By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City Athletic Director Mike Bender did not have to look very far to find a new senior high girls' basketball coach.
In fact he didn't have to go any farther than the junior high to find his man.
Monday night, the Forrest City School Board followed Bender's recommendation and named Jacky England the new Lady Mustang basketball coach.
England replaces Sue Jayroe, who resigned in March after coaching the team for four seasons.
"I am ecstatic that they chose Coach England," Jayroe said after hearing the news Tuesday morning. "When I stepped down, I was hoping they would give him the opportunity."
He will be taking over a team which finished 7-20 overall last season and 3-11 in the conference.
The Lady Mustangs graduated four seniors form last season's team and are expected to return at least 12 players -- three of those being starters from last year's squad.
England, who is in his first year at Forrest City, coached the junior high girls to an 8-12 overall mark. The team reached the championship game for the first-time ever and finished as runner-up in the junior high district tournament.
England's wife, Pam, is also a teacher and coach at Forrest City. She was recently named the head coach for the Lady Mustangs fast-pitch softball team.
When first approached about the senior girls position, England said he was hesitant, telling Bender that he wasn't interested, but that he wasn't saying no.
"I didn't want it to look or appear like I came here to go after her (Jayroe's) job," England said. "And that's not near how things happened. Coach Jayroe asked me to consider it. And the longer I stayed here and the more time I spent with these kids, it made me realize that this is where I wanted to be. I enjoy it here and I enjoy the kids and the staff. I realized this was a good opportunity."
For England, taking over the reins of the high school girls' basketball program is a place he has been before.
England coached high school basketball in Oklahoma and Texas before coming to Arkansas.
He says, that even though he admits to being a pessimist by nature, he is looking forward to the new challenge as well as working with the returning Lady Mustang players and the junior high players who will be sophomores in the fall.
"I think there is a lot of potential to have a good basketball team," England said. "How good, I don't know and can't say. I have been in this business long enough to know that there is no answer at this point to that question. Whether or not we will be a good basketball team will be a mystery and won't be answered for several months. Right now, all I know is that I will be the head coach for the 2004-05 season and beyond that, who knows."
England also knows the AAAAA-East Conference will be tough.
"From what I've seen in the short time I've been here, this conference will be as tough as any I've been in. The schedule and the travel will also be a little tougher. Just like the old saying, on any given night."
England says he does not know how his assistant coaching staff will shape up. Amber Main, who had been one of Jayroe's two assistants, also stepped down last month, citing personal reasons and will not return to the program in the fall.
That leaves Monty Thornton as England's only assistant at this time.
"I don't know what they plan to do about another assistant or even if they plan to do anything at all," England said. "We really haven't discussed that.
When asked if his wife, Pam, might be a possible candidate to fill Main's slot on the coaching bench, England answered cautiously.
"It is a possibility, but I don't know how much of one," England said. England is one of two assistant coaches with the girls' softball team.
"It all kind of goes back to softball," England said. "When they asked Pam to coach the team, she said 'if I could be an assistant.' Bender said then, maybe something could be worked out in basketball, as well."
If that happens, it will be just another case of deja vu for the Englands.
"This same scenario has worked out before," England said. "In Oklahoma, she was head softball coach and I was her assistant and during basketball season, I was head coach and she was my assistant, so we are both open to the idea. We did that for four years. It wouldn't be anything new for us."
You could say the Englands are stepping back into familiar roles -- just in another time and another place.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustang baseball team had their plans changed this morning.
Originally scheduled to host Searcy today at the Sports Complex for a conference doubleheader, the twinbill will now be played Wednesday due to the Monday rains and much cooler temperatures.
The Forrest City softball game against Jonesboro, however, will be played today as scheduled.
The varsity-junior varsity doubleheader is set to begin at 4 p.m., at the Sports Complex.
In other softball news, the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots and Hughes Lady Blue Devils were rained out of Monday's scheduled conference matchup.
That game will be rescheduled at a later date.
"We will probably try to make it a doubleheader," said P-W Coach Lanny Allen.
Allen's Lady Patriots will play Cross County on Thursday.
In track and field news, the Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will finally get to open the short and fast season on Thursday when they compete in the Greene County Tech Eagle Relays at Paragould.
The Lady Mustangs will compete in the Lady Hurricane Relays at Jonesboro on April 20 and the senior boys will run at the Paul Hoffman Relays in Jonesboro on April 22.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs and Junior Lady Mustangs will run at the Marion Junior Patriot Relays on Monday, April 19.