North Little Rock football coach says time to move on

The football coach who helped stabilize North Little Rock and lead it to its first state championship since 1972 is moving on.

Jamie Mitchell is stepping down from his position as North Little Rock's head coach after five seasons to pursue other coaching opportunities.

Mitchell notified North Little Rock's administration Wednesday and his team Thursday morning that he was leaving.

"It's been a rough two days," Mitchell said Thursday in a telephone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "But I told them, this place, the NLR logo, is way bigger than one person. They'll find a great head coach. There's a lot of good players here."

North Little Rock Athletic Director Gary Davis said Mitchell had not officially turned in his resignation as of Thursday, but confirmed that he is leaving the school.

In five seasons at North Little Rock, Mitchell, 53, was 53-12. He led the Charging Wildcats to four consecutive Class 7A state championship games, and they won the 2017 Class 7A state championship. It was the first championship by a central Arkansas school in the state's largest classification since Little Rock Central won the then-Class AAAAA title in 2004.

Last season, North Little Rock advanced to its fourth consecutive state championship game, losing to Bryant at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock to finish 8-5.

Davis said Mitchell made a big impact on North Little Rock, which opened a new football stadium in 2015 during the coach's first season.

"I'm proud of Jamie," Davis said. "He has done a fabulous job. In five years in conference play, he was 33-2. That's pretty impressive. He's a great football coach and a great leader of young men."

Davis said the Charging Wildcats assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Blake Pizan, defensive coordinator Jacob Reynolds and offensive line coach Clint Reed, will help run the program until a new coach is hired.

When Mitchell was hired in May 2015, he was entering a program that was going through turmoil.

Brad Bolding, who had been at North Little Rock since 2007, was fired in early 2015 for violating district purchasing procedures and recruiting rules. Bolding is now at Little Rock Parkview.

Mitchell started 0-4 in the 2015 season. From there, North Little Rock won seven consecutive games and advanced to the Class 7A quarterfinals, losing to Bentonville.

Over the next three seasons, North Little Rock won the 7A-Central Conference championship, going 12-1 in 2016, 13-0 in 2017 and 12-1 in 2018. The Charging Wildcats won the Class 7A state title in 2017, defeating Bentonville, but lost in the 2016 and 2018 title games to Fayetteville and Bryant, respectively.

Davis said Mitchell brought stability to North Little Rock when the program needed it.

"He brought steady, calm waters in that situation," Davis said. "When he came in, we got to work for the next year, to prep for our next opponent. He wanted to make our team as good as it could be."

During his 23-year head coaching career, Mitchell has never stayed at a school more than five years.

Before North Little Rock, Mitchell was at Starkville (Miss.) High School, where he led the school to the Mississippi Class 5A state championship in 2012 and went 51-17 there. He's also coached at Itawamba Agricultural (40-10 from 2006-09), Olive Branch (32-16 from 2002-05), Charleston (18-6 from 2000-01) and Ripley (22-12 from 1997-99), all in Mississippi.

North Little Rock, though, was Mitchell's first job outside of Mississippi. It's a move that Mitchell said was worth it for him and his family.

"I would have never dreamed what would have happened here," Mitchell said. "It's been a great school to work for."

From 2005-16, the 7A-West Conference had won every Class 7A state championship. But over the past three seasons, it's been the 7A-Central Conference that has won the state's largest classification's championship, with North Little Rock winning in 2017 with Mitchell and Buck James leading Bryant to the past two titles.

"The quality of high school football in this state has increased because of coaches like Jamie and Buck James," Davis said. "They're good coaches, good people and students of the game. They've made all of us better."

Mitchell and Davis did not comment on where Mitchell's next head coaching position will be. However, Mitchell is looking forward to what's next in his career.

"I'm excited about it," Mitchell said. "[Mitchell's wife] Ginger and I decided it was the right time. I've poured every ounce of fiber of me into this place. I'll miss it tremendously. But it's the right time."

Sports on 01/31/2020