FOOTBALL
Faulkner joins ASU as offensive coordinator
Arkansas State Coach Blake Anderson has decreased the number of open assistant coaching positions from three to two.
Buster Faulkner -- who spent the past five seasons as offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee State -- was named ASU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the school announced via a news release Wednesday afternoon.
Faulkner replaces Walt Bell, who spent the past two seasons in that role at ASU before leaving last month to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Maryland. Anthony Tucker, who spent three seasons at ASU, followed Bell to Maryland as running backs coach. Glen Elarbee left this week to become offensive line coach at Missouri.
Faulkner is the first step in rebuilding Anderson's coaching staff. His offense -- which is a spread, up-tempo scheme similar to what Anderson prefers -- was fourth in Conference USA this season in scoring (34.0 points per game) and in yards per game (457.4).
Anderson spent time as offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee, too, but their stays did not overlap.
"I can't wait to get to Arkansas State and start working with coach Anderson and his staff," Faulkner said in the statement. "I have worked with some of them previously, and the entire coaching staff has done an outstanding job with the program."
Anderson said Faulkner "is a young, energetic coach who shares the same goals we have for advancing our program."
Faulkner spent one season as offensive coordinator at Central Arkansas, when the Bears went 5-7, and was at Murray State in 2010-2011 before being hired at Middle Tennessee in 2012. He was a quarterback at Division II Valdosta State and Texas A&M-Commerce.
-- Troy Schulte
ATHLETICS
Union Christian leaving AAA
Union Christian Academy, a private school in Fort Smith, is leaving the Arkansas Activities Association after the 2015-2016 academic year to compete in the Oklahoma Christian School Athletic Association.
The Eagles, who have competed in Class 2A in the 4-2A Conference, also will transition from 11-man to 8-man football for the 2016 season.
Union Christian Athletic Director David Peach said in a news release that the association change will allow the school's athletes to be eligible immediately to play. Under the AAA rules, there is a 365-day waiting period on students transferring from public to private schools. Peach also said Union Christian will schedule nonconference games against local schools it has competed against for more than a decade.
The OCSAA has 42 member schools with nearly half of the schools located in the Tulsa metropolitan area. Two other Arkansas schools are members of the OCSAA: Providence Academy in Rogers and Ambassadors for Christ Academy in Bentonville.
Under the AAA's 2014-2016 classification numbers, Union Christian was the smallest football-playing school with 75 students.
Sports on 01/14/2016