

[ricepig]

Bentonville is just now building their 2nd HS, but it is no secret that FHS has balked at the idea. S'dale has Shiloh Christian, as well.

% of kids that go to Shiloh that live in the Springdale school district, don't they draw from the whole area? I'm not defending Fayetteville's decision, just that they are the 6th largest school district in the state, per AAA.

Thanks for the link, I was looking for it.

[IronMountainHog]

Bentonville is just now building their 2nd HS, but it is no secret that FHS has balked at the idea. S'dale has Shiloh Christian, as well.

AAA classification numbers link, FWIW:
http://members.ahsaa.org/public/userfiles/Admin/2016-18_Classification_Numbers.pdf

Bentonville is just now building their 2nd HS, but it is no secret that FHS has balked at the idea. S'dale has Shiloh Christian, as well.

AAA classification numbers link, FWIW:
http://members.ahsaa.org/public/userfiles/Admin/2016-18_Classification_Numbers.pdf

Bentonville is fielding 2 teams this year so mark those up as W's.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

% of kids that go to Shiloh that live in the Springdale school district, don't they draw from the whole area? I'm not defending Fayetteville's decision, just that they are the 5th largest school district in the state, per AAA.

Thanks for the link, I was looking for it.

Shiloh gets students from across NWA, but so do the public schools. The "district" lines don't mean much anymore. But the AAA#'s show that F'ville can justify their choice to only have 1 high school. If they split FHS evenly, they would both be 6A. (Not that there would be anything wrong with being 6A.)

[LAGNAF]

He will do fine beating up on local school districts who had the ambition to build additional high schools in their cities. I have zero respect for FHS in this regard. They finally can win state titles beating subpar competition. I do like the hire, but FHS is a joke of a program. Good thing Fort Smith, Springdale, Rogers,  and Bentonville all have split high schools because FHS is finally top dog after 50 years of previous mediocrity.

Maybe you should check enrollment facts prior to showing your butthurt. Fayetteville school district is considerably smaller than Springdale, Bentonville, Ft. Smith and Rogers

https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/largest-enrollment/s/arkansas/

[Porked Tongue]

Go ahead and split Springdale again and while we're at it NLR, Lr Central, Cabot and Bryant.

It's LR Central that get whomever they want and they're still one of the top in enrollment.

Maybe Fayetteville can get those UA intramural studs to play for them since we have someone who counts them as part of the school district head count.

[hog.goblin]

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

Fayetteville has a bunch of young adults without kids and many parents with just one child.

You also have kids on the fringe of the community that go to Farmington, Prairie Grove, and Elkins.

There are a decent number of Fayetteville kids that go to Shiloh, Haas Hall, Providence, and the New School.

[Foshodo]

I've been out of the loop.  Where did Patton go?

i think i heard bauxite...?

played for him briefly at Bryant... glad to see him fall is all i'll say.

[FANONTHEHILL]

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

You have to consider district size, not city population.  Bentonville, Rogers, & Springdale have more expansive districts and no smaller districts immediately adjacent to them to absorb students. Fayetteville is in close proximity to Farmington, West Fork, Greenland, Prarie Grove, and Elkins. Those schools are as small as 3A and as large as 5A.  The other large NWA districts don't have a similar situation.

Take Bentonville for example.  Take Their population, add Cave Springs, then add Bella Vista (which is  family community, not a retirement community any longer), and then other rural areas, and the population base Bentonville is larger than Fayettevile's.

[BirmingHam]

You have to consider district size, not city population.  Bentonville, Rogers, & Springdale have more expansive districts and no smaller districts immediately adjacent to them to absorb students. Fayetteville is in close proximity to Farmington, West Fork, Greenland, Prarie Grove, and Elkins. Those schools are as small as 3A and as large as 5A.  The other large NWA districts don't have a similar situation.

Take Bentonville for example.  Take Their population, add Cave Springs, then add Bella Vista (which is  family community, not a retirement community any longer), and then other rural areas, and the population base Bentonville is larger than Fayettevile's.

Bella Vista is split between Gravette and Pea Ridge officially for high school.  And there is a campus of Haas Hall in Bentonville also.  But, you can add Little Flock, and Centerton (where the new HS is being built) to Bentonville.

Rogers has Lowell, Bethel Heights, a slither of Cave Springs and most of eastern Benton County.

[71832]

I'm not sure if I remember a better hire in Arkansas High school for as long as I can remember.

Not sure of the year but Bill Laird at Nashville a small 4A school would have to be in the ball park.

[Boles Hog]

I'm not sure if I remember a better hire in Arkansas High school for as long as I can remember.

Rick Jones.....Left Broken Arrow for Greenwood.

[bigdaddyhawg]

Fayetteville is bigger than Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. 72,000 and 1 high school?

I think this link kind of blows a hole in the basis of your thinking on this.

