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Former Hogs quarterback Casey Dick what Fayetteville High School football needs
The fourth coach in five years has only completed his second season as a head coach, but he may bring something the others didn’t — stability.
The past three Fayetteville High School football coaches were veterans with Hall of Fame resumes.
The fourth coach in five years has only completed his second season as a head coach, but he may bring something the others didn’t — stability.
Last week, FHS announced the hiring of former Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick as its new head coach after the abrupt resignation of legendary Arkansas prep coach Billy Dawson, who finished his second season at Fayetteville last fall.
Dick, 32, served as the Van Buren coach in 2018 and guided the Pointers to a 4-7 mark, which includes a forfeit win to Springdale Har-Ber. The record was good enough to land Van Buren in the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
Dick spent two seasons as the Bentonville West offensive coordinator and a stint as an assistant at a Texas high school before that.
Saying the former Hogs signal caller is green compared to his predecessors is an understatement. Daryl Patton guided Fayetteville to the school’s first title in 2007.
The Bulldogs racked up three more before he resigned in the spring of 2016. Legendary Oklahoma prep coach Bill Blankenship, who gained national acclaim as the Tulsa Union coach and served as the Tulsa University coach, stopped in Fayetteville for a season in 2017 and delivered the school’s fifth title.
After Blankenship headed back to Oklahoma to coach Tulsa metro program Owasso High School, FHS athletic director Steve Janksi made another impact hire by securing Dawson, who guided Russellville to the Class 6A title in 2016 and multiple championships at Nashville.
So, on paper Dick isn’t as impressive. However, most coaches wouldn’t stack up well against those three, but Janski is banking on Dick earning that status while he guides the Bulldogs to championships.
Janski, a former coach at Heber Springs and an assistant under Houston Nutt at Arkansas, knows how to evaluate coaching talent.
He sees Dick as a rising star. He’s seen how Fayetteville teams have worked to stop his innovative offensive schemes at Bentonville West and Van Buren. He knows with the loaded roster that Fayetteville produces every season; Dick’s system will be full of fire power.
What he is also convinced of is Dick isn’t going to bail on the program anytime soon. His daughter is enrolled in the school district and Fayetteville is a second home after spending his college years there. It’s home for him.
While Fayetteville has been successful with its short-term coaches, Janski wants a head man who is interested in putting down roots and putting his stamp on the program.
Dick was intent on doing that at perennial doormat Van Buren, and leaves a solid foundation for new Pointers coach Crosby Tuck, a former Shiloh Christian star receiver who called the plays for Van Buren a season ago.
The difference is the Fayetteville program is already built with talented players and a winning tradition. All it needs now is stability.
Even though Fayetteville offers Dick an ideal situation to win immediately, there are challenges. The 7A-West conference schedule is a gauntlet of heavyweights, but Dick knows that after the past three years of coaching the in league.
A program can be very good and still lose a few games in that league. Plus, the 7A, as a whole, is tougher now with the emergence of North Little Rock and defending champion Bryant, who will most likely be the two teams favored to play for the state title again this season.
Gone are the days that 7A-West teams can pencil in playoff wins against the top 7A-Central teams.
Some of the tough conference games and playoff games will test the young coach’s mettle. He will be facing many successful veteran coaches, who have a great deal of experience coaching big games.
However, Dick is the only coach in the lot who has experience as a starting quarterback in the SEC. There is no question that experience leading the Hogs under Houston Nutt has helped kick start his high school coaching career.
Not to mention, his experience under center has been a big boost to his quarterback pupils and offensive units.
The Purple Dogs return some talented skill players and will have a chance to light up the scoreboard this fall. Dick knows the expectations are higher and that simply making the playoffs isn’t acceptable.
He takes the job with aspirations of leading Fayetteville back to War Memorial Stadium for the first time since Blankenship won in 2016.
It remains to be seen if Dick can pull that feat off in his debut season, but he is a good fit for the job and will keep the program at a high level and stick around for more than just a cup of coffee.
