New cast for Patriots

Little Rock Parkview suffered a huge loss before its season ever began when head coach William Hardiman was placed on administrative leave last week by the Little Rock School District concerning a personnel matter. But interim coach Kenny Stephens said he fully expects the Patriots to recover — he’s just not sure how long that’ll take.

Tenth in a series profiling Pulaski County high school football teams.

Little Rock Parkview suffered a huge loss before its season ever began when head coach William Hardiman was placed on administrative leave last week by the Little Rock School District concerning a personnel matter.

But interim coach Kenny Stephens said he fully expects the Patriots to recover — he’s just not sure how long that’ll take.

“They’re kids, so it’s natural for them to be upset about everything,” Stephens said. “There’s been a lot of why coming from them, but I told them that it’s OK to grieve, it’s OK to be hurt. This is a young team, and you’re never sure how they’ll react to certain situations.

“But there hasn’t been any push back from them with the change, and I credit the coaching staff for that because they’ve done a great job of keeping them together.”

Hardiman had gone 4359 in his nine seasons as Parkview’s coach but was coming off a year in which the Patriots lost their final three games and missed the Class 6A playoffs for the first time since he took over the program in 2007.

Parkview struggled to find its footing as a member of the 6A-South, a conference that has produced nine of the past 10 6A state champions, but seemingly got a reprieve of sorts when it was sent back to Class 5A for the 2016-2018 reclassification cycle.

Before being placed on leave, Hardiman said he’d always felt that Parkview was a 5A school playing in 6A and expected the move to the 5A-Central to be just as tough, particularly with two-time defending champion Pulaski Academy and 2015 state runner-up Little Rock McClellan as league members. Stephens, too, said he believes the Patriots face an uphill battle in

5A, and the loss of Hardiman makes the climb even steeper.

“[Coach Hardiman] did a tremendous job here,” he said. “There is a winning culture here now, and the kids want to win regardless of the situation. I’m not coming in here trying to change a lot of things because that’s not fair to them.

“But we are going to give it all we’ve got. The kids know it’ll be a challenge, but they’re ready to embrace it instead of run from it.”

Calling the 2016 season a challenge might be an understatement for the Patriots.

Stephens, who’d previously spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach at Little Rock Central while teaching social studies at Parkview, will have to replace nearly all of the team’s starters from a year ago. The Patriots also graduated 25 seniors, including defensive linemen Kenyon Jackson and Markell Utsey, who signed with Illinois and Missouri, respectively. The most significant defection might have been that of Arkansas commitment Koilan Jackson, who transferred to Pulaski Robinson during the offseason after accounting for more than 3,000 yards of total offense and 38 touchdowns as Parkview’s quarterback last year.

Stephens does have running back Zach Smith, 5-8, 172, returning for his junior season and anticipates big things out of sophomore quarterback Geary Allmon, 5-8, 150. Junior offensive linemen Noah Jenkins, 5-11, 260, and Roderick Johnson, 5-9, 230, also return up front.

“I was pleasantly surprised at how functional my first practice was with the team, especially on offense,” Stephens said. “For as awkward of a situation as it is, there was a lot of effort there on that side. You can tell that there is fire in their bellies, that’s for sure.”

Defensively, the Patriots need to improve after yielding nearly 28 points per game during conference play last season if they’re to make a run at a playoff spot. Stephens said he’s been impressed by the leadership he’s gotten out of senior linebacker Tyree Madison, 5-10, 205, and senior safety Odies Wilson, 6-0, 170, two players who combined for more than 80 tackles last season.

Parkview doesn’t play its first game until Sept. 9 (at Benton), which is a week after the majority state’s teams play their season openers. But the open date gives Stephens an extra week of preparation with the Patriots, who will play a scrimmage game at two-time defending 6A champion Pine Bluff today at 6 p.m.

“We’re going to go down there and try to have fun, but at the same time, we’ll be looking for the things we’ll need to focus on,” Stephens said. “We’ll be able to tell who’s going to be able to really help us this year. But with everything that’s happened, it’s good for the kids to get some competition from someone else other than their teammates.

“It’s good to play someone else, and they’ll be ready to compete. We’re going to give it a go this year, and see how it all plays out.”