April 21, 2026 • 45 mins
A Fayetteville superintendent who also spent 26 years flying helicopters and airplanes as an Army and National Guard aviator has a different way of talking about leadership: calm, practical, and shaped by responsibility that never really shuts off. We’re joined by Dr. Bobby New, UCA class of 1971, to walk through the moments that formed his view of Arkansas public education and the people who make schools work.
We start with Conway, football, and arriving at what was then State College of Arkansas, where coaches and instructors provided the kind of hands-on guidance that sticks for decades. From there, Bobby’s path takes a sharp turn into ROTC, active duty, and flight school, before circling back to UCA as a graduate assistant. That decision launches a career that spans teaching, administration, statewide work at the Arkansas Department of Education, and ultimately district leadership including 13 years as superintendent of Fayetteville Public Schools.
Along the way we get into what the public often misses about the superintendent job, why evenings and weekends belong to students as much as administrators, and how extracurriculars like band and athletics can become a powerful engine for student engagement. Bobby also shares advice for new teachers, what has changed in classrooms, and what never changes about reaching kids with empathy and clear expectations.
If you care about school leadership, teacher development, Arkansas education, or the real behind-the-scenes work of running a district, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with an educator you respect, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
This is Central to NWA, a UCA podcast.
I'm your host, Paul Gatling, andwe are bringing the University
of Central Arkansas to NorthwestArkansas.
Each episode, we will talk withleaders, alumni, and innovators
driving this region forward.
People who are shapingindustries and defining what is
next for our state.
(00:22):
Let's get started.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother edition of Central to
NWA.
I'm Paul Gatling with theUniversity of Central Arkansas,
and today's guest is Dr.
Bobby New, UCA class of 1971,technically December 1970,
graduation for Dr.
New, former superintendent ofFable Public Schools.
(00:42):
And Bobby, I've got to tell you,from the time you and I met a
couple of weeks ago, um, I'vebeen looking forward to this
one.
I've been looking forward tohaving you.
We could tell some stories.
You could tell some stories.
Maybe not, right?
Here.
Yeah, I've got to be.
Some of those were called me.
Yeah.
Keep those to no, I'm teasingthey're good stories.
SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Good stories.
So solid memories.
Yeah.
Well, well, most of my guestsare still in the middle of their
career, but your perspective,and today we get to talk about
that, a life full in education.
Um, you got the chance to lookback on your career and give me
that perspective and talk aboutsome of those things.
So uh it feels a little likesitting down with somebody who's
seen a lot and done a lot.
(01:22):
Uh so uh I'm looking forward tothis.
I think our listeners are goingto enjoy it.
I know I will.
So uh, first of all, welcome.
Really appreciate you beinghere.
Thank you, Paul.
Glad to be here.
So, yeah, Dr.
New, as we mentioned, spentdecades as a teacher and a coach
and uh school administratoracross Arkansas and wrapped up
his career in 20, 2009.
2009.
Yeah, 2009, 13 years as asuperintendent at Fayville
(01:46):
Public Schools.
He also served 26 years in theArmy and National Guard as an
aviator, flying both helicoptersand airplanes, and retired with
the rank of colonel.
So we're gonna get into all ofthat.
Then we're gonna talk about UCAin the late 60s and early 70s
and a lifetime in education.
Bobby, let's start here.
You're from Conway.
You grew up in Conway, graduatedin 1965, I believe is the day.
(02:11):
What do you remember aboutgrowing up in Conway?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Uh, just an absolutely quintessential, uh
perfect uh little community uhfor an imperfect uh teenager and
young guy growing up.
But it was just absolutelywonderful.
My my uh uh school and educationcareer uh was just uh trim
tremendous.
SPEAKER_00 (02:32):
What's what's that wampus cat cheer with the five
legs or two for fighting, twofor something like that?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Maybe it's a hybrid of a hog call, but I'm not sure
about they may have started thatafter I left Conway.
So yeah, but Conway uh uh wasitself uh it wasn't even a
bedroom community at that point.
Uh it was just Conway.
Right.
Uh and we went to the big citywhen we needed to shop or mother
and dad needed to uh take us touh a Christmas event or
(03:02):
something like that in LittleRock.
But Conway was uh prettyisolated, really, we thought at
that time.
32 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (03:08):
Well, and kind of like you know, the way Northwest
Arkansas has evolved.
We now we're northwest Arkansas,but every town used to be, you
know, there used to be, youknow, Bittonville, and then you
would go some ways and go toRogers, and you'd go aways and
go to Fayetteville, and now it'sjust all kind of grown together,
and now Conway has kind ofevolved that way uh with Little
Rock.
Did you were you always someonewho um played a lot of sports?
(03:30):
Did you play?
I know you played football.
Bobby New, member of the 1964undefeated Conway and done your
home football team.
I believe in being prepared, Dr.
Stu.
Thank you very much.
Did you grow up playingbaseball, football, basketball?
SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
All the above.
And then as the pyramid uh gotuh I got older and the pyramid
got tighter, I ended up uhdeciding just to do football.
And so yeah, I gave upbasketball, track, bait.
At the time, we only had uhlittle league baseball and then
pony league and and so, but no,somewhere uh in that 14 to 16
(04:06):
age group, uh, I think my dadsaid, You've got a choice.
You can either go to work or youhave no gas money.
So uh yeah, so I found jobs, uhwe found jobs around Conway
doing bailing hay or doing oddstuff, and yeah, so it was it
was great.
When he put it to you like that,that decision real easy.
(04:26):
Dad wasn't real subtle.
SPEAKER_00 (04:28):
Uh, you know, it was in fact a real dry sense of
humor.
Right.
So all right, so graduated 1965Conway High School, um, coming
to a college campus UCA had areally interesting time in in
our history, 1965.
What do you remember about uhcampus life and just uh UCA?
Of course, not called UCA atthat time.
(04:50):
Uh I think it's actually SCA.
Yeah, State College of Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
State College of Arkansas and What do you
remember about c campus lifethen when you arrived?
Well, I I I thought, you know,I'm I'm from Conway.
It's going to be sort of oddbeing in college instead of off
somewhere.
Yeah.
But yet it was still isolated ina sense.
And so uh even though uh we hada small enrollment at the time
(05:14):
as compared to today, yes, uh,it was just uh really nice
little uh three or four blocksfrom my home, but had no idea
that home was three or fourblocks away.
We just had a great uh collegecareer.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
So the university obviously compared to today, I
mean, just physically, you know,much smaller, probably a lower
steward student body enrollment.
Uh did you live on campus formost of your time there?
I mean, I don't know if livingoff campus was something.
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (05:43):
I lived in a dorm uh for the first year, and then
several of us got apartments andas we do today.
And so, yeah, lived off dorm,off campus.
SPEAKER_00 (05:53):
Yeah, and you also played football.
Right.
I did.
Right.
What do you remember about thattime and and your and your
football experience for players?
SPEAKER_01 (06:01):
Perfectly average career is hard to remember a lot
about it, but we had greatcoaches.
Um, Coach Raymond Bryant was thehead coach, Rex Lovell, Bill
Stevens, uh Bill Nutter, whounfortunately I just passed away
uh a week or so ago.
Uh he moved over uh into trackssolely or exclusively at some
(06:21):
point in time, but they wereVance Strange.
Vance was uh one of our uhcoaches, and so uh great, great
atmosphere, and we had a uhreally good uh the if you rem
Paul, if you remember it wascalled the AIC conference.
Oh, miss uh I remember the a lotof people miss that.
Yeah, do uh but it was uhrelatively short trips, it was
(06:44):
uh rivalries with uh tech andand other AIC schools.
Yeah, all those tech purchaseteaching Washtaw.
Washtag Hendricks at that time,and uh but uh yeah it was uh we
just didn't realize how reallysort of neat and and uh uh I
(07:08):
guess uh just uh a way of of uhof playing football and not
leaving the state.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Right, right.
And geographically.
Yeah, and that part is fun, butalso just um not worrying about
all the things that collegeathletics has to worry about
these days as well.
I mean, none of that existed.
Uh no.
You went and played football.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
That's correct.
And it was all amateur sports.
Um we would play a a game or twooutside the state, Troy, or um
uh another Alabama-Oklahom team,but yeah, by and large, when you
had that many in the AIC, mostof them were conference games,
uh-huh.
Most of them were in-state, mostof them uh were were close
(07:51):
games, and and we set a great uhgreat episode.
What position did you play?
I was defensive back, uh, andthe uh coach Stevens uh had uh
at that time a monster man andand roamed around, and I was
sort of a a third linebacker,inside linebacker of sorts.
Right?
(08:11):
Yeah, AIC championship teams?
You know, uh uh we I thinkfinished second and third the
years I was there, um, althoughI was uh uh a freshman when
Bobby Tyner was a senior, andthey may have won the
championship then, but I was uhnot on the team at that.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
Senior year.
Yeah, the legendary Bobby Tyner.
Bobby Tyner.
Right, one of the great uhquarterbacks in Arkansas college
football history.
History.
Really, yeah.
He was fantastic.
Um what kind of and when youmentioned you were rattling off
a lot of uh big name coachesthere, not just at um State
Teachers College uh but inArkansas college history.
(08:55):
What kind of impact when youlook back on the guys that were
there and mentors you had playedfor you?
