MORRILTON — Buddy Greeson of Morrilton left Sacred Heart Catholic School after the fifth grade, but he will come back to his roots this fall as principal.
Greeson is the dean of students and assistant football and track coach at Greenbrier Junior High School.
The 48-year-old’s ties to the Morrilton school, as well as his memories, are strong.
“The nuns ran the school,” he said. “It was very disciplined. Everything was pretty rigorous, all the material and stuff, but what I remember most is how close together the students were. Everybody in my grade, I was either distantly or closely related to. We were a close-knit group.”
The youngest of 12 children, Greeson said he was the only one of his siblings who didn’t graduate from Sacred Heart Catholic School. When it was time for him to go into the sixth grade, his parents asked him what he wanted to do. He told them he wanted to play football.
“Everybody else was basketball guys, and I was football,” he said, referring to his brothers.
He transferred to the Morrilton School District to play football.
Greeson said his mother, Helen, had 10 children with her first husband, and after he died, she married Robert Greeson Sr., and they had two children. Greeson said he has been called Buddy almost all his life.
After graduating from Morrilton High School, Greeson went to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a clear purpose — to become a coach.
“I knew I wanted to be a coach when I was 9 years old,” he said. “I had an older brother who was a coach.”
At Arkansas Tech, Greeson started as a health and physical education major; then he and Sandy married. He got out of college and worked in the lumber business. The Greesons moved to Fort Smith, where his wife attended physical-therapy school, he said.
When a 1996 tornado destroyed the lumber business for which he was working, Greeson said he told his wife he wanted to finish school.
He graduated from Arkansas Tech with a degree in health and physical education. His first job was at Mena High School as an assistant football coach and head track coach.
“Loved every minute I was there,” he said. Greeson also taught elementary physical education and, later, high school health. After eight years at Mena, he went to Greenwood for one year as defensive coordinator for the high school football team.
In 2005, he became the head football coach at Morrilton High School. It wasn’t as much as a dream job as one might think.
“Coaching people that you graduated with, you’re coaching their kids — that’s a very difficult thing to do,” Greeson said.
In 2010, he was hired by the Greenbrier School District as an assistant football coach and track coach.
“That gave me an opportunity to go back and get my master’s in educational leadership,” he said. Two years ago, he moved into administration as dean of students.
As dean of students, his role is “primarily discipline,” Greeson said. “You manage the building, and you have a lot to do with the special-education end of it.”
Greeson said he enjoys administration because of the impact he has on students.
“You feel like you can make a difference with more people in that role,” he said.
Greeson said he had “no intention” of applying for the Sacred Heart job, but his wife encouraged him to look into it. He will replace principal Brian Bailey, a longtime educator, who is retiring. Bailey was a coach under Greeson in the Morrilton School District.
“I have tremendous respect for him; he’s definitely a mentor of mine,” Greeson said of Bailey.
“Everything fell into place perfectly. I just felt like I needed to be there,” Greeson said. “I thought about it and prayed about it a lot and felt like it was the right place for me at the time.”
Greeson and his wife have twins, who weighed in on the decision, too, he said. Greeson said Trey and McKenzie were in kindergarten when he and his wife moved to Morrilton. They’ll be in the seventh grade in the fall.
“That played a big part in the decision [to apply]. They’re extremely excited about it, too,” he said.
“I am most happy that Buddy Greeson has agreed to lead our education program here at Sacred Heart Schools,” said Monsignor Jack Harris of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. “His experience in education and leading young people will be a strong addition to our school.”
“My main goal is to continue what Coach Bailey got going,” Greeson said.
The average ACT score is 24.5 for the 2015 Sacred Heart graduating class, Greeson said, and he wants to ensure that the curriculum is going to “ready our students for college. I want to continue with our Christian-based education.”
Greeson’s contract with the Greenbrier School District will end June 30. When he joins Sacred Heart, for the first time in his education career, Greeson won’t be coaching.
“I’m going to tell you; I’m scared about that part,” he said, laughing. “It’s been a long, long time that I haven’t been on the sidelines on Friday nights in the fall, but I know I made the right decision.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.