'I'm grateful'

New football coach at Poyen is used to starting programs

By Eric Moore

LITTLE ROCK — When Ben Brockart took the head coaching position for Poyen High School's football team, he knew he would nearly be starting from scratch, which was just fine by him.

His f irst job out of college was as the head coach of the first football team at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kan., his alma mater.

How the 29-year-old coach came to be at the small town of Poyen is a long story, as they say. It all started with Brockart's desire to go to graduate school. In 2002, while interning at Louisiana Tech University, word of a job opening at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville reached him via friends at the University of Tennessee.

When he took the job at Arkansas, he realized that he had never spent much time in the state, only passing through on trips between Kansas and Louisiana, but it didn't take him long to fall in love with it.

"I was there for a year," Brockart said. "I built good relationships and learned a lot. It was definitely a learning experience for me; I learned I cou ld n't do t he col lege thing."

While he was doing what he loved in Fayetteville, he was hundreds of miles from anyone he knew and longed to be around his friends, so when the opportunity to go back to Louisiana Tech as a graduate assistant presented itself, he jumped at it.

But two weeks into it, he let the head coach know that it was not for him and movedto Hot Springs to be near his wife, Karye's, family. It was during this time that his life's path changed.

While living in Hot Springs, he started attending Henderson State University in Arkadelphia to earn his teaching certificate. Shortly after receiving his certificate, a position opened at Lake Hamilton High School for a U.S. history teacher/baseball and football coach, which was exactly what he was looking for.

For three years he worked for head coach Jerry Clay at Lake Hamilton while doing his student teaching, learning the differences between the college game he came from and the high school game.

Mainly, he was enjoying being able to be a part of shaping the lives of his students through athletics.

"Sports and athletics are important if they are used as a media to educate," Brockart said. "If it ever loses that purpose, I'll have a hard time doing it."

To Brockart, the college game was all about making money and bringing in fans, whereas high school is about educating the students. He doesn't measure success in the same way some people do. Wins and losses are not near as important to Brockart as making a difference.

"I measure success in seeing a kid who was a head case stepping up to be a leader or someone who couldn't care less about school focusing on his studies, and using football to make it happen," Brockart said. "Football is fun, win or lose."

The former head coach at Poyen, who had ties to HotSprings and knew Jerry Clay, spoke to Brockart in November about the job and recommended him to the Poyen superintendent.

So, once again, Brockart made a move.

He has big ambitions for the Indians football team, with a full slate of junior varsity games this season including Glen Rose, Bauxite, Centerpoint, Hot Springs Lakeside and the season finale against Lake Hamilton.

"The competition is going to be pretty stiff," Brockart said. "But I want to get the kids as many games as I can."

Poyen will not field a varsity team until 2010. Brockart knows being the new guy at a small school can be tough, but he is looking forward to the challenge of winning everyone over on the field. His game plan includes throwing the ball quite a bit.

Though his travels have taken him throughout the region, he believes Poyen is where he was meant to be.

"I know it sounds corny, but things happen for a reason," Brockart said. "My dad has coached for 28 years (in Decatur) and said life is all about timing. I believe I'm meant to be here."

Brockart lives in Bismarck with his wife and their 2-yearold daughter, Maddie, but he has acclimated himself with the area surrounding Poyen, making the mandatory trip to the Whippet restaurant in nearby Prattsville.

"I had a million reasons to stay [at Lake Hamilton], but this place is a diamond in the rough," Brockart said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here."

Tri-Lakes, Pages 128 on 08/10/2008