Uh what kind of impact did theyhave on you as a you know a
young um uh 18, 19-year-oldcollege kid?
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
Well, I was fortunate to have uh Coach
Lovell from the time I was uh inthe ninth grade all the way
through our graduation becausehe moved essentially from Conway
High School head coach to uh UCAoffensive coordinator line
coach, I believe.
He was on the offensive side ofthe ball.
I know that for sure.
And and then uh we had uh uhCoach Stevens and and I
(09:32):
mentioned Coach Bright.
And a lot of folks see CoachBright as a football coach that
don't know he was actually atrack coach prior to becoming uh
the head football coach.
He was just a great that thosewere years when UCA was
unbeatable at track.
Yeah.
Just great athletes.
SPEAKER_00 (09:48):
Yeah, all the AIC schools um you know had track.
Right.
Um, I went to Henderson, we did,I think Henderson is restarting
their track program now, and sotrack I think is making kind of
a comeback, but it was a it wasa big sport for all the AIC
schools, and now it's just kindof hit or miss.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
So you spent after aftergraduation, December 1970 is
(10:10):
when you were a midtermgraduate.
Um, what was your first job?
Was was education and coachingand teaching?
Is that something that was uh onyour radar immediately?
Tell me where you landed afterUCA first.
Uh no.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
Um my first uh bus stop after uh after finishing my
degree in December was uh FortKnox, uh, Kentucky.
So I was uh on active duty, uhhad an ROTC commission from UCA
and then immediately went onactive duty.
Well, I say that March uh maybe15th.
So I had a couple three monthsbefore I went on active duty,
(10:47):
but uh from from uh uh theclassroom to another classroom.
Um at the time, uh we were I wasat officer basic training and at
Fort Knox as a tanker.
Okay.
Uh and then from there, uh threemonths after that, I found
myself at a place called FortWalters, Texas, in flight
(11:09):
school.
But and went uh five or sixmonths at Walters and then down
to a place called Fort Rucker,Alabama, which is uh South
Alabama, down around Dothan.
And uh finished flight schooldown there and from flight
school graduation over to FortCampbell, Kentucky, and spent a
couple years there before I cameback to UCA.
(11:31):
Yeah.
Came back home.
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
What brought you back to to UCA, to Arkansas?
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
You know, Paul, we were talking a little bit about
this.
I had a couple three offers uhin outside of education, and it
was a it was a hard call, andand I I look back now and think
I made the right decision.
But at the time, um a littleorganization that was run by a
fellow by the name of Ross Perotuh offered me a job uh with his
(11:57):
company, and um as as God wouldhave it, I was home on leave,
and if I recall then uh the uhthe occurrence, well I ran into
Bill Stevens, Coach Stevens, whowas doing track, and uh in
Conway and and we were talking,and he said, No, I really need a
(12:19):
graduate assistant to come backand and help me, and you don't
have anything else to do.
As uh he put it, and I thought,well, maybe I don't, Coach.
He still had a lot of influenceover me.
Coaches do, you know.
But anyway, I I took a detour,and that detour worked out real
well for me.
And and uh maybe the corporatelife would have been uh exciting
(12:42):
also, but I I can't look backand and uh think I made a bad
decision.
Coach Stevens offered me agraduate assistantship.
I came back and and off ofactive duty and finished my
master's and then I startedteaching.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Yeah, and then that and the way you went, teaching
and and school administration,and that was uh that was your
career.
Um started in Conway.
Did you ever imagine um whereyour career would go as a GA
football coach for the UCABears?
I mean, did you what wascoaching like?
I mean, you were still so young.
I mean, um, what was coachinglike compared to you know
(13:17):
playing football, coaching guysthat were not that far from your
age?
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
It was a natural transition.
Yeah.
Um uh the and then so I'll I'llback up and digress just a
minute, Paul.
So uh as I was uh working asgraduate assistant GA for Coach
Stevens, uh Bill Stevens, uhthen I also parallel uh I took a
(13:43):
job flying helicopters in theNational Guard on the weekends.
So as old uh country preachersused to call it, I was somewhat
bivocational from that point touh on to almost 30 years later.
And so but it was uh uh it was agreat time and and I enjoyed uh
the GA year.
(14:05):
Uh Coach Stevens really helpedme better understand the process
of coaching kids in track.
It's a different sport.
Uh it's uh a lot more laid backand and but yet a pretty
fundamentally difficult sportbecause you have to train almost
uh by yourself in many cases.
(14:26):
So as a as compared to a teamsport.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
Yeah.
So as a teacher and coach, youryour career then got into
administration?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Um so um I started at the junior high level and
then uh went from there to thehigh school.
Uh uh high school principal atthe time was a fellow by the
name of James Clark, who wasalso one of my coaches earlier
in the year.
And I should have uh early in mycareer in high school, I should
have mentioned Coach Clark, buthe offered me a position as
(14:55):
assistant principal to highschool, and then I stayed there
four years, four great years,and he he was probably one of
the best building administratorsI've ever been around.
He was pretty tough, but at thesame time fair, and taught me a
lot of process procedures, howto deal with parents, uh, how to
deal with uh uh kids who werestruggling either uh emotionally
(15:18):
or academically or whatever, butgenerally speaking had had
problems and then uh but he hegave me some really good
assignments as far as uh afterschool stuff and and things like
that.
So um Mr.
Carl Stewart was superintendent,and I probably couldn't have had
a better mentor.
But at some point in time, uhPaul, after about four years at
(15:42):
the high school level, uh I wasoffered another graduate
assistantship in at theuniversity uh for graduate
school.
And I had already uh gone tonine classes and picked up what
uh educators called a specialistdegree.
It was a uh intermediate almostclose to a terminal degree.
Then you but it was also veryeasy then to move from the
(16:05):
specialist into the doctoralprogram.
Then they wanted you to have ayear on campus, a residency,
they used to call it.
So I I asked for a leave ofabsence in Conway and and was
granted a leave of absence, cameup here and worked on my
graduate degree, terminaldegree.
SPEAKER_00 (16:22):
What did you uh what'd you go back to Central
Arkansas for?
What what job awaited you afteryou finished?
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
I went back to Conway uh and stayed in Conway
uh maybe another three to fouryears, total of seven years in
Conway, and then was offered ajob at the Department of
Education working for uh thedepartment as uh the Tyler was
director of secondary educationstate, which was kind of
ominous, but it was uh a really,really good learning job.
(16:52):
Stayed there six years.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:54):
Um moved from that job to uh superintendency, first
superintendency was uh inGreenbrier.
Yeah.
So I stayed there five years,great years.
I enjoyed uh rural uh Arkansasand and uh people at Greenbrier
would write to me and and wejust had a great situation.
Um I was offered a job back downin the city, North Little Rock,
(17:19):
as an assistant superintendent,stayed there a couple of years
and then moved up here.
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
Yeah, Greenbrier and um and Fayetteville are are two
pretty different communities.
SPEAKER_01 (17:31):
Yes, uh, but I love the flavor.
Yep.
I mean, you know, I don't justdrink uh regular coffee.
You gotta have a cappuccinoevery now and then, you know.
And so uh no, that was the greatthing about uh education, at
least in in my uh 30 plus years,is that it was it was there was
always uh uh another mountaintime, another uh job that had a
(17:56):
lot of interest for one reasonor another.
The Department of Education job,I got to see the state of
Arkansas as as education, andwhich really broadened my uh
knowledge where I would visitschools, we would do
accreditation studies, I had uhopportunities to uh see what was
going on in Pine Bluff and atthe same time benchmark uh uh
(18:16):
what was happening there ascompared to what I might could
do in Greenbrier.
And so it was a a a great uhvantage point uh those six
years.
I traveled the state a lot.
Yeah.
Got to see a lot of really fineeducators, and we had a great
education, public educationprogram in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_00 (18:33):
You know, one thing I've always wanted to ask
superintendents is you know,what is something the public
does not realize about your job,or maybe it's something they
don't appreciate the job of apublic school superintendent.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Oh wow, Paul.
Well, uh I you know, I mean itit I don't I'm sure any there's
any empirical evidence, what I'mabout to tell you, but I found
that uh it was fairly routine uhfrom eight until about three
thirty, but the fun started uhafter after that four o'clock
and and activities there all thetime.
I think what I saw is thir is isthirteen years up here um and
(19:11):
five more years as asuperintendent, not counting the
uh assistant's jobs and all.
Uh that the administrator isalmost always on duty.
Uh you know, you think you havethe weekends off, but no the
phone rings and something'shappened or or uh it just i it's
(19:32):
just not predictable as far asthe weekend is concerned.
But uh yeah, I would say a lotof folks don't realize that uh
school administrators,principals, superintendents,
assistants they really go prettymuch ten to twelve hours a day.
Uh if if uh we're in a statechampionship and it's a state
(19:53):
championship uh time i at HotSprings, then you're down hot
springs watching the watchingthe team play.
Or you know, you've got uh totravel to uh a Monticello big
baseball team is is uh uhbaseball games going on.
So yeah, it it's just uh uh ajob that moves constantly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:16):
Right.
And those are just two examplesof two sports, not just the
entire width and breadth of allthe extracurricular activities.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (20:23):
And and we did, and I'd be amiss not to mention our
our band programs, everything uhfrom A to Z.
Um and I was fortunate.
