Arkansas football powerhouse finds its next head coach close to home

Parkview High, the three-time defending Arkansas high school football state champions at the 5A level, have a a new head coach.

On Thursday night, the Little Rock School District approved Bobby Bolding as the program’s next top dog, taking over for his brother Brad Bolding. The latter returned to North Little Rock last month, where he led one of the state’s premier programs in the mid 2010s before being fired.

Bobby, meanwhile, has been the defensive coordinator at Parkview for each of its past three state title runs after joining his brother’s staff in 2022. He had had plenty of success himself as a high school coach over the past two decades, winning 220 games and three state titles.

The first came at Stuttgart in 2002, then he took Pine Bluff to back-to-back titles in 2014-15. He also led White Hall to its first state title appearance in nearly 35 years in 2021 when the program fell to powerhouse Pulaski Academy in the championship game.

Bobby is one of two head coaches Arkansas high school football history to take three schools to a state title game, joining current Florida State coordinator Coach Gus Malzahn — who coached Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale.

Prior to Brad taking over in 2017, Parkview was coming off a 1-8 campaign and was among the worst teams in Arkansas big-school football.

After a handful of sub-.500 seasons, they finally broke through to the state semifinals in 2021. The next year, he hired his brother to take over the defense. And during the three-year span from 2022-24, they captured the trio of state titles and finished a 33-0 against Class 5A competition.

The two could see each other on the field in the next few seasons, despite playing in different classifications. Parkview and North Little Rock faced off in 2022 and 2023 during the regular season, with the Charging Wildcats winning the first matchup and the Patriots dominating the second 52-14 en route to an undefeated season.

The post Arkansas football powerhouse finds its next head coach close to home appeared first on On3.