May 20, 2024 at 8:25 p.m.
by Henry Apple
Tommy Tice had the itch to get back into coaching football, and Farmington is ready to give the veteran that kind of opportunity.
The 72-year-old Tice, who spent a combined 42 years coaching football at Huntsville and Harrison, was named Farmington’s new head coach during a special school board meeting Monday. Tice will replace J.R. Eldridge, who announced his resignation last month to enter the private business 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 like I do, and I can’t wait to be a part of it. Football never got out of me.
“I was still going to games on Friday nights, and I was lucky to be able to hang around it at the University of Arkansas, and Coach Sam Pittman was gracious to allow me to do so. I was writing some things down — whether it was for a book or not, I don’t know — but that’s when I realized I missed this stuff. When (Farmington Athletic Director) Beau Thompson called me about it, it thrilled me so much.”
Tice will enter the 2024 season with the opportunity to extend his state record of 453 games coached, which he compiled during his 13 years at Huntsville and 29 years at Harrison. His 289 career victories put him third among the state’s high school coaches — only 12 behind second-place Mike Malham of Cabot — and he led Harrison to its only state championship in 1999.
His last year of coaching was with Huntsville in 2015, but he remained with the school for another two 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 positives that his experience will bring to our district.”
Tice will inherit a team that tied Shiloh Christian for the 5A-West title at 6-1 in league play last fall while 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 get to spend a little time with his new team as Farmington still has three spring practices remaining, including its spring game Thursday night. While some may think the Cardinals may be rushed to get things done in the offseason, Tice doesn’t think that’s the case.
“It’s really not a bad time to come in because football now goes on 365 days a year,” he said. “Coach Eldridge left the team in fine standing 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.
“To come in there and make radical changes would be a mistake. It’s going to be a slow process at the start, but it’s going to become a matter of them trusting me and me trusting them.”
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