We had a great band director,and and so I I was able to go to
uh the Rose Bowl with our band.
Um my wife and I did uh went touh Macy's Thanksgiving Day
(20:44):
parade.
So really a lot of benefits uhwith the extracurricular
activities, but also uhresponsibilities as it year goes
along.
SPEAKER_00 (20:52):
I I can't help but chuckle of the comparison
between a road assignment toMonticello and a road assignment
to Pasadena.
Well different, a littledifferent.
SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
You know, uh uh this this uh we don't have enough
time in the week, uh Paul, forall those stories, but we went
to the Rose Bowl.
Yeah.
Just uh we had a kind ofsurprise.
Uh the the way they do that isthey they keep it, they the Rose
Bowl committee keeps the bandselections quiet until the very
end that I didn't know aboutuntil maybe a day or two before
(21:25):
the announcement.
But anyway, it was justabsolutely an unbelievable
experience.
And all those years you see iton television, and uh I grew up
watching the Rose Bowl paradeand then the Rose Bowl itself,
you know, after the Cotton Bowluh and all of that.
But uh unfortunately, and Idon't remember if this is how
(21:46):
accurate this is, maybe a littleembellished, but almost a
hundred years prior to the yearthat we were there and it rained
the entire time.
The entire time.
But it was a our our band didgreat.
We we marched the entire route.
uh we're a little soaked up atthe time.
Those of us in the in thebleachers were a little bit wet.
But anyway, it was a great storyand a great time.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I remember I've been to the Rose Bowl game one time.
Yeah.
And it was um a few years backwhen Auburn played Florida State
uh the BCS championship game andit rained that morning and it
rained on the parade, which theytalked about same as you like
that never happens.
It has never happened.
But the rain eventually clearedout and the football game was
dry but um that's a beautifulplace beautiful stadium.
SPEAKER_01 (22:31):
Absolutely it was historical and and I our kids
did well and I'm so proud of uhthe parents we had a separate
bus for the parents it was justa great time yeah I want to go
back to your um your militarychapter your military experience
and that that's a fascinating umuh mixture of of that experience
and how maybe you used that orthat that impacted your
(22:53):
leadership experience in inpublic school was that the case
did you did you find that thatum one of those influenced the
other yes it was almost seamlessuh now the the way the army is
structured uh I mean as anofficer you're always in a
leadership position however umthe jobs change and as the jobs
(23:16):
as I moved up in rank then Imoved up more into more defined
leadership position continued tofly but I was a company
commander or I was a battalioncommander or whatever it might
have been so uh yeah I would gofrom uh Sunday drill back to
Monday morning uh leadership andand so uh yeah it it was
(23:39):
constantly and and I was I wasblessed with great subordinate
leaders I just uh in both sidesof the uh of the occupation uh
careers uh had had great supportstaff and and so yes uh but uh
Monday morning didn't look a lotdifferent than Sunday morning
(24:00):
some weekends because of of uhthe responsibility of leadership
and uh what I had uh in front ofyeah you've got to have um great
assistance I'm sure you hadgreat assistance oh I did I was
blessed everywhere and and Iwould back to the the aviation
side Paul one of the things thatwas also uh very therapeutic uh
(24:22):
because if I were just flying uhthen it was just almost like
mindlessness and that sounds butto get away from uh the
activities and the and theissues that I was facing either
on Monday morning or that I lefton Friday afternoon was just
absolutely therapeutic.
(24:42):
And I the guys I flew with uhwas uh many of them were the
same people for 13 years andwe're just dear friends uh even
today.
Do you still fly?
No.
Um when's the last time I don'tthink it I don't think it's a
part-time hobby.
Yeah oh I want it to be apart-time hobby.
You know you can do golf or youcan fish part-time but I just
never found it uh was a goodidea to do it part-time okay um
(25:07):
when was the last time uh I Iflew uh Judy and I rented a
plane I got uh current and weran a plane flew around the
state uh probably oh uh 12 or13, 2013 2014 something like
that.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we had just she and I and andshe really enjoyed it and and uh
(25:28):
it was good to get back into theair but now we let American
Airlines or one of the others doit of course.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Well let's talk about uh hobbies you mentioned
hobbies there um and you retiredin 2009 17 years ago um you know
we're obviously a big razorbackbaseball fan big Dave Van Horn
fan we'll find you in BaumStadium pretty much every time
they open the gates try to beyeah so what's retirement been
like for you the past 17 yearsafter spending your whole career
(25:56):
working with with students inschools and um how how how has
it been the last 17 years?
SPEAKER_01 (26:03):
You know, Paul I I uh don't now as often as I did
but used to get calls frompeople who would retire after me
and say hey how are you likingit?
Or uh well first of all uh theArkansas teacher retirement
system is fabulous.
Uh it it really provides a goodgood um um parachute for
(26:23):
teachers and administrators asthey as we retire and able then
uh to go off and and dosomething well what what I I
tell younger people is the greatthing is you get to write your
own job description.
First time in your life youdon't have to be a principal or
a a math teacher or a thirdgrade uh elementary teacher you
get to write your own uh uh jobdescription and uh God would
(26:48):
just really bless Judy and meand we were with grandkids and
uh then I did uh uh not as muchnow but I did I tried to stay
active and so road biking uhtried golf and and and I was
just not uh I was just not agolfer yeah but uh tried several
uh uh some trout fishing andthat sort of thing so it but
(27:10):
it's just uh a variety of of uhthings and then there are
obligations as you get uhgrandkids and you end up in my
case uh going to Wichita orKansas City or Panama City with
traveling teams and it was justblessed bless time that we
really enjoyed those kids are uhare now up in uh high school and
(27:33):
and uh college and uh but ityeah they they and when I say
write job description I guesswhen you have grandkids they
write they help you write thejob description and their
parents certainly do.
SPEAKER_00 (27:46):
We need to get you back out on the golf course.
You just had your LAC surgeryand you bet you maybe may open
up a whole new world right wellI'm not sure it was the eyes
were the problem.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
You know I think Coach Van Horn you mentioned him
maybe he he's able to say yeahthis this player needs go get
better eyes.
I'm not sure better eyes helphelp my golf game.
In addition to people that callyou um you know retired asking
how do you like it do you everget calls from um current
administrators or currentsuperintendents that want some
advice or not just fromFayetteville but just at large
(28:19):
people giving you justcoincidental apologies our our
conversation today um and I'mgonna guess it was four or five
months ago I had an opportunityto have lunch with uh Tim
Hudson, the board current boardpresident and uh the current
Fayetteville superintendent wehad a great time and uh
discussed uh issues of uh yearsago and how we operated as a
(28:42):
school district as compared tosome of the issues that they're
facing today, which is a lot ofit's just when uh you're in a
leadership position and you havean opportunity to intermingle
and and work with uh people uhthen that doesn't change.
Um maybe the the uh tools of uhthat are into a box for
(29:04):
educators have changed some butby and large it's still a a
people uh profession and so uhuh the superintendent and uh Tim
and I had a had a greatconversation and I loved
listening to his vision and Ithink he's just doing a fabulous
job.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
So from that perspective and then just from
your perspective of s of keepingup with Arkansas public
education at large and I knowyou've been retired for 17
years.
How different uh were Arkansasschools then compared to today
to when you started?
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
Well I I I I think the the the goal is still the
same that is develop youngpeople for a changing world.
And uh it as you start with thatbroad vision then you hone it
down into what is the um whatare the subsets for educators.
(29:59):
Uh whether it is uh uh educationuh for uh higher ed uh
development or is it careerdevelopment or whatever you try
to break uh the the elephantdown into smaller pieces to buy
it and and it then you hope thatyou have really good teachers
and you've got good a goodprogram that's disciplined and
(30:22):
one that has uh great leadershipfrom the school board level but
that doesn't change that'sfundamental education whether
you're talking about using AIand technology today or uh then
as as uh the uh technology wasjust emerging into uh education
still uh johnny and and jane uhhave to be presented the best
(30:47):
education process bestopportunities yeah it sounds
like you um you never reallyretire from education i mean
it's still with you i mean icould tell you're you still fake
about it and you're still as asuh thoughtful and passionate
about it as you were when youwere in it well i i think Paul
I'll go back to the grandkid uhuh grandkid stories uh it's real
(31:09):
interesting to see uh from aneducator slash grandparent yeah
uh perspective uh how uh thosekids matriculated up and what
kind of problems did they haveand looking at it from this side
of the desk and not your side ofthe desk uh but as a parent I
would see things that uh I I saywell I wish I'd known to do this
(31:33):
would have been a bettersituation for the kids than what
I did there.
So I was able to compareeducation as with the grandkids
if we as we got older.
SPEAKER_00 (31:44):
Right.
Sure.
What do you um when you'relooking back on your career,
what do you hope that you knowthe students seem to be very
important to you?
What do you hope your studentsand your colleagues remember
about you when they say uh Dr.
Bobby New, yeah that was mysuperintendent at Fed or what do
you want people to to rememberabout you?
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Yeah I I think the values that uh had at the time
uh were were extremely importantand and I I pray that uh that
was the perspective that bothboth the the community the board
and and the teachers uh knewabout uh about me that I was I
was gonna be as honest aspossible.
(32:25):
I was going to uh make sure thatwe had uh uh the best of of uh
education opportunities for thekids.
