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RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FOOTBALL PREVIEW |
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26, 2018
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CONWAY WAMPUS CATS
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domino turned to Keith Fimple, defensive coordinator at Springdale Har-Ber, to replace Ashcraft on the sideline.
Fimple, a 1990 graduate of Alma High School, played football for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and was an assistant coach for the Reddies before starting his high school career as an assistant at El Dorado. After that, he had assistant stints at Fort Smith Southside, Fayetteville and Springdale Har-Ber, where he served as defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator over the past four seasons.
Conway is his first head-coaching job.
“It’s been an answered prayer, just to have that excitement and to be able to take over a program that’s been very successful and add your touches to it,” said Fimple, who finally got his family moved and bought a house in late summer after driving back and forth between Conway and Northwest Arkansas for several months.
“The first year you’re just trying to make everything out and figure things out as you go. I’m depending on the guys who’ve been here the past nine or 10 years and some even longer than that. But Jeremiah 29:11 — the Lord knows what’s going on. I just put everything in his hands.”
The Wampus Cat staff is a little different this fall after Brooks Hollingsworth returned to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway before Ashcraft stepped down. Marquis Rogers, a Conway High School alumnus, is coaching the offensive line. Longtime assistants Scott Schwartz and Johnny Kennedy have given up football, and Fimple hired Bryan Ross and Clayton Pankey to replace them.
Fimple said the fact that he’d been on
STACI VANDAGRIFF/RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION
Conway sophomore running back Jamaal Bethune tries to get away from junior DeWayne Smith.
the opposing sideline numerous times with different schools had helped him make his decision to take the job at Conway.
“That’s been eye-opening, just to play against these guys and see everything — the strong community, the strong public schools, to see those well-coached teams you’ve gone against,” he said. “When they came and talked to me, those were the things I was check-marking with my wife.”
Fimple takes the reins after the Wampus Cats reached the Class 7A state semifinals last year, losing to eventual champion North
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