 

Maybe you should check enrollment facts prior to showing your butthurt. Fayetteville school district is considerably smaller than Springdale, Bentonville, Ft. Smith and Rogers

https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/largest-enrollment/s/arkansas/

[Inhogswetrust]

I sense some saltiness in this post. And it's laughable that you think these school districts had "ambition" in building additional high schools. They had to because their student populations dictated that they had to. Why don't you go sue Fayetteville for not growing enough?

More like a salt mine! Plus he doesn't tell the whole story as others have done. What is most interesting to me is how some high schools have gone WAY up in size and others have gone way down. Some at the expense of others.

[Inhogswetrust]

You have to consider district size, not city population.  Bentonville, Rogers, & Springdale have more expansive districts and no smaller districts immediately adjacent to them to absorb students. Fayetteville is in close proximity to Farmington, West Fork, Greenland, Prarie Grove, and Elkins. Those schools are as small as 3A and as large as 5A.  The other large NWA districts don't have a similar situation.

Take Bentonville for example.  Take Their population, add Cave Springs, then add Bella Vista (which is  family community, not a retirement community any longer), and then other rural areas, and the population base Bentonville is larger than Fayettevile's.

Gentry and Pea Ridge say Hi........................they are close to Bentonville and Rogers respectively.

[hog.goblin]

Top 10 School Districts in the state, courtesy of LAGNAF

1 Little Rock School District 25,110

2 Springdale School District 21,369

3 Pulaski County Special School District 17,750

4 Rogers School District 15,094

5 Bentonville School District 15,081

6 Fort Smith School District 14,702

7 Cabot School District 10,426

8 Conway School District 9,993

9 Fayetteville School District 9,421

10 North Little Rock School District 9,113

[bigdaddyhawg]

Gentry and Pea Ridge say Hi........................they are close to Bentonville and Rogers respectively.

Not all that close, really.  Certainly not close enough to merge those school districts into one.

[BirmingHam]

Not all that close, really.  Certainly not close enough to merge those school districts into one.

Pea Ridge not close to Rogers or Bentonville?  Really? Pea Ridge HS to Bentonville HS is 10.3 miles/Rogers Heritage is 10.1 miles according to Google, although Gentry HS is 23 miles from Bentonville/7 miles from Siloam Springs. But, Gravette HS only 15 from the new Bentonville HS.

[Ted77]

I've lived in the Tulsa area for the last 20 years.  HS football is bigger here than I remember it being in Arkansas when I lived there.  That said I can't remember seeing a state championship game that didn't include Jenks, Blankenship's Union, and sometimes Edmond.  Those really are the only 3 teams that consistently make it to the game.

Blankenship wasn't too successful at U of Tulsa but nobody really is.  He's a great HS coach.  He knows hoe to develop young players and get them ready for the NCAA.  I say all this with the disclaimer that I hate Tulsa Union and have never been Blankenships fan but he's a winning coach.

[hog.goblin]

He won 11 games in his second year at Tulsa.  The guy can coach.  Things fell off after that.  Perhaps he wasn't a great college recruiter.

[ricepig]

He won 11 games in his second year at Tulsa.  The guy can coach.  Things fell off after that.  Perhaps he wasn't a great college recruiter.

Just a good high school recruiter?

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

Pea Ridge not close to Rogers or Bentonville?  Really? Pea Ridge HS to Bentonville HS is 10.3 miles/Rogers Heritage is 10.1 miles according to Google, although Gentry HS is 23 miles from Bentonville/7 miles from Siloam Springs. But, Gravette HS only 15 from the new Bentonville HS.

Yeah and Farmington High is only 5 miles from Fayetteville.  The point the person was making is that there cities without districts that Bentonville and Rogers districts are having to absorb than Fayetteville.

Bentonville, and to a lesser extent Rogers are having to absorb the population of much larger and faster growing cities.  Anyone driven through Centerton lately?  The city should have it's own district but it does not.  Population of 2,600 in 2000 and estimated at 10,500 in 2013.  Bella Vista is at 27,000.  Yes some from BV go to Gravette but the bulk of the population goes to Bentonville.  So that's basically combined population of 37,000 in those two cities being served by Bentonville school district. 

Bentonville didn't have the "ambition" to build a second high school.  It was out of nothing but necessity and quite overdue.  And athletic competitiveness or fear of not being able to dominate every sport did play a factor.  When they should have considered that building a second school would give many more students the opportunity to play, compete, develop, grow which happens with winning and losing.  I live in the district have kids at the schools and wife has worked for the district for 15 years. 

Should have been done 10 years ago, 5 at the least.  But they did a piss poor job selling it to the public and were bundling it with other grandiose plans.  Or plans that seemed excessive to some.  Although Bentonville may no longer regularly compete for state titles it will give more students a chance to play and some kid that may have been cut or never seen the field as say a freshman under a combined school could turn out to be a stud as a soph, jr, or sr because they split the schools.  Eventually the talent at both schools will develop and as more students more into the district it will improve both schools on the field.

