Old School In Springdale

Last season, Springdale's boys basketball team was 8-20 overall and 1-13 in 7A-West play. Bulldogs' coach Bill Taylor hopes his old-school methods will help reverse the team's fortunes in his second season. After opening the season with a hard-fought 67-64 loss against Class 5A defending champ Siloam Springs, the Bulldogs have won three straight games. Taylor came to Springdale after winning two state championships at Buffalo Island Central and another at Delta High. VYPE: You've been called 'old school,' do you consider that a compliment or a dig? Springdale coach Bill Taylor: I'm old school in some ways and I'm new school in some others. I just coach from my gut and sometimes there's no pattern to the way we are going to do things. I just go off my instincts and to be called 'old school,' yeah, I think that's a compliment. VYPE: What do you think they mean by 'old school'? Taylor: I'm aggressive and expect a lot out of my players, but at the same time, my players know I love them. VYPE: Where did that philosophy come from? Didn't you play some college baseball? Taylor: I was a college baseball player and a high school basketball player and at that time, when I came out of college, there was no baseball coaches being hired. You had to coach another sport and then coach baseball. My philosophy has just been a little bit of everything, kind of like the way I played. I let my guys play. I like to let their abilities take over. And as far as my philosophies, I've gotten a little bit from a lot of different coaches, but (Louisville coach) Rick Pitino, I've followed his career closely and try to take as many things as I can from him, particularly the use of the 3-point shot. VYPE: Where did you play college baseball and what position did you play? Taylor: I was a left-handed pitcher for Arkansas State back in the early 80s. A long time ago. I just kind of fell into basketball because it was hard to get into baseball as a coach. VYPE: Now you are more known as a basketball coach, is there any part of you that misses baseball? Taylor: I'm a basketball guy all the way, always have been. As a player, I'd rather play baseball. But as a coach, I'd much rather coach basketball. There's no confusion for me anymore. I'm a basketball guy all the way. VYPE: Can you tell us about your family? Taylor: I've been married to my wife, Linda, for 26 years and our daughter, Rachel, is 24 and our son, Brooks, is 21, and he plays basketball for the University of Central Arkansas. He played for (Arkansas Razorback coach John) Pelphrey as a freshman down at South Alabama and when coach Pelphrey left, he left and went JUCO and has now landed back at UCA. My brother, Gaylon, coached at Buffalo Island Central and won back-to-back state championships back in 1992 and1993 and then we did the same in 2005 and 2006, which is kind of strange and interesting all at the same time. There were four of us boys and we all played sports ... I couldn't imagine my life without it. VYPE: Winning consecutive titles at BIC, did you feel like you had accomplished everything you could at that level when you chose to come to Springdale? Taylor: We accomplished a lot, but I don't know if we accomplished everything we could have. It just felt like the timing was right to try to be successful at the big school level. Brooks was on to college and we were coming off of those championships and everything just kind of fell in line. I'm just proud to be the coach at Springdale and am proud to try to get our program back where it belongs. VYPE: Now into your second year, what do you like about this year's team? Taylor: Coach Jimmy Jester is my assistant coach and does an amazing job. We both feel we are better at all four positions and we return four of those players from a year ago and they are much better. Shelton Baird, a sophomore, to this point is averaging 27 points per game and has taken our team to a whole another level. We know we are far, far away from where we want to be, but we know we have come a long way in the last 16 months. VYPE: What's been the biggest difference between coaching at a big school as opposed to a small school? Taylor: I guess the biggest thing for me is that I have been a little disappointed because I haven't found as many people in this city that loves basketball as much as I do. There are a lot of people that do. I just need more of them. We need more fans and more passionate people about basketball. I know there's some out there, there's just not enough. We know there's some old Red 'Dogs out there that we can welcome back into the family, we just need to know who they are. VYPE: As a team, is there anything you can do in the community to inspire awareness, other than winning? Taylor: Just to let them know that we are trying to get this thing going and we are a much better team than we were a year ago. We can't expect people to knock our doors down until we start to put a better product on the floor and we believe we are headed in the right direction.