I was always passionate abouteducation and I always enjoyed
um helping kids and seeing themsucceed and I think that was one
of the things that uh I enjoyeduh about being in Fayetteville
(32:49):
because it's an educationcommunity and we were really
hitched up uh I thought it was auh in my opinion it was a good a
good match from uh North Rock uphere and but but I guess looking
back on it Paul the the thingthat uh I want to make sure that
I did was that the kids had thebest opportunity possible
(33:10):
through leadership.
All right what what makes a goodleader in the classroom what
makes a good teacher what whatwould you define that as well
you know uh I didn't teach thatmuch uh I went from the
classroom to um administrationpretty quickly uh and I always
thought my primary job wassupporting the classroom
(33:31):
teacher.
That information that it isexchanged in the classroom is
absolutely essential.
And a teacher who is who hasthat transmission communication
skill is just unbeatable anyother profession uh in America.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
And so uh yeah administrator is wise to to make
sure the teachers understandthat uh he or she is there to
support them and what ta takesplace in Flash yeah and that
kind of um you know UCAcontinues to prepare and
graduate more teachers than anycollege in Arkansas Arkansas
State teachers that's right DNAthat's right that's where my
(34:10):
mother graduated retired highschool uh English teacher
freshman English teacher so umjust when you think about young
teachers starting today you knowwe'll graduate more teachers
here in just a few weeks at UCAum you know what advice would
you give them about you knowmaybe landing their first job or
choosing between differentoptions for your first term but
(34:31):
just kind of what advice wouldyou give them to start their
career?
SPEAKER_01 (34:34):
You know, Paul the the the thing I I always
believed fundamental to any jobdo you love kids?
Do you love being around kids?
Do you enjoy seeing themsucceed?
Are you able to anticipate aproblem, a discipline problem?
Uh uh can you separate um yourfeelings about a child and try
(34:57):
to understand have empathy forand compassion for where the
child has been that day, thatmorning uh what kind of of uh
obstacles did the child face.
I think that's that'sundercurrent what goes on in any
education system.
You asked me earlier about uhwhat has changed.
Well the the obvious things havebeen uh technology and teaching
(35:20):
tools but the fundamental issueof getting inside that
youngster's head and trying tounderstand what really is uh
important uh for him to learn,for her to learn is critical.
And you've got to have thatpassion for teachers got to have
that passion for that particularaspect of teaching or she's just
(35:41):
not going to be very uh happywith her job.
Uh uh a nurse that doesn't enjoyuh being in a room with a sick
person seeing that personprogress into uh wellness.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Right right now that's that's great perspective
in a person who doesn't you'vegot to enjoy flying right you've
got to enjoy being up in the airand being in control of the
airplane and I mean the samething no matter what your
industry um that's somethingthat you've that you've got to
consider.
Here's something I like to askall of my guests who are UCA
alums thinking back to your yourtime on campus and as a student
(36:16):
what did you what does UCA, whatdid UCA mean to you personally,
just as a student, as a youngperson?
SPEAKER_01 (36:22):
Well um Paul I have to admit that and it sound
sounds almost uh like anoxymoron but I wasn't a serious
classroom student.
And um no it it was it was aboutactivities.
There was a book in the late 70suh that was written that really
(36:44):
was maybe mid to late 70s notlong after I got into profession
that I thought was just great.
It's called um a place calledschool it's written by a fellow
by the name of John Goodlad whowas I believe he was Washington
State or Washington and thatbook uh made a huge huge impact
(37:07):
on on my outlook about schoolessentially I'll come back to my
personal opportunities butessentially what he did through
years and years of research whatuh Dr.
Goodland did uh was look at atthe uh almost an autopsy of of
(37:28):
education at secondary level uhand after years of research and
and uh uh empirical evidence itappears that the kids go to
school really for one primaryreason is that's because other
kids are there.
You know uh the the uh studentthat uh gets up in the morning
(37:54):
wants to see his friends, wantsto see her friends.
And uh so as you began todevelop a culture or an
environment for educators,you've got to look at what does
that picture look like as itrelates to the social system of
education rather than just thecognitive aspect of education.
(38:19):
And so it it made a differenceas to how I approached um
helping uh young leaders,principals, um how it helped uh
me unders better understand uhthe lunch period which is is
just a great opportunity forlearning.
How does that work?
Well then you put bulletinboards up where kids will I mean
(38:41):
there's just all sort of subtlethings that you you can do to
help kids better understand uhthat their friends are there and
and we're gonna be a a friendfriendly uh environment.
Right.
Uh whether it's extracurricular.
I remember as uh uh I was on theArkansas Activity Association
(39:02):
Board of Directors Paul and wehad a a person in the state that
uh uh was uh financially secureand he was real this this uh he
was non-eductor uh he was realinterested in beginning starting
wrestling in the state ofArkansas pretty foreign to us we
(39:26):
we don't have it in college eventill today right but he came uh
this person came and andpresented to the board of
directors um his vision for amore uh inclusive uh sports
program meaning wrestling ithappens in all of our contiguous
(39:47):
states I'm not sure aboutLouisiana but anyway so we began
one summer met the board metthree or four times a year but
this so happened during thesummer is the longer maybe week
long board meeting and he camein so we talked about it at
breakout sessions we talkedabout at dinner the triple A is
(40:08):
made up of superintendents andsystem superintendents um from
all sides of school from umFayetteville to Greenbrier or
and and and that's a great it'sa it's it's great makeup because
you get perspective of whathappens in rural education as
well as uh suburban cityeducation.
(40:29):
Yeah.
Anyway we all had differentviews and a lot of the smaller
school schools saw it as aburden, a financial burden and
what was it really going to do.
This this particular um uhsupporter wrestling supporter uh
then agreed uh to buy theequipment for all schools that
(40:49):
would participate so not to getinto the weeds let me get on
down the road where I was goingto tell you so I I my belief was
and and I think we had evidenceto to support what I'm about to
say if if a child is around acoach, if a child's around an
extracurricular band director,choir director, I'll leave
(41:10):
somebody out and you always getin trouble when you do that.
Extracurricular extracurricularthere you go there's a better
chance that that that student isthen going back to a place
called school the book that isgoing to make friends and there
won't be negative influences asmuch as if a child doesn't have
that opportunity.
(41:30):
Anyway I think that year theboat failed I I'm not I'm not
sure about the history of thisbut I that that year it it
failed.
I think there were the ruraleducators were just they just
weren't interested and Iunderstand that.
When you have a graduation classof 600 versus 60 sure and there
(41:54):
there's really not that thatthat gap's pretty large.
Anyway, but I appreciated theirposition.
Well we were able to uh bring itback the next sum bring that
request back the next summer andit passed but I was somewhat
passionate about it and thereason I had no idea I hadn't I
(42:14):
I the only time I ever wrestledwas in offseason.
Yeah that happened to be coachone of Coach Bright's favorite
offseason yeah we wouldn't sawfour and sport you're not
familiar with wrestling.
But the fundamental issue isthat it was going to um open
another career opportunity forkids who maybe were 116 pounds
(42:40):
and they couldn't play football.
They couldn't play basketballbut by gosh they could be a
wrestler and it kept them afterschool it kept them engaged in
uh really um good activitiespositive activities but that was
just an example of of what wetried to do at a place called
(43:03):
school.
SPEAKER_00 (43:03):
Yeah and that you the whole time you were that's
the word that that was cominginto my head is engaged.
I mean engage the students andthen where can that lead?
In this case um you know sportsmore and more are an avenue um
for scholarship to college andthat's just another avenue for
that 116 pound weight classstudent to be successful in his
(43:24):
weight class and get ascholarship to go to college.
Exactly that might not haveexisted if we don't have uh
wrestling but anyway no that'sthat's all interesting uh and
your your lessons in leadershipand philosophy from a lifetime
and in education um uh is isterrific and all of that started
at UCA and it did start at UCAand I'm sorry I got us off a
(43:46):
little bit here Paul um I can'tsay uh uh enough good things
about uh my time at UCA and anduh and and I we focused on uh
the time that uh I was there asan
SPEAKER_01 (44:00):
Athlete, but I was also uh a student and I had some
great instructors and some greattimes, great memories.
Um there are three or four of usthat uh that still meet for
lunch, uh uh graduates, and wetalk about uh those times and
and the great things that wenton at UCA, but it was a super
environment.
It was a small environment atthat time.
(44:22):
And uh I I guess I didn't reallyappreciate the almost one-on-one
attention that I would get fromuh instructors or uh coaches or
whatever.
No, I I I think it would havebeen because I was not a serious
student, I think if I had nothad coaches and teachers as
counselors, yeah, I would nothave made uh I wouldn't have
(44:44):
continued the path.
But as it turned out, uh UCA wasthe right thing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:49):
Yeah, they were pretty hands-on, very hands-on,
yeah, very engaged back to thatword.
Absolutely.
And um, so yeah, well, listen,um Bobby, really appreciate you
being here.
As we as you mentioned earlierabout schedules, I know being
retired, you're not used tohaving a whole lot of dates on
the schedules to be somewhere ata certain time.
So uh really appreciate youcoming up here.
(45:10):
It's Razorback Baseball Day.
Razorback baseball day.
So yeah, that's right.
I know that uh the retiredschedule is different from the
the uh nine to five schedule.
So um uh it's great to visitwith you.
