Bolding back in business

In his two seasons away from the high school football sidelines, Brad Bolding was always looking to get back into the game.

Bolding, who coached at North Little Rock in 2007-2014 before being fired in April 2015, is back in high school football with Little Rock Parkview and led the Patriots this week in the Senator Showdown 7-on-7 tournament at Joe T. Robinson.

The Patriots were 1-8 last season, with their lone victory coming in Week 5 against Little Rock Fair. But Bolding, who won 10 or more games in four of his eight seasons at North Little Rock, has high expectations for Parkview, which has not had a winning season since 2009.

“We expect a lot out of our players,” said Bolding, who has 62 players in the program as of Thursday. “Luckily, I was there in January so we were able to establish a lot of that [expectations].

“We’re taking baby steps, but we’re getting there. That’s the main thing.”

Bolding was fired in April 2015 by North Little Rock for violating inventory and purchasing procedures and recruiting rules. He was in television and in private business the past two years, but admitted when he was hired in December that he missed the game and that the two-year break recharged his batteries.

On Thursday, Bolding was on the sidelines in Little Rock, encouraging his Patriots as they competed in the Senator Showdown. Parkview went 3-2 in the tournament, losing to Lonoke in the second round.

Despite Parkview’s inexperience, Bolding said he expected his team to play deep into the tournament.

“It doesn’t matter what we’re doing,” Bolding said. “We want to win in everything.”

Competition is one of Bolding’s goals early on as he attempts to rebuild a Parkview football program that will have its third coach in three seasons. William Hardiman was placed on administrative leave by Parkview last August and pleaded guilty to sexual assault in January and Kenny Stephens was the Patriots’ interim coach in 2016.

“We want to compete against each other,” Bolding said. “We want to have a winner and a loser. We don’t want you to get accustomed to feeling the losing. It’s not an acceptable mindset. We’re always preaching to them that we always want to win. It needs to hurt when you don’t win. You don’t want to feel that feeling anymore.

“When we get a collective group thinking like that and all believing that, that’s when you win.”

Parkview will open the season Sept. 1 at Star City.