BENTONVILLE -- A pair of coaches with championships on their resumes have been named as new coaches at Bentonville West following Monday's school board meeting.
Anthony Cantrell has been selected as the Lady Wolverines' first softball coach, while Zachary Nidiffer will be the girls' soccer coach and Ta-Neisha Marshall will oversee the school's swimming and diving program.
Cantrell led North Little Rock to three consecutive Class 7A state championships in 2013-15, as well as a pair of state runner-up appearances in 2010 and 2012. He stepped up away from coaching -- where he has done everything from middle school, junior high and high school football to volleyball, baseball and softball -- to become a middle school principal this year before the coaching bug bit again.
"I had been offered an assistant's principal job 10 years ago and didn't take it," Cantrell said. "This time, I thought the time was right to take the job, but midway through the season, I wasn't sure if I was really ready to quit coaching.
"The opportunity to be with the No. 1 school district in the state had a lot to do with it. The opportunity to rejuvenate my coaching career is exciting for me, and the opportunity to start a new program from the ground running is exciting."
Nidiffer comes to West from Claremore, Okla., where he has been the girls soccer coach this season. He has also served as an assistant boys coach at Aurora (Colo.) Hinkley, and he had a previous tenure at Claremore, where he served as an assistant coach for boys and girls at different times and was the head boys coach for 2012-13.
"The exciting thing about Zach is he's just coming off a state championship this year," Bentonville athletic director Scott Passmore said. "His girls team won the Oklahoma state championship and beat (Tulsa) Bishop Kelley in the finals.
"It's real exciting for us to hire a coach and bring one in our program that has a state championship under his belt."
Marshall, a former Arkansas platform diver who competed for Team Canada during the 1997 World Championship Games in Italy, comes to West from Springdale Har-Ber. She was one of the original teachers hired when Har-Ber began in 2005, and she also started Har-Ber's swim program before taking a break from it to focus on leading the school's debate team.
"I'm so excited to be back in athletics," she said. "This will be my main focus: to build the program. I look forward to creating that culture and having two great teams in the district.
"You have so many athletes to choose from. In that process, you bring in people that are strong leaders. There will be some talent and some support there, but if you find those who will buy into the program, it will begin to build itself."
Meanwhile, Bentonville High also received a new coach as James Rappe will oversee the Tigers' wrestling program. He will take over for Bill Desler, who will remain an assistant coach.
Rappe has served as a wrestling coach at Tahlequah, Okla., since 2007 and became the school's head coach during the 2012-13 school year. He has also spent time as an assistant high school and junior high baseball coach.
"It's exciting to bring over someone who's been a head coach in Oklahoma, where a lot of people know it has a great wrestling tradition," Passmore said. "He's going to bring that experience and that tradition over to the Bentonville program, and we're excited about him as well."
Sports on 05/18/2016