SILOAM SPRINGS — Brent Crenshaw took over the Siloam Springs soccer program in the summer of 2015 with zero state championships on his resume.
Three years later, he leaves with a combined five boys and girls titles.
Crenshaw submitted his resignation as coach and teacher to the school district on Monday after accepting an offer to become the head boys soccer coach at Fayetteville.
“This was a tough decision,” Crenshaw said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. This decision was probably a tougher one than when I moved out of state (Oklahoma) to Arkansas to take the Siloam Springs job.”
Crenshaw posted a combined record of 112-33-7 in three years of coaching the Panthers and Lady Panthers, including five state championships and one state runner-up.
He was named Girls Coach of the Year twice by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2016 and 2018, and was recently named Girls Coach of the Year for Arkansas by the NSCAA for 2018.
Crenshaw was 59-14-3 as the Si-loam Springs girls coach, winning the last three Class 6A state championships in the Lady Panthers’ string of five straight titles.
He was 53-19-4 as the boys coach, winning state titles in 2016 and 2017 before coming up short in the 2018 title game.
“That’s a special three years I’ve had here,” Crenshaw said. “There’s no doubt about it. I never thought I’d coach in six state championship games in three years, and to win five of those is something I’ll never forget.”
Fayetteville’s boys have struggled in recent years, including going 10-14 overall in 2018 and 7-7 in the 7A-West. The Purple’Dogs did make the Class 7A playoffs and defeated Fort Smith Southside in the opening round before losing to eventual state champion Fort Smith Northside.
Siloam Springs athletic director Kevin Downing said the school district will begin searching immediately for a new coach. He also said it’s possible the head soccer coach job could be separated into separate head boys and head girls jobs depending on the applicants.
“Coach Crenshaw did a great job of leading our boys and girls soccer teams,” Downing said. “He continued our standard of excellence, tradition of winning, and we wish him all the best.”