Fayetteville football Coach Daryl Patton announced his resignation Thursday afternoon after 13 seasons at the 7A-West Conference school.
Patton turned in his resignation to Fayetteville Superintendent Paul Hewitt.
"We are grateful to Coach Patton for his work in building our football program, winning the first football state championships in school history, and setting the stage for Fayetteville High School to be a football powerhouse," Hewitt said in a news release. "We wish him well in his future endeavors and thank him for his outstanding work here. He will be missed."
Patton, 47, went 116-43-2 at Fayetteville. He led the Bulldogs Class 7A state championships in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2015. The Bulldogs capped a 12-2 season in 2015 by defeating Springdale Har-Ber 28-7 in the Class 7A state championship in Little Rock. Fayetteville also played in the Class 7A state championship game in 2010 and 2014.
Patton cited personal and family reasons for his resignation in Fayetteville's news release. He did not return phone calls from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday.
Fayetteville Athletic Director Steve Janski said Patton's resignation came as a surprise to him.
"It's hard to put into words what Coach Patton means to our football program," Janski said. "He basically built it from the ground up. His contributions to our football program have been seen not only on the scoreboard, but in state titles and the young men that he interacts with on a daily basis."
Assistant coach Benji Mahan will be the acting head coach for the remainder of the school year, Janski said. Janski said Fayetteville will look at its options over the next couple of days to figure out what the best strategy will be for finding a replacement.
Before entering coaching, Patton was a quarterback at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) from 1986-1988 and Central Arkansas in 1990.
Patton guided Bryant, where he is a 1986 graduate, to a 34-20 record in five seasons (1998-2002).
Under Patton, Fayetteville became one of the top high school football programs in the state. Fayetteville had never won a state championship in football until Patton led the Bulldogs to the 7A title in 2007, his fifth season at the school.
Patton coached 53 players at Fayetteville who played college football. Brandon Allen was a three-year starter at quarterback at Arkansas in 2013-2015 while his brother Austin is the Razorbacks' No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart after spring practice. Also, Patton coached current Razorback linebacker Dre Greenlaw and tight end Cheyenne O'Grady.
Patton coached the United States in the 2015 International Bowl against Canada. He is Team USA's Under-18 football coach and is scheduled to lead the U.S. in the International Federation of American Football's 19-and-under championship in China this summer.
Sports on 05/13/2016