Thank you, Paul.
It's been fun.
Yeah, I really appreciate youbeing here today.
So all right, and that's it forthis edition of Central to NWA.
As always, we appreciate youtuning in.
(45:31):
Until next time, go Bears.
That's it for this episode ofCentral to NWA, a UCA podcast.
I'm Paul Gatling, SeniorDirector of Northwest Arkansas
Engagement for the University ofCentral Arkansas.
Be sure to subscribe to the showand follow UCA on all the
appropriate social media.
I'll see you next time onCentral to NWA.
This is Central to NWA, a UCA podcast.
I'm your host, Paul Gatling, andwe are bringing the University
of Central Arkansas to NorthwestArkansas.
Each episode, we will talk withleaders, alumni, and innovators
driving this region forward.
People who are shapingindustries and defining what is
next for our state.
(00:22):
Let's get started.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother edition of Central to
NWA.
I'm Paul Gatling with theUniversity of Central Arkansas,
and today's guest is Dr.
Bobby New, UCA class of 1971,technically December 1970,
graduation for Dr.
New, former superintendent ofFable Public Schools.
(00:42):
And Bobby, I've got to tell you,from the time you and I met a
couple of weeks ago, um, I'vebeen looking forward to this
one.
I've been looking forward tohaving you.
We could tell some stories.
You could tell some stories.
Maybe not, right?
Here.
Yeah, I've got to be.
Some of those were called me.
Yeah.
Keep those to no, I'm teasingthey're good stories.
SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Good stories.
So solid memories.
Yeah.
Well, well, most of my guestsare still in the middle of their
career, but your perspective,and today we get to talk about
that, a life full in education.
Um, you got the chance to lookback on your career and give me
that perspective and talk aboutsome of those things.
So uh it feels a little likesitting down with somebody who's
seen a lot and done a lot.
(01:22):
Uh so uh I'm looking forward tothis.
I think our listeners are goingto enjoy it.
I know I will.
So uh, first of all, welcome.
Really appreciate you beinghere.
Thank you, Paul.
Glad to be here.
So, yeah, Dr.
New, as we mentioned, spentdecades as a teacher and a coach
and uh school administratoracross Arkansas and wrapped up
his career in 20, 2009.
2009.
Yeah, 2009, 13 years as asuperintendent at Fayville
(01:46):
Public Schools.
He also served 26 years in theArmy and National Guard as an
aviator, flying both helicoptersand airplanes, and retired with
the rank of colonel.
So we're gonna get into all ofthat.
Then we're gonna talk about UCAin the late 60s and early 70s
and a lifetime in education.
Bobby, let's start here.
You're from Conway.
You grew up in Conway, graduatedin 1965, I believe is the day.
(02:11):
What do you remember aboutgrowing up in Conway?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Uh, just an absolutely quintessential, uh
perfect uh little community uhfor an imperfect uh teenager and
young guy growing up.
But it was just absolutelywonderful.
My my uh uh school and educationcareer uh was just uh trim
tremendous.
SPEAKER_00 (02:32):
What's what's that wampus cat cheer with the five
legs or two for fighting, twofor something like that?
I don't know.
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Maybe it's a hybrid of a hog call, but I'm not sure
about they may have started thatafter I left Conway.
So yeah, but Conway uh uh wasitself uh it wasn't even a
bedroom community at that point.
Uh it was just Conway.
Right.
Uh and we went to the big citywhen we needed to shop or mother
and dad needed to uh take us touh a Christmas event or
(03:02):
something like that in LittleRock.
But Conway was uh prettyisolated, really, we thought at
that time.
32 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (03:08):
Well, and kind of like you know, the way Northwest
Arkansas has evolved.
We now we're northwest Arkansas,but every town used to be, you
know, there used to be, youknow, Bittonville, and then you
would go some ways and go toRogers, and you'd go aways and
go to Fayetteville, and now it'sjust all kind of grown together,
and now Conway has kind ofevolved that way uh with Little
Rock.
Did you were you always someonewho um played a lot of sports?
(03:30):
Did you play?
I know you played football.
Bobby New, member of the 1964undefeated Conway and done your
home football team.
I believe in being prepared, Dr.
Stu.
Thank you very much.
Did you grow up playingbaseball, football, basketball?
SPEAKER_01 (03:44):
All the above.
And then as the pyramid uh gotuh I got older and the pyramid
got tighter, I ended up uhdeciding just to do football.
And so yeah, I gave upbasketball, track, bait.
At the time, we only had uhlittle league baseball and then
pony league and and so, but no,somewhere uh in that 14 to 16
(04:06):
age group, uh, I think my dadsaid, You've got a choice.
You can either go to work or youhave no gas money.
So uh yeah, so I found jobs, uhwe found jobs around Conway
doing bailing hay or doing oddstuff, and yeah, so it was it
was great.
When he put it to you like that,that decision real easy.
(04:26):
Dad wasn't real subtle.
SPEAKER_00 (04:28):
Uh, you know, it was in fact a real dry sense of
humor.
Right.
So all right, so graduated 1965Conway High School, um, coming
to a college campus UCA had areally interesting time in in
our history, 1965.
What do you remember about uhcampus life and just uh UCA?
Of course, not called UCA atthat time.
(04:50):
Uh I think it's actually SCA.
Yeah, State College of Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
State College of Arkansas and What do you
remember about c campus lifethen when you arrived?
Well, I I I thought, you know,I'm I'm from Conway.
It's going to be sort of oddbeing in college instead of off
somewhere.
Yeah.
But yet it was still isolated ina sense.
And so uh even though uh we hada small enrollment at the time
(05:14):
as compared to today, yes, uh,it was just uh really nice
little uh three or four blocksfrom my home, but had no idea
that home was three or fourblocks away.
We just had a great uh collegecareer.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
So the university obviously compared to today, I
mean, just physically, you know,much smaller, probably a lower
steward student body enrollment.
Uh did you live on campus formost of your time there?
I mean, I don't know if livingoff campus was something.
I did.
SPEAKER_01 (05:43):
I lived in a dorm uh for the first year, and then
several of us got apartments andas we do today.
And so, yeah, lived off dorm,off campus.
SPEAKER_00 (05:53):
Yeah, and you also played football.
Right.
I did.
Right.
What do you remember about thattime and and your and your
football experience for players?
SPEAKER_01 (06:01):
Perfectly average career is hard to remember a lot
about it, but we had greatcoaches.
Um, Coach Raymond Bryant was thehead coach, Rex Lovell, Bill
Stevens, uh Bill Nutter, whounfortunately I just passed away
uh a week or so ago.
Uh he moved over uh into trackssolely or exclusively at some
(06:21):
point in time, but they wereVance Strange.
Vance was uh one of our uhcoaches, and so uh great, great
atmosphere, and we had a uhreally good uh the if you rem
Paul, if you remember it wascalled the AIC conference.
Oh, miss uh I remember the a lotof people miss that.
Yeah, do uh but it was uhrelatively short trips, it was
(06:44):
uh rivalries with uh tech andand other AIC schools.
Yeah, all those tech purchaseteaching Washtaw.
Washtag Hendricks at that time,and uh but uh yeah it was uh we
just didn't realize how reallysort of neat and and uh uh I
(07:08):
guess uh just uh a way of of uhof playing football and not
leaving the state.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Right, right.
And geographically.
Yeah, and that part is fun, butalso just um not worrying about
all the things that collegeathletics has to worry about
these days as well.
I mean, none of that existed.
Uh no.
You went and played football.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
That's correct.
And it was all amateur sports.
Um we would play a a game or twooutside the state, Troy, or um
uh another Alabama-Oklahom team,but yeah, by and large, when you
had that many in the AIC, mostof them were conference games,
uh-huh.
Most of them were in-state, mostof them uh were were close
(07:51):
games, and and we set a great uhgreat episode.
What position did you play?
I was defensive back, uh, andthe uh coach Stevens uh had uh
at that time a monster man andand roamed around, and I was
sort of a a third linebacker,inside linebacker of sorts.
Right?
(08:11):
Yeah, AIC championship teams?
You know, uh uh we I thinkfinished second and third the
years I was there, um, althoughI was uh uh a freshman when
Bobby Tyner was a senior, andthey may have won the
championship then, but I was uhnot on the team at that.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
Senior year.
Yeah, the legendary Bobby Tyner.
Bobby Tyner.
Right, one of the great uhquarterbacks in Arkansas college
football history.
History.
Really, yeah.
He was fantastic.
Um what kind of and when youmentioned you were rattling off
a lot of uh big name coachesthere, not just at um State
Teachers College uh but inArkansas college history.
(08:55):
What kind of impact when youlook back on the guys that were
there and mentors you had playedfor you?
Uh what kind of impact did theyhave on you as a you know a
young um uh 18, 19-year-oldcollege kid?
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
Well, I was fortunate to have uh Coach
Lovell from the time I was uh inthe ninth grade all the way
through our graduation becausehe moved essentially from Conway
High School head coach to uh UCAoffensive coordinator line
coach, I believe.
He was on the offensive side ofthe ball.
I know that for sure.
And and then uh we had uh uhCoach Stevens and and I
(09:32):
mentioned Coach Bright.
And a lot of folks see CoachBright as a football coach that
don't know he was actually atrack coach prior to becoming uh
the head football coach.
