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Arkansas high school football program re-hires coach fired nearly a decade ago

Wg0vf-nP_400x400by:Keegan Popeabout 12 hours

bykeeganpope

football-field

One of Arkansas’ winningest high school football coaches over the past years is headed back to the school that he was unceremoniously fired from a decade ago.

Brad Bolding, who has led Parkview to three consecutive state titles at the 5A level, is leaving the Patriots to return to North Little Rock, where he led one of the state’s premier programs in the mid 2010s. Bolding was officially approved by the school board for his second stint leading the Charging Wildcats on Thursday. 

The 55-year-old Bolding was fired from NLR in 2015 after a lengthy process that included a nine-hour hearing in front of the North Little Rock School District School Board. According to TVH-11, school board officials claimed he didn’t follow proper procedures when purchasing sports equipment and that he hired the stepfather of star athlete K.J. Hill just months before Hill enrolled at the school.

Hill was an Army-All American who went on to play four seasons at Ohio State, catching 201 passes for 2,332 yards and 20 touchdowns before being drafted in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Two years after being fired, Bolding took over at Parkview and turned them into one of the state’s top programs over the past eight seasons.

Bolding is well-equipped to turn North Little Rock around

The Patriots were a remarkable 59-8 since 2020, including an undefeated 15-0 season in 2023. This year’s team, which ended the season 14-1, featured four FBS signees: Omarion Robinson (Oklahoma), Quentin Murphy (Arkansas), Cam Settles (Arkansas) and Monterrio Elston (Kansas State). The Patriots scored more than 40 points in 10 of their 15 games, including a 61-21 romp over Farmington in the state championship.

North Little Rock, meanwhile, is coming off an 0-10 campaign in 2024 in which it only scored more than 20 points twice. Bolding is no stranger to turnarounds, though. When he took over at North Little Rock in his first stint, the Charging Wildcats won only three games in his first season before appearing in five state semifinals in a six-year span.

Parkview was 1-8 the season prior to him taking over, and after a handful of sub-.500 seasons, they finally broke through to the state semifinals in 2021. Over the next three years, they captured the trio of state titles and finished a 33-0 against Class 5A competition.