Eldridge introduced as Farmington coach
FARMINGTON — Count Shep Campbell among those applauding the return of J.R. Eldridge to Northwest Arkansas, where Eldridge was hired as the head football coach at Farmington.
Campbell and Eldridge are longtime friends who graduated from Fayetteville in 1996, and Campbell was an assistant coach at Sheridan when Eldridge was hired at Arkadelphia in 2011. Eldridge won two state championships at Class 4A Arkadelphia before leaving and coaching for one year at North Little Rock, where he led the Charging Wildcats to an 11-2 record with an appearance in the Class 7A state championship game against Bryant in December.
Eldridge takes over at Farmington for Mike Adams, who stepped down after leading the Cardinals to the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs. Adams was a head coach for 34 years, including 17 at Farmington.
Eldridge is 93-36 as a head coach with a playoff record of 22-8.
“J.R. Eldridge is the best football coach in the state of Arkansas,” said Campbell, who spent 13 years as an assistant coach, mostly on the college level. “When I was coaching with my dad [Louis Campbell] at Sheridan, I saw what Arkadelphia was and what Arkadelphia turned into with J.R., where they won back-to-back state championships. I played for Mike at Fayetteville and he did a great job at Farmington. But this is a grand slam home run hire, no doubt.”
Eldridge was introduced at a news conference Monday following a Farmington School District Board of Directors meeting. He was selected for the football coaching job from more than 40 applicants and inquiries from a handful of states.
“I made dozens of phone calls from coaches, college coaches, administrators and most of them ended in, ‘If you have a chance to hire J.R. Eldridge, you need to hire him,’ ” Farmington Athletic Director Beau Thompson said. “Coach Eldridge’s resume speaks for itself with three [state] final appearances in the last four years, with two of those ending in state titles.”
Eldridge won state championships with the Badgers in 2017 and 2018, the last after starting the season 0-5, then knocking off four straight No. 1 seeds in the postseason.
He’ll meet today with football players from Farmington to share his vision and expectations for the Cardinals.
“One of the biggest responsibilities of a coach, a football coach, is to teach how to respond,” Eldridge said. “How to respond to victory, how to respond to defeat. Both of them are imposters and they will trick you. The thing our players and coaches need to buy into is our football culture. Number one, we want to make positive differences in each other’s lives. Number two, we want to compete for and win conference and state championships.”
Eldridge was an all-state linebacker and a three-year stater when he and Campbell played together for the Bulldogs. Following high school, Eldridge continued his football career at Ouachita Baptist University, where he became a defensive captain with the team and earned AllGulf South Conference academic honors.
“J.R. broke his ankle his junior and senior years at Fayetteville and he still had the career record for tackles,” Campbell said. “He’s tough and smart, and a great competitor.
“There’s nobody I wanted to be on the field with more than J.R. He ate dirt for breakfast.”