He was just a great that thosewere years when UCA was
unbeatable at track.
Yeah.
Just great athletes.
SPEAKER_00 (09:48):
Yeah, all the AIC schools um you know had track.
Right.
Um, I went to Henderson, we did,I think Henderson is restarting
their track program now, and sotrack I think is making kind of
a comeback, but it was a it wasa big sport for all the AIC
schools, and now it's just kindof hit or miss.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
So you spent after aftergraduation, December 1970 is
(10:10):
when you were a midtermgraduate.
Um, what was your first job?
Was was education and coachingand teaching?
Is that something that was uh onyour radar immediately?
Tell me where you landed afterUCA first.
Uh no.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
Um my first uh bus stop after uh after finishing my
degree in December was uh FortKnox, uh, Kentucky.
So I was uh on active duty, uhhad an ROTC commission from UCA
and then immediately went onactive duty.
Well, I say that March uh maybe15th.
So I had a couple three monthsbefore I went on active duty,
(10:47):
but uh from from uh uh theclassroom to another classroom.
Um at the time, uh we were I wasat officer basic training and at
Fort Knox as a tanker.
Okay.
Uh and then from there, uh threemonths after that, I found
myself at a place called FortWalters, Texas, in flight
(11:09):
school.
But and went uh five or sixmonths at Walters and then down
to a place called Fort Rucker,Alabama, which is uh South
Alabama, down around Dothan.
And uh finished flight schooldown there and from flight
school graduation over to FortCampbell, Kentucky, and spent a
couple years there before I cameback to UCA.
(11:31):
Yeah.
Came back home.
SPEAKER_00 (11:32):
What brought you back to to UCA, to Arkansas?
SPEAKER_01 (11:35):
You know, Paul, we were talking a little bit about
this.
I had a couple three offers uhin outside of education, and it
was a it was a hard call, andand I I look back now and think
I made the right decision.
But at the time, um a littleorganization that was run by a
fellow by the name of Ross Perotuh offered me a job uh with his
(11:57):
company, and um as as God wouldhave it, I was home on leave,
and if I recall then uh the uhthe occurrence, well I ran into
Bill Stevens, Coach Stevens, whowas doing track, and uh in
Conway and and we were talking,and he said, No, I really need a
(12:19):
graduate assistant to come backand and help me, and you don't
have anything else to do.
As uh he put it, and I thought,well, maybe I don't, Coach.
He still had a lot of influenceover me.
Coaches do, you know.
But anyway, I I took a detour,and that detour worked out real
well for me.
And and uh maybe the corporatelife would have been uh exciting
(12:42):
also, but I I can't look backand and uh think I made a bad
decision.
Coach Stevens offered me agraduate assistantship.
I came back and and off ofactive duty and finished my
master's and then I startedteaching.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
Yeah, and then that and the way you went, teaching
and and school administration,and that was uh that was your
career.
Um started in Conway.
Did you ever imagine um whereyour career would go as a GA
football coach for the UCABears?
I mean, did you what wascoaching like?
I mean, you were still so young.
I mean, um, what was coachinglike compared to you know
(13:17):
playing football, coaching guysthat were not that far from your
age?
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
It was a natural transition.
Yeah.
Um uh the and then so I'll I'llback up and digress just a
minute, Paul.
So uh as I was uh working asgraduate assistant GA for Coach
Stevens, uh Bill Stevens, uhthen I also parallel uh I took a
(13:43):
job flying helicopters in theNational Guard on the weekends.
So as old uh country preachersused to call it, I was somewhat
bivocational from that point touh on to almost 30 years later.
And so but it was uh uh it was agreat time and and I enjoyed uh
the GA year.
(14:05):
Uh Coach Stevens really helpedme better understand the process
of coaching kids in track.
It's a different sport.
Uh it's uh a lot more laid backand and but yet a pretty
fundamentally difficult sportbecause you have to train almost
uh by yourself in many cases.
(14:26):
So as a as compared to a teamsport.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
Yeah.
So as a teacher and coach, youryour career then got into
administration?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Um so um I started at the junior high level and
then uh went from there to thehigh school.
Uh uh high school principal atthe time was a fellow by the
name of James Clark, who wasalso one of my coaches earlier
in the year.
And I should have uh early in mycareer in high school, I should
have mentioned Coach Clark, buthe offered me a position as
(14:55):
assistant principal to highschool, and then I stayed there
four years, four great years,and he he was probably one of
the best building administratorsI've ever been around.
He was pretty tough, but at thesame time fair, and taught me a
lot of process procedures, howto deal with parents, uh, how to
deal with uh uh kids who werestruggling either uh emotionally
(15:18):
or academically or whatever, butgenerally speaking had had
problems and then uh but he hegave me some really good
assignments as far as uh afterschool stuff and and things like
that.
So um Mr.
Carl Stewart was superintendent,and I probably couldn't have had
a better mentor.
But at some point in time, uhPaul, after about four years at
(15:42):
the high school level, uh I wasoffered another graduate
assistantship in at theuniversity uh for graduate
school.
And I had already uh gone tonine classes and picked up what
uh educators called a specialistdegree.
It was a uh intermediate almostclose to a terminal degree.
Then you but it was also veryeasy then to move from the
(16:05):
specialist into the doctoralprogram.
Then they wanted you to have ayear on campus, a residency,
they used to call it.
So I I asked for a leave ofabsence in Conway and and was
granted a leave of absence, cameup here and worked on my
graduate degree, terminaldegree.
SPEAKER_00 (16:22):
What did you uh what'd you go back to Central
Arkansas for?
What what job awaited you afteryou finished?
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
I went back to Conway uh and stayed in Conway
uh maybe another three to fouryears, total of seven years in
Conway, and then was offered ajob at the Department of
Education working for uh thedepartment as uh the Tyler was
director of secondary educationstate, which was kind of
ominous, but it was uh a really,really good learning job.
(16:52):
Stayed there six years.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:54):
Um moved from that job to uh superintendency, first
superintendency was uh inGreenbrier.
Yeah.
So I stayed there five years,great years.
I enjoyed uh rural uh Arkansasand and uh people at Greenbrier
would write to me and and wejust had a great situation.
Um I was offered a job back downin the city, North Little Rock,
(17:19):
as an assistant superintendent,stayed there a couple of years
and then moved up here.
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
Yeah, Greenbrier and um and Fayetteville are are two
pretty different communities.
SPEAKER_01 (17:31):
Yes, uh, but I love the flavor.
Yep.
I mean, you know, I don't justdrink uh regular coffee.
You gotta have a cappuccinoevery now and then, you know.
And so uh no, that was the greatthing about uh education, at
least in in my uh 30 plus years,is that it was it was there was
always uh uh another mountaintime, another uh job that had a
(17:56):
lot of interest for one reasonor another.
The Department of Education job,I got to see the state of
Arkansas as as education, andwhich really broadened my uh
knowledge where I would visitschools, we would do
accreditation studies, I had uhopportunities to uh see what was
going on in Pine Bluff and atthe same time benchmark uh uh
(18:16):
what was happening there ascompared to what I might could
do in Greenbrier.
And so it was a a a great uhvantage point uh those six
years.
I traveled the state a lot.
Yeah.
Got to see a lot of really fineeducators, and we had a great
education, public educationprogram in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_00 (18:33):
You know, one thing I've always wanted to ask
superintendents is you know,what is something the public
does not realize about your job,or maybe it's something they
don't appreciate the job of apublic school superintendent.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Oh wow, Paul.
Well, uh I you know, I mean itit I don't I'm sure any there's
any empirical evidence, what I'mabout to tell you, but I found
that uh it was fairly routine uhfrom eight until about three
thirty, but the fun started uhafter after that four o'clock
and and activities there all thetime.
I think what I saw is thir is isthirteen years up here um and
(19:11):
five more years as asuperintendent, not counting the
uh assistant's jobs and all.
Uh that the administrator isalmost always on duty.
Uh you know, you think you havethe weekends off, but no the
phone rings and something'shappened or or uh it just i it's
(19:32):
just not predictable as far asthe weekend is concerned.
But uh yeah, I would say a lotof folks don't realize that uh
school administrators,principals, superintendents,
assistants they really go prettymuch ten to twelve hours a day.
Uh if if uh we're in a statechampionship and it's a state
(19:53):
championship uh time i at HotSprings, then you're down hot
springs watching the watchingthe team play.
Or you know, you've got uh totravel to uh a Monticello big
baseball team is is uh uhbaseball games going on.
So yeah, it it's just uh uh ajob that moves constantly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:16):
Right.
And those are just two examplesof two sports, not just the
entire width and breadth of allthe extracurricular activities.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (20:23):
And and we did, and I'd be amiss not to mention our
our band programs, everything uhfrom A to Z.
Um and I was fortunate.
We had a great band director,and and so I I was able to go to
uh the Rose Bowl with our band.
Um my wife and I did uh went touh Macy's Thanksgiving Day
(20:44):
parade.
So really a lot of benefits uhwith the extracurricular
activities, but also uhresponsibilities as it year goes
along.
SPEAKER_00 (20:52):
I I can't help but chuckle of the comparison
between a road assignment toMonticello and a road assignment
to Pasadena.
Well different, a littledifferent.
SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
You know, uh uh this this uh we don't have enough
time in the week, uh Paul, forall those stories, but we went
to the Rose Bowl.
