Longtime Arkansas high school basketball coach Barry Pruitt dies at 72

Went 521-284, won 2 titles at Jonesboro

Former Jonesboro High School basketball coach Barry Pruitt
Former Jonesboro High School basketball coach Barry Pruitt

Former Jonesboro High School basketball coach Barry Pruitt, who coached the Hurricane to two state titles and more than 500 victories, died Sunday afternoon after a short illness. He was 72.

Known for his shrill sideline whistling and a knack for getting his team prepared to play, Pruitt spent 28 years as Jonesboro's head coach, retiring after the 2009 season.

"This is a big loss," said David Daniel, Jonesboro's athletic director and former assistant under Pruitt for 12 seasons. "He was a great friend."

Pruitt led the Hurricane to the state championship game three times, winning the title in 1994 and 2007. He compiled a record of 521-284, a 73.9 winning percentage, at Jonesboro. Pruitt graduated from Arkansas State in 1967, and Pruitt became the Hurricane's head coach at the start of the 1980-1981 season.

Pruitt also played for the Hurricane, helping the team win a state title in 1962. Jonesboro would not win another state title until the Pruitt-coached team defeated Little Rock Parkview 32 years later.

"That was a special year," said Matt Daniel, who was a point guard on the Hurricane's 1994 team and who is the current head women's coach at Marshall University. "I like to think that team built a foundation for what Jonesboro has now."

Pruitt was an imposing figure on the Jonesboro bench and when he needed his team to pick up the tempo, he let his team and the opponents know with his whistling.

"The dreaded whistle," David Daniel said. "When he started whistling, everybody knew what was next. The swarm was coming."

Pruitt's final state championship came in 2007 when it beat a Forrest City team it had lost to twice during the regular season, Jonesboro won the third meeting between the two schools in the state finals.

"You knew when you heard that whistle, they were going to start their trapping," Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton said. "The one thing about Pruitt's teams was that they were in the state tournament every year. You never could count them out. ... He always had his teams prepared and he was great at adapting to the style he needed for the type of players he had."

"He always tried to be fair," Matt Daniel said. "And he genuinely cared about his kids. It didn't matter what kind of background or socioeconomic situation you came from, Coach Pruitt would treat you fairly.

"No one was ever mistreated by Coach Pruitt," Daniel continued. "I learned a lot from Coach, especially how and how not to treat people."

Pruitt is survived by his wife, Billie; two sons Matt Pruitt and Taylor Pruitt; one daughter Casey Pruitt Higgins, a stepson Michael and a sister Barbara Hall.

Sports on 02/13/2017

Upcoming Events