Wynne School Board votes not to renew coach’s contract
The Wynne School District board voted in a hearing Monday night to reassign football coach Van Paschal and not renew his contract after the school year.
However, before the board could render a decision, the veteran coach told a large crowd gathered that he wasn’t interested in returning.
“I’m out — you with me?” Paschal said. “Regardless of what happens, Coach Paschal ain’t coming back. Now, he’ll come back and visit you, but I am moving on."
The hearing began at 5 p.m., and lasted just over five hours, which included a 55-minute executive session.
On Oct. 20, KAIT News reported that per the Wynne superintendent's office, Paschal was suspended with pay after an incident took place, but that the incident was not considered criminal. Monday’s meeting was the first public update on the matter since it was initially reported.
During the hearing, superintendent Dr. Kenneth Moore recommended that Paschal’s contract not be renewed by the board, and he should be reassigned to the Wynne NewStart Academy, an (ALE) alternative learning environment for grades sixth through 12th.
In what was a tense session featuring multiple testimonies, Moore presented a list of 19 points as reasoning for the recommendation and it took less than a minute for each of them to pass as “true” following the executive session, as well as Paschal’s reassignment to the NewStart Academy for the remainder of the year and his contract not be renewed.
Paschal's wife took to social media to defend her husband.
After the Wynne School District announced the suspension of the state’s winningest active prep football coach, rumors swirled and former Forrest City coach Clark
McBride, turned Wynne assistant, was named the team's interim coach for the remainder of the just completed 2022 prep season.
Lisa Paschal’s Facebook post told her husband’s side of the story.
“The truth is a (football] player) pulled a knife on another football player,” wrote Lisa Paschal, who according to her Facebook profile is a secondgrade teacher at Wynne Primary School. “No fight or injury occurred. My husband was simply sent home for lack of supervision, no criminal charges are being made against him. He was never even questioned by the superintendent.”
Paschal mentioned that though there are “irreconcilable differences,” he leaves with good feelings.
“I have enjoyed it here, and it is still a blessing to me and my family,” he said. “I have never had a community rally around me personally like I have seen this community do. It is not only a city with a smile, but a city with a big heart.
“The part I like about it is we keep talking good about each other, and I think that is big. I would like my name to be clear of this stuff and leave on good terms. I’d like to throw the hatchet down, call it truce, whatever. You guys get you a good, godly head football coach to lead your kids. That would be my prayer.”
The Yellowjackets were 5-2 overall and 3-1 in 5A-East conference play before McBride took over as interim head coach. McBride led the team to four straight victories, earning a share of the conference title, and a 2724 first-round playoff victory over Harrison before falling to Parkview 42-0 in the quarterfinals.
Paschal was hired in 2017 as the head football coach. He won 56 games in his six seasons with the team.
The Yellowjackets made it to the 5A State Semifinals in 2020.
At Wynne, Paschal received a game ball from his Yellowjackets football team after earning his 200th coaching victory in a 56-42 triumph at Little Rock Christian.
Paschal has been a head coach since 1991, spending 11 seasons at his alma mater Brinkley (1991-2001), leading the Tigers to conference championships in 1995 and 1999. Paschal spent one season at Sheridan in 2002 before heading to DeQueen in 20032004.
Monticello tabbed Paschal as their head football coach in 2005 and he led the Billies to the Class 5A state championship in 2009. He left Monticello after the 2009 season to head to Barton, where he spent seven seasons (20102016) and led the Bears to a Class 3A state championship game appearance in 2011.
Paschal is the winningest active coach in Arkansas with an all-time record of 239-125.
Wynne hired Paschal, 55, earlier this year to replace Chris Hill, who guided the Yellowjackets to two Class 5A state championship game appearances in 2014 and 2016 and subsequently left Harding University, where he was assistant coach under Paul Simmons.
Hill is now the head coach for the Sylvan Hills Bears football program.