Yeah.
Just uh we had a kind ofsurprise.
Uh the the way they do that isthey they keep it, they the Rose
Bowl committee keeps the bandselections quiet until the very
end that I didn't know aboutuntil maybe a day or two before
(21:25):
the announcement.
But anyway, it was justabsolutely an unbelievable
experience.
And all those years you see iton television, and uh I grew up
watching the Rose Bowl paradeand then the Rose Bowl itself,
you know, after the Cotton Bowluh and all of that.
But uh unfortunately, and Idon't remember if this is how
(21:46):
accurate this is, maybe a littleembellished, but almost a
hundred years prior to the yearthat we were there and it rained
the entire time.
The entire time.
But it was a our our band didgreat.
We we marched the entire route.
uh we're a little soaked up atthe time.
Those of us in the in thebleachers were a little bit wet.
But anyway, it was a great storyand a great time.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I remember I've been to the Rose Bowl game one time.
Yeah.
And it was um a few years backwhen Auburn played Florida State
uh the BCS championship game andit rained that morning and it
rained on the parade, which theytalked about same as you like
that never happens.
It has never happened.
But the rain eventually clearedout and the football game was
dry but um that's a beautifulplace beautiful stadium.
SPEAKER_01 (22:31):
Absolutely it was historical and and I our kids
did well and I'm so proud of uhthe parents we had a separate
bus for the parents it was justa great time yeah I want to go
back to your um your militarychapter your military experience
and that that's a fascinating umuh mixture of of that experience
and how maybe you used that orthat that impacted your
(22:53):
leadership experience in inpublic school was that the case
did you did you find that thatum one of those influenced the
other yes it was almost seamlessuh now the the way the army is
structured uh I mean as anofficer you're always in a
leadership position however umthe jobs change and as the jobs
(23:16):
as I moved up in rank then Imoved up more into more defined
leadership position continued tofly but I was a company
commander or I was a battalioncommander or whatever it might
have been so uh yeah I would gofrom uh Sunday drill back to
Monday morning uh leadership andand so uh yeah it it was
(23:39):
constantly and and I was I wasblessed with great subordinate
leaders I just uh in both sidesof the uh of the occupation uh
careers uh had had great supportstaff and and so yes uh but uh
Monday morning didn't look a lotdifferent than Sunday morning
(24:00):
some weekends because of of uhthe responsibility of leadership
and uh what I had uh in front ofyeah you've got to have um great
assistance I'm sure you hadgreat assistance oh I did I was
blessed everywhere and and Iwould back to the the aviation
side Paul one of the things thatwas also uh very therapeutic uh
(24:22):
because if I were just flying uhthen it was just almost like
mindlessness and that sounds butto get away from uh the
activities and the and theissues that I was facing either
on Monday morning or that I lefton Friday afternoon was just
absolutely therapeutic.
(24:42):
And I the guys I flew with uhwas uh many of them were the
same people for 13 years andwe're just dear friends uh even
today.
Do you still fly?
No.
Um when's the last time I don'tthink it I don't think it's a
part-time hobby.
Yeah oh I want it to be apart-time hobby.
You know you can do golf or youcan fish part-time but I just
never found it uh was a goodidea to do it part-time okay um
(25:07):
when was the last time uh I Iflew uh Judy and I rented a
plane I got uh current and weran a plane flew around the
state uh probably oh uh 12 or13, 2013 2014 something like
that.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we had just she and I and andshe really enjoyed it and and uh
(25:28):
it was good to get back into theair but now we let American
Airlines or one of the others doit of course.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Well let's talk about uh hobbies you mentioned
hobbies there um and you retiredin 2009 17 years ago um you know
we're obviously a big razorbackbaseball fan big Dave Van Horn
fan we'll find you in BaumStadium pretty much every time
they open the gates try to beyeah so what's retirement been
like for you the past 17 yearsafter spending your whole career
(25:56):
working with with students inschools and um how how how has
it been the last 17 years?
SPEAKER_01 (26:03):
You know, Paul I I uh don't now as often as I did
but used to get calls frompeople who would retire after me
and say hey how are you likingit?
Or uh well first of all uh theArkansas teacher retirement
system is fabulous.
Uh it it really provides a goodgood um um parachute for
(26:23):
teachers and administrators asthey as we retire and able then
uh to go off and and dosomething well what what I I
tell younger people is the greatthing is you get to write your
own job description.
First time in your life youdon't have to be a principal or
a a math teacher or a thirdgrade uh elementary teacher you
get to write your own uh uh jobdescription and uh God would
(26:48):
just really bless Judy and meand we were with grandkids and
uh then I did uh uh not as muchnow but I did I tried to stay
active and so road biking uhtried golf and and and I was
just not uh I was just not agolfer yeah but uh tried several
uh uh some trout fishing andthat sort of thing so it but
(27:10):
it's just uh a variety of of uhthings and then there are
obligations as you get uhgrandkids and you end up in my
case uh going to Wichita orKansas City or Panama City with
traveling teams and it was justblessed bless time that we
really enjoyed those kids are uhare now up in uh high school and
(27:33):
and uh college and uh but ityeah they they and when I say
write job description I guesswhen you have grandkids they
write they help you write thejob description and their
parents certainly do.
SPEAKER_00 (27:46):
We need to get you back out on the golf course.
You just had your LAC surgeryand you bet you maybe may open
up a whole new world right wellI'm not sure it was the eyes
were the problem.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
You know I think Coach Van Horn you mentioned him
maybe he he's able to say yeahthis this player needs go get
better eyes.
I'm not sure better eyes helphelp my golf game.
In addition to people that callyou um you know retired asking
how do you like it do you everget calls from um current
administrators or currentsuperintendents that want some
advice or not just fromFayetteville but just at large
(28:19):
people giving you justcoincidental apologies our our
conversation today um and I'mgonna guess it was four or five
months ago I had an opportunityto have lunch with uh Tim
Hudson, the board current boardpresident and uh the current
Fayetteville superintendent wehad a great time and uh
discussed uh issues of uh yearsago and how we operated as a
(28:42):
school district as compared tosome of the issues that they're
facing today, which is a lot ofit's just when uh you're in a
leadership position and you havean opportunity to intermingle
and and work with uh people uhthen that doesn't change.
Um maybe the the uh tools of uhthat are into a box for
(29:04):
educators have changed some butby and large it's still a a
people uh profession and so uhuh the superintendent and uh Tim
and I had a had a greatconversation and I loved
listening to his vision and Ithink he's just doing a fabulous
job.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
So from that perspective and then just from
your perspective of s of keepingup with Arkansas public
education at large and I knowyou've been retired for 17
years.
How different uh were Arkansasschools then compared to today
to when you started?
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
Well I I I I think the the the goal is still the
same that is develop youngpeople for a changing world.
And uh it as you start with thatbroad vision then you hone it
down into what is the um whatare the subsets for educators.
(29:59):
Uh whether it is uh uh educationuh for uh higher ed uh
development or is it careerdevelopment or whatever you try
to break uh the the elephantdown into smaller pieces to buy
it and and it then you hope thatyou have really good teachers
and you've got good a goodprogram that's disciplined and
(30:22):
one that has uh great leadershipfrom the school board level but
that doesn't change that'sfundamental education whether
you're talking about using AIand technology today or uh then
as as uh the uh technology wasjust emerging into uh education
still uh johnny and and jane uhhave to be presented the best
(30:47):
education process bestopportunities yeah it sounds
like you um you never reallyretire from education i mean
it's still with you i mean icould tell you're you still fake
about it and you're still as asuh thoughtful and passionate
about it as you were when youwere in it well i i think Paul
I'll go back to the grandkid uhuh grandkid stories uh it's real
(31:09):
interesting to see uh from aneducator slash grandparent yeah
uh perspective uh how uh thosekids matriculated up and what
kind of problems did they haveand looking at it from this side
of the desk and not your side ofthe desk uh but as a parent I
would see things that uh I I saywell I wish I'd known to do this
(31:33):
would have been a bettersituation for the kids than what
I did there.
So I was able to compareeducation as with the grandkids
if we as we got older.
SPEAKER_00 (31:44):
Right.
Sure.
What do you um when you'relooking back on your career,
what do you hope that you knowthe students seem to be very
important to you?
What do you hope your studentsand your colleagues remember
about you when they say uh Dr.
Bobby New, yeah that was mysuperintendent at Fed or what do
you want people to to rememberabout you?
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Yeah I I think the values that uh had at the time
uh were were extremely importantand and I I pray that uh that
was the perspective that bothboth the the community the board
and and the teachers uh knewabout uh about me that I was I
was gonna be as honest aspossible.
(32:25):
I was going to uh make sure thatwe had uh uh the best of of uh
education opportunities for thekids.
I was always passionate abouteducation and I always enjoyed
um helping kids and seeing themsucceed and I think that was one
of the things that uh I enjoyeduh about being in Fayetteville
(32:49):
because it's an educationcommunity and we were really
hitched up uh I thought it was auh in my opinion it was a good a
good match from uh North Rock uphere and but but I guess looking
back on it Paul the the thingthat uh I want to make sure that
I did was that the kids had thebest opportunity possible
(33:10):
through leadership.
