Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cochrane led Harrison to championships
Tommy Tice produced plenty of winning teams in 46 years as a head coach, including consecutive conference championships at Harrison in 1988 and 1989.
Those teams were led by quarterback Kelly Cochrane, who guided the Goblins to a combined record of 20-4-1 as a junior and senior.
“(Cochrane) had all the qualities you could desire in a quarterback — size,
strength, character, and leadership,” Tice said. “When he stepped into the huddle, he was in command. Like all of the great ones, when the game was on the line, he wanted the ball in his hands. Simply, he was the greatest to ever play the position of quarterback at Harrison High School and there have been many good ones.”
Harrison was 11-0 in 1989 when it faced Pine Bluff Dollarway in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs. Harrison whipped Wynne 31-7 in a firstround game but lost its top running back to a knee injury in the process. That forced Harrison to air it out when most
teams were heavily run-oriented, and the Goblins fell 2611 to a Dollarway program that was dominant in the 1980s and ’90s.
“We threw it about 40 or 50 times that game, which was unheard of back then,” said Cochrane, who was named to the Associated Press Super Team for Arkansas in 1989. “We lost the game, but I truly believe we were the second best team to Dollarway that year.”
Cochrane was a backup quarterback at Ole Miss then played his final two years at Arkansas Tech after coach Red Parker was fired by the Rebels. He helped lead Arkansas Tech from a 1-9 season to a conference championship as a senior.
“I loved Ole Miss,” Cochrane said. “But coach Parker got fired and they brought in a coach who ran the trap option. I was too slow for that offense and that put me down on the depth chart. I didn’t see much of a future there, so I transferred to Arkansas Tech.”
Cochrane, 45, lives in Rogers and works for Tyson Foods, where he is the facility manager for the distribution center in Rogers.
“Athletics afforded me to go to college. I never paid a dime for college,” said Cochrane, who graduated from Arkansas Tech with a degree in agriculture-business. “Being involved in athletics teaches you discipline and in being on time and developing teamwork. I had a great experience at Arkansas Tech and with Ole Miss in the SEC, which is big-time football.”