[onelength]

Didn't we have a player from Tulsa Union back in Nutts early days?

Felix Jones

[yraciv]

Let's look solely at the largest High Schools in state for 2016.
1 Bentonville High School
Bentonville, AR 4,144
2 Bryant High School
Bryant, AR 2,671
3 Central High School
Little Rock, AR 2,519
4 North Little Rock High School
North Little Rock, AR 2,474
5 Springdale High School
Springdale, AR 2,238
6 Rogers High School
Rogers, AR 2,145
7 Cabot High School
Cabot, AR 2,084
8 Conway High West
Conway, AR 2,056
9 Rogers Heritage High School
Rogers, AR 2,019
10 Fayetteville High School East
Fayetteville, AR 1,895

[jfan01]

All of these population citations are correct, but there was a huge deal made over the last few years about a need for a second high school in Fayetteville.  Instead of building a new school, they spent a crazy amount of money expanding the current school.  I have no dog in the fight, but I think it was a little short-sighted to do so.  My belief is that athletics were one of the major drivers for keeping just one high school.

[ricepig]

All of these population citations are correct, but there was a huge deal made over the last few years about a need for a second high school in Fayetteville.  Instead of building a new school, they spent a crazy amount of money expanding the current school.  I have no dog in the fight, but I think it was a little short-sighted to do so.  My belief is that athletics were one of the major drivers for keeping just one high school.

I never heard much about 2 schools, just that they should have taken the UofA's $50-55M and built a new high school elsewhere.

[MikePiazza]

I never heard much about 2 schools, just that they should have taken the UofA's $50-55M and built a new high school elsewhere.

This.

[BirmingHam]

Yeah and Farmington High is only 5 miles from Bentonville.  The point the person was making is that there cities without districts that Bentonville and Rogers districts are having to absorb than Fayetteville.

Bentonville, and to a lesser extent Rogers are having to absorb the population of much larger and faster growing cities.  Anyone driven through Centerton lately?  The city should have it's own district but it does not.  Population of 2,600 in 2000 and estimated at 10,500 in 2013.  Bella Vista is at 27,000.  Yes some from BV go to Gravette but the bulk of the population goes to Bentonville.  So that's basically combined population of 37,000 in those two cities being served by Bentonville school district. 

Bentonville didn't have the "ambition" to build a second high school.  It was out of nothing but necessity and quite overdue.  And athletic competitiveness or fear of not being able to dominate every sport did play a factor.  When they should have considered that building a second school would give many more students the opportunity to play, compete, develop, grow which happens with winning and losing.  I live in the district have kids at the schools and wife has worked for the district for 15 years. 

Should have been done 10 years ago, 5 at the least.  But they did a piss poor job selling it to the public and were bundling it with other grandiose plans.  Or plans that seemed excessive to some.  Although Bentonville may no longer regularly compete for state titles it will give more students a chance to play and some kid that may have been cut or never seen the field as say a freshman under a combined school could turn out to be a stud as a soph, jr, or sr because they split the schools.  Eventually the talent at both schools will develop and as more students more into the district it will improve both schools on the field.

Farmington HS is actually 10 miles from Fayetteville HS, but I know what you meant.  BTW, that is almost the exact same as Pea Ridge to Rogers/Bentonville.  Also, you mentioned Centerton; that's where the 2nd Bentonville is located-right on the Bentonville/Centerton border.

I got his point "not close at all", but the high school are only 10 miles from either Rogers Heritage or Bentonville; that is extremely close. I gave the mileage for people not in NWA; they may not know how close Pea Ridge is to Rogers/Bentonville or how close Gravette etc. are to the area.  Rogers currently buses from farther than 10 miles.

Bella Vista sends/buses quite a few students to Pea Ridge and Gravette, checked into this a couple of years ago when we were planning to move there. 

[Inhogswetrust]

Not all that close, really.  Certainly not close enough to merge those school districts into one.

Considering the milage and distance some other high school students have to travel to attend high schools in other districts it's very close. Heck when I was in high School in Jacksonville in the mid 19070's quite a few students traveled that far.

[Inhogswetrust]

I never heard much about 2 schools, just that they should have taken the UofA's $50-55M and built a new high school elsewhere.

This.

Except to build a whole new high school elsewhere would have cost a WHOLE lot more than that I'd bet.

[ricepig]

Except to build a whole new high school elsewhere would have cost a WHOLE lot more than that I'd bet.

Yep, but they spent $45M re-doing their high school and still have limited space. Throw in the UofA's money and they could have built a new $100M high school, and we'd have more parking, lol.

[thebignasty]

Fayetteville High and Farmington High are 4.9 miles apart.

[thebignasty]

Yep, but they spent $45M re-doing their high school and still have limited space. Throw in the UofA's money and they could have built a new $100M high school, and we'd have more parking, lol.

The remodel was definitely short sighted, especially as Fayetteville in the few years since the decision was made has seen some rejuvenation in the growth department.