Sports

JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES REYNOLDS BIG PART OF SUCCESS AT WHITE HALL

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, November 19, 2009 12:11 AM CST

WHITE HALL — Late in the fourth quarter of White Hall’s 28-26 victory over Alma on Friday in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs, assistant Wade Reynolds appeared as if he were directing airplanes on the tarmac, coach Mike Vaughn said. Facing an Airedale quarterback who was getting hot late in the game, Reynolds desperately tried to get his defenders in the right position to make a stop with a variety of arm and hand signals on the sideline.

White Hall assistant Wade Reynolds (center) took over as defensive coordinator this year after spending 11 years coaching offensive line for the Bulldogs. Reynolds produced five linemen to receive college scholarships this decade, and his groups have produced 1,000-yard rushers every season he’s been in White Hall. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

The 12th-year Bulldog assistant dialed up the perfect coverage on Alma’s two-point conversion attempt, and sophomore safety Nathan Lee stepped in front of the slant pattern to break up the pass. It was a solid playcall, especially from a man who hasn’t coached defense since 1984.

Reynolds had been the offensive line coach at White Hall for 11 years before being asked to change prior to this season. Reynolds was asked to fill the void of longtime defensive coordinator Steve Edwards after Edwards retired following 41 years in the school district.

“I owe all my success on defense this year to Steve Edwards,” Reynolds said. “I had to step in after not coaching defense since the mid ‘80’s, and I owe him a lot because he made my job a whole lot easier this year.”

Every group that Reynolds has coached in Jefferson County has excelled while during their time at White Hall. He has seen five offensive linemen receive college scholarships this decade, and even more have become all-state selections as Bulldogs.

“We’ve been really fortunate. If you go back and look in the last several years and look at what we’ve been good at, our offensive line has been extremely good,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had more kids go on to play college ball as offensive linemen than any other position that we’ve got. We’ve got at least one offensive lineman that makes all-state every year. I think that’s a combination of how we do things and the fact that we’ve been fortunate to have good kids with some talent in that area.”

Reynolds had to hand over the reigns of the offensive line to Michael Harrison before the season began. Reynolds said the hardest part of becoming defensive coordinator was letting go of the offensive line. But he has seen Harrison’s line open holes for a pair of running backs to rush for more than 1,000 yards, including one who is close to 2,000 yards rushing.

“There’s maybe a little difference, but this is coach Harrison’s first year and coach Reynolds will still put some input in it,” said senior tackle Aaron Sprinkle, who has a scholarship offer from Arkansas-Pine Bluff. “But there still isn’t that much of a difference. Coach Harrison will still get down with us and everything. He probably gets in my face and yells at me more than coach Reynolds does.”

Reynolds inherited a young defense this season and has kept it at nearly the same pace it was at last year in terms of points allowed per game. But it’s in big games where his defense has shined so far. Against the top three finishers in the 5A-Southeast Conference besides White Hall, the Bulldogs gave up only 10.7 points per contest, including a shutout against Sylvan Hills and 12-point effort against undefeated Monticello that included the offense giving up a safety.

“One thing is that we have a pretty good staff on defense,” Reynolds said. “Coach (Skip) Carr and coach (Porter) Taylor and (coach) Scooter (Vaughn). Those three guys along with myself have most of the responsibilities as far as defense is concerned. Every one of those guys works hard at doing it and are knowledgeable, and each one does a great job at setting up the gameplan.

“The other aspect of it is the seniors we have on defense. We got two bell cows up front on defense who are seniors with Tyler Richmond and Dion Young, and those guys come to play every week. Phillip Etheridge is our only senior back there in the secondary that has been consistent all year long. Of course, I can’t say enough about Tyler Robinson. He’s the captain of our defense, and he runs the show and is one of the leading tacklers in the state.”

Robinson has flourished under Reynolds’ system, managing to improve upon a standout junior season. Robinson had more than 130 tackles after 11 games last year, and he has more than 150 stops at the same point this year.

“He’s done a really good job of teaching me the basics, going back and reiterating the basics for me,” Robinson said. “He makes sure I know what reads I need to make. He’s also helped me with my read step and made sure I’ve had a better read step than I had last year. He’s done a really good job making everything simpler for me as far as calls and everything.”

With Reynolds breeding success in White Hall for 12 years, it’s hard to imagine he was out of coaching for an extended period. But after he coached at Carlisle for three years, at the same time Mike Vaughn began his head coaching career in 1985, Reynolds decided to leave coaching until coming back in ‘98.

While Vaughn and Reynolds coached together for the first time at Carlisle, they had known each other long before that. Vaughn coached Reynolds when he was in junior high and high school, watching his future assistant transform into an all-conference offensive lineman.

“We’ve been friends ever since he was in high school. In junior high, he never saw the field because he was too little,” Vaughn said. “He was one of those guys that would try and nearly kill himself, but as a ninth-grader, he was never big enough to play. Then his senior year of high school, he made all-conference at offensive guard. He still wasn’t any bigger than 145 pounds.

“Of course, after he graduated from college, we became really good friends, and he started coaching. It happened to be that I was at Carlisle and he was at (Hot Springs) Lakeside as their defensive coordinator, and he was ready to make a move. ... He got out of coaching for a long, long time and I stayed in it, but it’s funny how things work themselves out.”

Being at White Hall for so long, Reynolds can provide prospective on the program and where it’s heading. He said he excited about the future based upon the improvements the athletic department will receive after last September’s millage raise.

“Coach Vaughn does a great job. If you look at our record, very seldom are we not in the playoffs. Every so often, we’re not in the playoffs, but we’ve had consistency in this program. You don’t see us bottom out and stay there. When you look around the state, you see some programs that peak and then just fade away, but White Hall has been consistent.

“The administration is supporting us facilities wise. We’re upgrading like crazy, and once we get this football field done here next year and our indoor facility done here, we’ll be the show place of Southeast Arkansas before it’s all said and done. Everybody is going to drive by on this road out here and say, ‘Look at what White Hall is doing out here.’”

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