NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For nearly his entire life, North Little Rock has been home for Randy Sandefur.
"It means a lot to me because I really love this place."
40 years ago, Sandefur was a local legend at the Rose City ballpark. "I heard you left a couple of baseballs on a roof or two. I tell you what, the community center has a couple of mine up there. I wasn’t a big hitter, but I got lucky and the wind was blowing out."
Sandefur traded homers for headsets back in 1983. Leading the NLR baseball team and as an assistant on the football staff. Now he’s leading the charge on the gridiron.
"If anything needs to be known about Randy Sandefur, it’s we’re going to get our stuff done in the classroom, they’re going to know how to treat women, and they’re going to be the right people."
Sandefur inherits a monster that he helped build, the Charging Wildcats have been to the 7A title game five seasons in-a-row under two different head coaches. So, what’s the receipt to get back?
"Let’s not reinvent the wheel just to reinvent the wheel. Our guys know what it takes. They understand when that ball is moved on either side of the ball we’ve got to go attack through the echo of the whistle. If we don’t do that, they’re going to be standing by me."
There’s no doubt his players will be behind Coach Sandefur when he leads them out on the field for the first time this fall.
"We’re not going to take a step back. They’ll probably have to give me some addition blood pressure medication when I bust through those doors. My wife is a little worried about that, but I know one thing I’m looking forward to it."