Local schools hope for good seasons on gridiron.
Over the last six seasons, not many teams across the state have enjoyed the success Smackover has had on the gridiron.
In that timespan, the Bucks are averaging just under 10 wins per season.
Now Mike Baysinger is tasked with trying to keep the Bucks among the top teams in the 3A ranks.
“I think everybody’s expectations are high,” Baysinger said. “Our expectations are high. The kids’ expectations are high. You just keep building it. It’s nice when you have a tradition set and expectations set. You just keep working to achieve. Every day, you work to get better. We tell them all the time that you either get better or your worse, there’s no gray area. We’re not staying the same. Our agenda is to continue to win and to get better every day.”
Hired earlier this year after Brian Strickland resigned in January, Baysinger said everything is starting to come
together.
"Slowly but surely, it’s coming all together," Baysinger said. "It’s going to take some time to fix some things we need to fix, but I think overall, it’s going to be pretty good. The effort and work ethic has gotten a lot better, and that’s what we’re striving for.”
When Baysinger arrived, he tore everything down and began to build from scratch.
“We brought everything,” Baysinger said.
“I brought a strength program, a conditioning program, coach (Patrick) House brought a brand new defense that we’ve run together in years past, I’m bringing an offensive scheme from coaches that I’ve worked with, I’m bringing in practice schedules and making sure everything is conducted on time. It’s not just one aspect, it’s all aspects of a lot of stuff.”
Needless to say, it took some time for both coaches and players to adjust to each other.
“We talked to the kids about just jumping in that cold water,” Baysinger said. “You’ve got to dive in and get after it. I think everything has been real positive. Our kids have enjoyed the change, and I think the community is behind us so far because we’re undefeated right now. So far, everything has been real positive.”
Baysinger also made it clear that the team would take a blue-collar approach on the field.
“Probably discipline and accountability,” Baysinger said of the biggest change he's made. “The work ethic and just the overall effort of the everyday mentality that we’re going to work hard, and we’re going to try and outwork everybody that we’re working against right now.”
Given that the Bucks were starting over with a new coaching staff, Baysinger spent the summer diligently working with the Bucks on their new schemes.
“I wanted to work on us,” Baysinger said. “I haven’t been worried about anybody else. We did two 7-on-7’s, and I told the fellas that the biggest thing we were looking for was the competitiveness, and how we handle stuff mentally, emotionally and physically. Working on us this summer has been the big concern.”
Thus far, all has gone according to plan.
“I feel pretty good, especially with them learning a new offense and defense,” Baysinger said. “They’ve responded well and have handled everything pretty well.”
Another aspect that is being unfurled is the development program for younger players.
“We work our seventh, eighth and ninth-graders out, and when we got here at the end of April, we started working with those kids and implementing the basic fundamentals of a bigger, faster, stronger program,” Baysinger said.
“We’re working agilities, we’re working speed. We bought training bars, so we can incorporate teaching them how to lift and work the core and doing everything just to make them better athletes. We’ll continue to work with them this season. Being at the beginning of the year, it will be a lot better because we’ll treat it like an intramural-type season for those kids where we’ll go football, then basketball and then start a running program in the spring.”
An added wrinkle will be the Baysinger's first game as the Bucks' head coach will be on Tuesday, August 29 against Harmony Grove in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Kickoff Classic at Southern Arkansas University.
With the earlier start, Baysinger has had to adjust his preparation for the Hornets.
“Me and my coaches sat down and discussed what we felt like was best to organize and get prepared for coming off of a Tuesday scrimmage or benefit game, and going into a Tuesday game,” Baysinger said. “Things are happening and adversity hits and things are different, but just because things are different doesn’t mean we have to break down. We just have to adjust and organize and be ready to go.”
Baysinger is also looking forward to seeing how the Bucks stack up against the 6-3A.
“I think it’s going to be pretty good,” Baysinger said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how we match up and compare to everything. It will be brand new. We don’t know a whole lot other than what we’ve seen, and it’s tough to base a whole lot on what you’ve seen in past film, so we’ll build from there.”
As the 2017 season gets ready to commence, Baysinger and the Bucks are ready to charge ahead.
“I think that’s a lot of my personality,” Baysinger said. “The kids have fed off the personality, and that’s the way we’re going to approach it. We’re going to go all out at everything that faces us, so I think if we can stay with that mentality, we’re just going to try and be prepared to take on new challenges every day, and when a challenge steps up, I want our kids and us to be prepared to face them.”