THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

BENTONVILLE -- The first Bentonville West head football coach is in place, more than a year before the Wolverines take the field for the first time. Bryan Pratt, a head coach for the past nine years at McAlester, Okla., was chosen to oversee the birth of the Wolverines' program, and approved during Bentonville's school board meeting Monday night. Pratt, 42, will assume his new duties April 20 as part of a shift done within the Bentonville football coaching staffs to accommodate the new school's emergence, according to Athletic Director Scott Passmore. Pratt will spend next season with the Bentonville Gold ninth-grade team, which becomes West's feeder team in 2016, before taking over the Wolverines the following year. Current Gold coach Toma Whorton will become Bentonville Black's head coach and replaces Chris Hutchens, who joins Bentonville's high school staff as an assistant. "It's an unbelievable opportunity to do something special," Pratt said. "What it would take to get me away from McAlester would have to be something good, and they did a good job of explaining it to me. Getting a year with the freshmen and get our program in there will put us ahead of the game. "You don't get many opportunities to build a football program from the ground up, and there's not a better place to do it than Bentonville, Arkansas. The school district and the city speak for themselves, and I like the challenge. It's something I look forward to doing." Pratt, the other finalist for the Bentonville job when Jody Grant was promoted earlier this year, compiled an 85-27 record during his time at McAlester, a Class 5A school in Oklahoma. The Buffaloes have had only one losing season during that time -- a 5-6 mark in 2008 -- and they have reached the playoff semifinals the last four years. McAlester finished the season 11-2 last year, and both losses came by one point -- including a 50-49 overtime decision to Lawton McArthur in the semifinals. The Buffaloes went 12-2 the year before that and reached the state championship game. "When we met Bryan, it was obvious that he was dynamic and full of energy," Passmore said. "He had a plan in place to build a program, and as we had sent him to (Bentonville superintendent) Michael Poore, it was apparent he was a valid candidate for this job. "We approached Bryan with the idea, and the more we visited, the more it started coming together. That's when we decided to make the hire and allow him to work with the athletes that will be on Bentonville West's first football team." McAlester's teams have been potent on offense over the last two seasons under Pratt, who was previously a defensive coordinator at South Grand Prairie High School in Grand Prairie, Texas. The Buffaloes compiled more than 700 points in 2013 -- becoming the 19th Oklahoma team to accomplish the feat -- and averaged 48.9 points and 428.9 yards total offense last fall. Pratt plans to instill his no-huddle offense at Bentonville Gold next season. It features four and five receivers at times, but McAlester actually compiled more yardage on the ground than it did through the air last season. "We have had people that are very intrigued with our offense," Pratt said. "We're just going to take what teams give us. We're a quick passing team, and we use the bubble screens a lot like those teams that run the I formation use the toss sweep. "We ran the same offense in our junior high teams in McAlester, and the kids believe in what we are doing. We try to make it look very complex, but it's really a simple offense." Pratt, whose contract will be for $95,000 per year according to Passmore, said he will head to Bentonville today to visit and plans on working with his new players as much as possible before his contract begins April 20.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

PRATT TABBED AS BENTONVILLE WEST'S 1ST COACH

HENRY APPLE

Arkansasonline.com | 4/6/2015

PHOTO CREDIT: Arkansas Democrat