Board accepts Harriman’s resignation

SILOAM SPRINGS — The School District athletics director Ken Harriman tendered his resignation last week and it was approved at the Dec. 10 School Board meeting.

In a resignation letter to Jody Wiggins on Dec. 9, Harriman said he was “very grateful for the opportunity the district has given me to work in this role for the last two years. I am also exceedingly grateful for the support and help I have received from the district.”

Wiggins said Harriman stepped into the role and did a “marvelous” job.

“He is well-liked by our kids and our coaches and our parents,” Wiggins said. “He’s done an excellent job.

I appreciate him in so many ways. He’s put a lot of miles on vehicles in the last yearand-a-half to support our kids and our programs. I could not be more appreciative of Ken and I wish him happiness. He has been extremely valuable to us and we will have a hard time replacing him.”

Said Brian Lamb, School Board president, “We will miss him. I appreciate him stepping up and helping us out.”

In his letter, Harriman wrote it’s his intent for his resignation to become effective after his last contracted day of the 2020-21 school year.

“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Harriman said. “One of the things I missed was being a part of something. When you’re retired — I had a parttime job at that time — you just miss being a part of something. That’s what this job afforded me.”

This was Harriman’s second stint as athletics director in the district.

He returned to Siloam Springs as interim athletics director in August 2019 when Kevin Downing left the position to accept an athletic director’s position at Bentonville’s West High School. Downing had been the district’s AD since 2013.

At the time, it was said Harriman would fill the role on an interim basis for the 2019-20 school year and the district would open the position in the spring. However, Harriman said he enjoyed the role and the district was open to him returning for another year.

“I was only going to do it a year,” he said. “But to be honest I enjoyed being around the coaches and the kids. It was a no- brainer as far as coming back.”

However, moving forward, Harriman, 61, said it’s time to let someone else do it and step aside. He said he’s looking forward to retiring again.

“This is such a special place with such good facilities and such good people,” he said. “It needs a leadership of someone who has a vision and sees the big picture of where we’re going to be five years down the road.”

Harriman was the athletics director from 1998 to 2002, along with being the head football coach from 19982000 and assistant principal from 2000-02.

Harriman left Siloam Springs in 2002 to return to Huntsville, where he worked for 10 years as head football coach and athletics director from 1988-1998 prior to coming to Siloam Springs.

He was head football coach/AD from 2002-2005 and 2008-2010. In 2010 he moved into the role of assistant superintendent/AD and remained in that role until 2012. From 2012-2015 he served as high school principal before retiring.

Harriman