Springdale Har-Ber named Tommy Deffebaugh as its new boys basketball coach Friday.
Deffebaugh has been an assistant coach at Bentonville High and was previously an assistant for the University of Arkansas women's basketball team under former coach Jimmy Dykes. He was also an assistant coach at Fayetteville, his alma mater where he graduated in 1981.
"We are excited to have coach Tommy Deffebaugh lead the Har-Ber boys basketball team," Springdale Public Schools Athletic Director Wayne Stehlik said. "Tommy's wide variety of coaching experiences and his outgoing personality make him a perfect fit for Har-Ber."
This will be the longtime assistant coach's first head coaching position. Deffebaugh, 57, spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Bentonville, where his son Connor Deffebaugh was a starter for the Tigers last season as a senior. Connor Deffebaugh is now at Washburn University.
"This is a real blessing," Deffebaugh said. "I've wanted to be a head coach for a really long time. I know that God has a plan for me and things happen on his time and not our time. This was the right time, and I was fortunate to be in this position.
"This is my first head coaching job, and hopefully my last."
Prior to coaching at Bentonville, Deffebaugh was an assistant for the Arkansas women's basketball team under Dykes. They were high school teammates at Fayetteville, where Deffebaugh was an all-conference and all-state player. He replaces former Wildcats coach Scott Bowlin, who resigned a little over a week ago.
"It was interesting the way this turned out," Deffebaugh said. "I contacted Wayne for a friend of mine who was interested in the assistant athletic director position. Scott had just resigned like that day or the day before. So when I was on the phone with Wayne about my friend, he told me about the opening at Har-Ber, and it moved pretty quickly after that."
Deffebaugh will hit the ground running on Monday and plans to meet with his Wildcats players Monday afternoon. The team has already been to a team camp this summer, but he is looking for another one, possibly in July, to get a better idea of his team.
Har-Ber returns two of the top scorers in the 6A-West Conference in guards Nick Buchanan and Lawson Jenkins. The Wildcats also added two transfers from Springdale High in Jujuan Boyd and Tavari Eckwood, who transferred last spring.
"I'd like to see them at least once and maybe coach them 2-3 games this summer," Deffebaugh said. "I know most of them are playing AAU ball and that's great, but I'd like to see them together even if it's just a couple of games before we start back to school."
Deffebaugh has an extensive history in coaching in the college ranks, serving as an assistant coach at South Florida, Oral Roberts, Western Michigan, Dartmouth and Tennessee Tech to name a few. He was also an assistant at his alma mater Drury University, where he graduated in 1985.
In addition to Connor, he also has a daughter, Karri, 14.
Sports on 06/15/2019