Farmington hires veteran Tice as its next football coach

Tommy Tice has been eager to get back to coaching football, and Farmington is willing to give the veteran that chance.

Tice, 72, who coached football at Huntsville and Harrison for a combined 42 years, was named Farmington's new head coach Monday during a special school board meeting. Tice will replace JR Eldridge, who announced his resignation last month to enter the private sector.

“It sounds great,” Tice said. “I’m excited and it sounds great to be a football coach again. Farmington is a place that values ​​athletics as much as I do and I can't wait to be a part of it. Football has never escaped me.

“I was still going to the games on Friday nights and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the University of Arkansas and coach Sam Pittman was kind enough to allow me to do that. I wrote some things down – whether for a book or not, I don't know – but then I realized I was missing this stuff. When Beau Thompson (Farmington athletic director) called me, I was very excited.”

Tice will enter the 2024 season with the opportunity to extend his state record of 453 games coached, which he set during his 13 years at Huntsville and 29 years at Harrison. His 289 career wins ranked him third among high school coaches in the state – just 12 behind runner-up Mike Malham of Cabot – and he led Harrison to its only state championship in 1999.

His final year of coaching was at Huntsville in 2015, but he remained with the school for two more years as athletic director before retiring.

“Coach Tice comes to us with a long and successful career in Arkansas high school football,” Farmington Superintendent Jon Laffoon said in a news release. “We look forward to the future of our football program and the many positive impacts his experience will bring to our district.”

Tice will inherit a team that went 6-1 in league play last fall, tying Shiloh Christian for the 5A West title and finishing 7-4 overall. The Cardinals will return rising junior quarterback Ayden Lester and rising senior Luke Elsik, who was the team's leading rusher and receiver with 667 yards on 121 carries and 375 yards on 28 receptions.

Tice will spend some time with his new team, as Farmington still has three spring practices left, including Thursday night's spring game. While some believe the Cardinals could be under pressure to get things done in the offseason, Tice doesn't think that's the case.

“It's really not a bad time to come here because football is now 365 days a year,” he said. “Coach Eldridge left the team in good shape with players and assistants and I was able to see them a couple of times last year. We have this time where they can evaluate me and I can evaluate them.

“It would be a mistake to come in and make radical changes. It will be a slow process at first, but it will come down to them trusting me and me trusting them.”