Just seven weeks ago, the North Little Rock football team headed off the field for the final time in 2020, once again having finished as Class 7A runner-up to Bryant.
Given the Charging Wildcats' recent spate of success, it would've been hard to imagine that December afternoon had just been the final game under J.R. Eldridge -- a multi-time state champion who'd arrived in North Little Rock less than a year earlier.
With Eldridge set to be formalized as the next head coach at Farmington next week, North Little Rock has started the search for the person who will take over its top football post. Athletic Director Gary Davis told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this week that he is beginning to go through the hiring process but did not respond to questions regarding the names of any applicants nor a timeline for the hire.
"Our players understand that coaching changes happen," Davis said in an email. "Assistant coaches are running our offseason program daily. Their focus this offseason is increasing their strength, conditioning and taking care of their academics.
With Eldridge's departure coming less than a year removed from that of his predecessor, Jamie Mitchell, the Charging Wildcats will soon have their third coach in as many seasons. Given his experience over five seasons at North Little Rock, Mitchell didn't have any reason to believe there would be any issues finding a new coach.
"It couldn't have been any better," Mitchell said of his time working with both Davis and NLR Principal Scott Jennings. "The first year, we had some issues, just on some things that we'd agreed on but weren't the way they'd said when I got there. But right after that, by Christmas, we got all of that worked out and from that point forward, it was great."
Beyond the people within the school, there's also the culture that the Charging Wildcats have built in the past few years. North Little Rock has been to five consecutive 7A title games and captured the 2017 championship, all while racking up a 57-9 record during that span.
That's not to mention a $7.5 million stadium that opened up in 2015 and facilities that multiple areas coaches were quick to praise.
For those reasons, both Bryant Coach Buck James and Cabot Coach Scott Reed -- two of the Charging Wildcats' top 7A competitors -- echoed Mitchell's sentiment that it shouldn't be hard to find a replacement.
"They have some very good coaches on that staff," Reed said. "I have been impressed with that program for a while. ... There's nothing lacking there."
Still, whoever replaces Eldridge will have to deal with the challenges of the high bar that's been set.
And though there's plenty of talent on both sides of the ball -- including a pair of wideouts in Felix Wade and Jiquori Stewart as well as linebacker Davian Vayson -- that coach will need to quickly earn trust from those players, particularly given the position's rapid turnover.
"The biggest challenge for the kids is buy-in," said Sylvan Hills Coach Chris Hill, who was hired as the Bears' head coach last March. You have to sell your program -- it's our job as coaches to sell our program to the community, it's our job to sell it to the kids, and usually, if you win, buy-in comes pretty fast."