All right what what makes a goodleader in the classroom what
makes a good teacher what whatwould you define that as well
you know uh I didn't teach thatmuch uh I went from the
classroom to um administrationpretty quickly uh and I always
thought my primary job wassupporting the classroom
(33:31):
teacher.
That information that it isexchanged in the classroom is
absolutely essential.
And a teacher who is who hasthat transmission communication
skill is just unbeatable anyother profession uh in America.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
And so uh yeah administrator is wise to to make
sure the teachers understandthat uh he or she is there to
support them and what ta takesplace in Flash yeah and that
kind of um you know UCAcontinues to prepare and
graduate more teachers than anycollege in Arkansas Arkansas
State teachers that's right DNAthat's right that's where my
(34:10):
mother graduated retired highschool uh English teacher
freshman English teacher so umjust when you think about young
teachers starting today you knowwe'll graduate more teachers
here in just a few weeks at UCAum you know what advice would
you give them about you knowmaybe landing their first job or
choosing between differentoptions for your first term but
(34:31):
just kind of what advice wouldyou give them to start their
career?
SPEAKER_01 (34:34):
You know, Paul the the the thing I I always
believed fundamental to any jobdo you love kids?
Do you love being around kids?
Do you enjoy seeing themsucceed?
Are you able to anticipate aproblem, a discipline problem?
Uh uh can you separate um yourfeelings about a child and try
(34:57):
to understand have empathy forand compassion for where the
child has been that day, thatmorning uh what kind of of uh
obstacles did the child face.
I think that's that'sundercurrent what goes on in any
education system.
You asked me earlier about uhwhat has changed.
Well the the obvious things havebeen uh technology and teaching
(35:20):
tools but the fundamental issueof getting inside that
youngster's head and trying tounderstand what really is uh
important uh for him to learn,for her to learn is critical.
And you've got to have thatpassion for teachers got to have
that passion for that particularaspect of teaching or she's just
(35:41):
not going to be very uh happywith her job.
Uh uh a nurse that doesn't enjoyuh being in a room with a sick
person seeing that personprogress into uh wellness.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Right right now that's that's great perspective
in a person who doesn't you'vegot to enjoy flying right you've
got to enjoy being up in the airand being in control of the
airplane and I mean the samething no matter what your
industry um that's somethingthat you've that you've got to
consider.
Here's something I like to askall of my guests who are UCA
alums thinking back to your yourtime on campus and as a student
(36:16):
what did you what does UCA, whatdid UCA mean to you personally,
just as a student, as a youngperson?
SPEAKER_01 (36:22):
Well um Paul I have to admit that and it sound
sounds almost uh like anoxymoron but I wasn't a serious
classroom student.
And um no it it was it was aboutactivities.
There was a book in the late 70suh that was written that really
(36:44):
was maybe mid to late 70s notlong after I got into profession
that I thought was just great.
It's called um a place calledschool it's written by a fellow
by the name of John Goodlad whowas I believe he was Washington
State or Washington and thatbook uh made a huge huge impact
(37:07):
on on my outlook about schoolessentially I'll come back to my
personal opportunities butessentially what he did through
years and years of research whatuh Dr.
Goodland did uh was look at atthe uh almost an autopsy of of
(37:28):
education at secondary level uhand after years of research and
and uh uh empirical evidence itappears that the kids go to
school really for one primaryreason is that's because other
kids are there.
You know uh the the uh studentthat uh gets up in the morning
(37:54):
wants to see his friends, wantsto see her friends.
And uh so as you began todevelop a culture or an
environment for educators,you've got to look at what does
that picture look like as itrelates to the social system of
education rather than just thecognitive aspect of education.
(38:19):
And so it it made a differenceas to how I approached um
helping uh young leaders,principals, um how it helped uh
me unders better understand uhthe lunch period which is is
just a great opportunity forlearning.
How does that work?
Well then you put bulletinboards up where kids will I mean
(38:41):
there's just all sort of subtlethings that you you can do to
help kids better understand uhthat their friends are there and
and we're gonna be a a friendfriendly uh environment.
Right.
Uh whether it's extracurricular.
I remember as uh uh I was on theArkansas Activity Association
(39:02):
Board of Directors Paul and wehad a a person in the state that
uh uh was uh financially secureand he was real this this uh he
was non-eductor uh he was realinterested in beginning starting
wrestling in the state ofArkansas pretty foreign to us we
(39:26):
we don't have it in college eventill today right but he came uh
this person came and andpresented to the board of
directors um his vision for amore uh inclusive uh sports
program meaning wrestling ithappens in all of our contiguous
(39:47):
states I'm not sure aboutLouisiana but anyway so we began
one summer met the board metthree or four times a year but
this so happened during thesummer is the longer maybe week
long board meeting and he camein so we talked about it at
breakout sessions we talkedabout at dinner the triple A is
(40:08):
made up of superintendents andsystem superintendents um from
all sides of school from umFayetteville to Greenbrier or
and and and that's a great it'sa it's it's great makeup because
you get perspective of whathappens in rural education as
well as uh suburban cityeducation.
(40:29):
Yeah.
Anyway we all had differentviews and a lot of the smaller
school schools saw it as aburden, a financial burden and
what was it really going to do.
This this particular um uhsupporter wrestling supporter uh
then agreed uh to buy theequipment for all schools that
(40:49):
would participate so not to getinto the weeds let me get on
down the road where I was goingto tell you so I I my belief was
and and I think we had evidenceto to support what I'm about to
say if if a child is around acoach, if a child's around an
extracurricular band director,choir director, I'll leave
(41:10):
somebody out and you always getin trouble when you do that.
Extracurricular extracurricularthere you go there's a better
chance that that that student isthen going back to a place
called school the book that isgoing to make friends and there
won't be negative influences asmuch as if a child doesn't have
that opportunity.
(41:30):
Anyway I think that year theboat failed I I'm not I'm not
sure about the history of thisbut I that that year it it
failed.
I think there were the ruraleducators were just they just
weren't interested and Iunderstand that.
When you have a graduation classof 600 versus 60 sure and there
(41:54):
there's really not that thatthat gap's pretty large.
Anyway, but I appreciated theirposition.
Well we were able to uh bring itback the next sum bring that
request back the next summer andit passed but I was somewhat
passionate about it and thereason I had no idea I hadn't I
(42:14):
I the only time I ever wrestledwas in offseason.
Yeah that happened to be coachone of Coach Bright's favorite
offseason yeah we wouldn't sawfour and sport you're not
familiar with wrestling.
But the fundamental issue isthat it was going to um open
another career opportunity forkids who maybe were 116 pounds
(42:40):
and they couldn't play football.
They couldn't play basketballbut by gosh they could be a
wrestler and it kept them afterschool it kept them engaged in
uh really um good activitiespositive activities but that was
just an example of of what wetried to do at a place called
(43:03):
school.
SPEAKER_00 (43:03):
Yeah and that you the whole time you were that's
the word that that was cominginto my head is engaged.
I mean engage the students andthen where can that lead?
In this case um you know sportsmore and more are an avenue um
for scholarship to college andthat's just another avenue for
that 116 pound weight classstudent to be successful in his
(43:24):
weight class and get ascholarship to go to college.
Exactly that might not haveexisted if we don't have uh
wrestling but anyway no that'sthat's all interesting uh and
your your lessons in leadershipand philosophy from a lifetime
and in education um uh is isterrific and all of that started
at UCA and it did start at UCAand I'm sorry I got us off a
(43:46):
little bit here Paul um I can'tsay uh uh enough good things
about uh my time at UCA and anduh and and I we focused on uh
the time that uh I was there asan
SPEAKER_01 (44:00):
Athlete, but I was also uh a student and I had some
great instructors and some greattimes, great memories.
Um there are three or four of usthat uh that still meet for
lunch, uh uh graduates, and wetalk about uh those times and
and the great things that wenton at UCA, but it was a super
environment.
It was a small environment atthat time.
(44:22):
And uh I I guess I didn't reallyappreciate the almost one-on-one
attention that I would get fromuh instructors or uh coaches or
whatever.
No, I I I think it would havebeen because I was not a serious
student, I think if I had nothad coaches and teachers as
counselors, yeah, I would nothave made uh I wouldn't have
(44:44):
continued the path.
But as it turned out, uh UCA wasthe right thing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:49):
Yeah, they were pretty hands-on, very hands-on,
yeah, very engaged back to thatword.
Absolutely.
And um, so yeah, well, listen,um Bobby, really appreciate you
being here.
As we as you mentioned earlierabout schedules, I know being
retired, you're not used tohaving a whole lot of dates on
the schedules to be somewhere ata certain time.
So uh really appreciate youcoming up here.
(45:10):
It's Razorback Baseball Day.
Razorback baseball day.
So yeah, that's right.
I know that uh the retiredschedule is different from the
the uh nine to five schedule.
So um uh it's great to visitwith you.
Thank you, Paul.
It's been fun.
Yeah, I really appreciate youbeing here today.
So all right, and that's it forthis edition of Central to NWA.
As always, we appreciate youtuning in.
(45:31):
Until next time, go Bears.
That's it for this episode ofCentral to NWA, a UCA podcast.
I'm Paul Gatling, SeniorDirector of Northwest Arkansas
Engagement for the University ofCentral Arkansas.
Be sure to subscribe to the showand follow UCA on all the
appropriate social media.
I'll see you next time onCentral to NWA.
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