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Thursday, November 1, 2007
O'Henry!
Western Arkansas, AR
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Photo(s) By: Kyle Danztler/MyActionPortraits.com
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Fort Smith Northside’s Darrell Henry is in his second?? year as head coach after leaving Fort Smith Southside, where he spent 6 years as coach and, the last five as defensive coordinator.?
HSSTM: After the come-from-behind win at Fayetteville, you spoke adamantly to your players about showing respect for the Bulldogs’ field and facilities as they prepared to leave. Why was that important for you to say?
Henry: I believe that they practice like we do, they go though offseason like we do, and work hard like we do. To gain respect, you need to show it. That’s part of having class and being responsible for the other guy, you’re not responsible for preparing them to play like they do their kids, but you are responsible for how you treat them.
HSSTM: What’s it been like for you to watch Kodi Burns, your quarterback last year, already making an impact at Auburn?
Henry: It’s been a lot of fun. Any time you coach a kid, what you hope is they’re successful when they leave your program and you hope you’ve done something that has prepared them. Few kids get the chance to do what Kodi does. God blessed him with the ability and knowledge and it’s a lot of fun to watch, but it’s also a lot of fun to watch a kid grad from Northside and go on to be successful in college. Maybe something we did, teaching him something in respect and work ethic, was the reason. It’s fun to watch them go on. They’re always Grizzlies. They’ll move on and do something else, but they will always be one of yours, so it’s fun to watch them succeed.
HSSTM: From a coach’s standpoint, what’s the recruiting like for a highly sought after player? Do you have to become chief mediator between recruiters and your player at times?
Henry: Not really., wWhat you try to do instead of being a mediator, is try to bring him in and make sure he has confidence in what you have learned over the years by watching the process, so when he asks a question, you can give an answer that satisfies him. It may not be the one he wants to hears, but this is what happened in the past with guys who have done this or looked at it this way. You try to give him some knowledge because it’s all a matter of comfort and because it’s going to be a life changing experience, so you better be comfortable with it right now.
HSSTM: Tell us about your coaching history and how that path has led you to Northside?
Henry: I came to Southside and did my practice teaching there,; it was Bob Gatling’s first year. I graduated from Arkansas Tech, then went to Siloam Springs in 1983,. I coached there for one semester., then Phil Collins was defensive coordinator at that time, so he asked if I wanted to be a GA, but I wanted to go back to Tech. Siloam was a great town with great kids, but I went back to Tech my second semester and was a GA. My wife and I had another baby coming and we figured out we couldn’t make it on that money, so Bob Gatling had a job opening and I go went back to Southside as to oversee the in-school suspension program. I was tThere for two years and they suspended that program, so I had to go somewhere. Fortnately, I got on at Greenwood as an assistant coach, and was down there in 1986 and 1987. and tThen Bill Malone, retired at Ramsey Junior High and Bob Gatling called me and asked me to come back as head coach at Ramsey where I spent one year. I was at Ramsey then the next seven years with Barry Lunney Sr. as the head coach. Then I moved up to secondary coach at Southside the first year., then tThe next year, I was defensive coordinator before I came back here as a head coach.
HSSTM: Who has been your biggest mentor?
Henry: Gatling is the smartest football coach I’ve ever been around as far as just sitting down and X’s and O’s. When I was there, I would go into his office and as long as I was willing to listen and learn, he would talk to me because he loved coaching. So certainly in football, he’s been the most influential guy I’ve been around as far as how you do things and why you do them. He’s tThe smartest coach I’ve ever been around as far as football, defensively and offensively. I still call him and he still calls me every once in a while every year during the season. He still knows more football than I do, still coaches me sometimes. I listen, too … I promise.
HSSTM: If you weren’t coaching, what would you be doing?
Henry: Gosh, I really don’t know. People have asked me that question before,. I really just don’t know. I couldn’t answer that question because my wife is a coache’s’ wife in the truest sense of the word. She understands the hours and everything that we do as coaches and the hours that we work and the fact that she had to bear the responsibility of the family all the time. I suppose I’d be doing whatever she told me to. That’s worked for me for 28 years. I’ve never really been in an argument with my wife. People don’t believe that, but we really haven’t. They ask how that happens and I tell them I do exactly what I’m told. If I do what I’m told, then I don’t get in trouble.
HSSTM: You mentioned Kidskids? . Tell us about your family?.
Henry: My daughter, Ashley, is in her last year at Law law school at Fayetteville, . She graduated from Texas A&M for her undergraduate. My son is presently in Iraq, somewhere, I don’t know where he is. He landed in Kuwait at 2 a.m. (in late September). He called and said he was on the ground. We knew that’s the way it worked, so that’s the last we heard of him. His name is Nathan and he’s in the Army, 101st Infantry Division.
HSSTM: Ist its hard the not knowing where he’s at or how he’s doing 24/7?
Henry: You can’t manipulate and control your kids all your lives like you want to. L, let’s just say it’s how it is. He’s 22 and she’s 24, so they’re grown., tThey’re still yours and you worry about them when he’s over there in that situation. But you don’t hear from them and that’s by design. It’s not like they’re right down the road,. Wondering what he’s doing 24/7 wondering what he’s doing, and where they’re he’s at, that’s just part of being a part of someone who’s in the military and that’s his chosen proffession. There are lots of other parents going through the same thing.
HSSTM: What’s the most exciting part of Friday nights for you as a coach?
Henry: The most exciting part is really to look in those kids’ eyes when they’ve been successful, or they’re in a real crunch time part of the game and they see you looking in their eyes. I tell them this is the most free time of your life, and may be on the biggest stage in your life. Only half of one percent of kids are going to play college football, the rest of them are just going to go to work or to college, so when you go out on Friday night, there are people who paid good hard money to see you and it’s the biggest stage 99.5 percent of them will ever perform on. I tell them to enjoy it and have fun because it’s gone in an instanceinstant. This part of it is the fun part, the most enjoyable thing you can do,. sSo, when you go out on Friday night, make the most of it. Winning is great, but winning is not everything. I tell them to make sure to know that winning is not everything, but the effort and the work that you put into it is everything, because that defines you. It’s easy to back down or to not work or not want it, but when you see them at the end of a successful night, you look in their eyes and know that they had fun and enjoyed it,. that’s That’s the most exciting part.
HSSTM: Northside has been a powerhouse at times over the years., wWhat’s the key to returning the program back to being a contender every year?
Henry: We talk to our kids about that all the time. Northside High School is a unique place. Northside and Little Rock Central probably have more tradition and are more well- known than a lot of schools throughout the country. Fort Smith High School went all over the place to play the Nono. 1 team in the country., tThen, when Southside was built in 1963 I believe, Southside was a much smaller school and Northside still had the much larger numbers and was in the premier league in the state., tThey were in the Premier 11 or whatever it was called, they didn’t have playoffs for the big schools. There were well over 2,500 kids in school at that time. Those days won’t come back as far as that size of a school,. Springdale is experiencing it now;, Fort Smith is already through the bumps. But it’s good for the kids, 3 cheers, 3 student councils, 2 teams.
Certainly, going back and dominating like it had in the past, we would love it,. bBut this conference is growing so much and it is so tough that we just got to keep going out there and fighting and performing. It’s a very tough conference, every week, every Friday night, it’s tough. I think that’s one reason we have some success in the playoffs on Friday night,. yYou’re just kind of carrying it on.
If we work, we’ll get better and we’ll win. If we don’t, we won’t.
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