By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
EL DORADO - In 15 years of coaching senior high girls basketball at Parkers Chapel, Mark Young’s teams never had a losing record. In that span, the Lady Trojans went to six state tournaments, two state semifinals and advanced to the state championship game in 2011, losing to England 31-29.
It’s an impressive track record of success. But, Young decided recently to make some different tracks.
Young resigned at Parkers Chapel and will return to Hampton as head junior high football coach and assistant senior high football coach.
Young’s wife Jana is the assistant superintendent at Hampton High School. His youngest daughter Allison graduates from Parkers Chapel next month.
“I’ve been considering what my options would be and what I wanted to do for a couple years now. I knew when Allison graduated I’d have some options open. It was just one of those things that just kind of happened. It came out of the blue. I wasn’t really expecting it,” Young said. “Once I realized there was a spot open up there and I got to thinking about it. I thought, ‘you know, that’s something I might really enjoy doing.’ I coached football here for seven years. I hadn’t been in it for the last three and I missed it. I love the game of football, working with the boys on the football field and Friday nights were really special. I thought this might be something that will give me a little bit of a new charge. I started looking into it and got to talking to them about it. Next thing you know, it was there for me to have. I just jumped on it. It felt right.”
Young coached at Hampton for three years before leading Kingsland’s girls to a 71-5 record in two seasons. In 15 years at Parkers Chapel, his senior girls went 343-138. In his 20-year career, his senior girls have posted a 453-184 record.
Despite that success in girls basketball, he said he’s looking forward to getting back out on the gridiron.
“Basketball is one of those things I really love to do and I’ve been doing it for a long time now, right at 28 years I’ve been involved in basketball one way or another. I’ve been involved in football, too, probably about 11 of those years,” he said. “I know I’m going to miss basketball because I love the game and I love everything associated with the game. But, I love football, too. I love coaching. I’m going to get an opportunity to coach and kind of change my focus a little bit. I think it’s going to be really good. I don’t have any regrets on getting out of basketball. I’ll just move on to the next stage. This is what God has presented to me, right now. I’m taking advantage of it and I’m looking forward to getting up there and working with the boys and being apart of that. It’s going to be good.
“I try not to sit back and think about all the other stuff, what I’m leaving behind and everything. It’s a great opportunity for me personally. I really hadn’t thought what was best for me, personally, in a long time.”
Looking back on the success of the Lady Trojans, Young credited the student-athletes for their hard work.
“I’ve never seen me score a basket on film. And, I’ve watched a lot of film and I’ve never scored a basket,” he said. “But, we’ve sure had plenty of fine, young ladies here that scored lots of baskets. More importantly, played with tremendous heart, played the game the right way, defended, rebounded and did it for us rather than for themselves.”
During his tenure at Parkers Chapel, Young, at various times, was apart of the school’s football, softball and golf coaching staffs. He was a fixture at the Racquet Club as the official scorekeeper when PC hosted the 2A state tennis tournament during the fall.
But, he said there’s still some black-and-gold in his veins, too.
“I still considered myself a part of that community,” he said. “A lot of the kids there, I know. And, some of the kids there, I coached their parents when I was there 20 years ago. I don’t if I’d call it a homecoming or not. I don’t know if that’s the right word. It’s certainly a good feeling. I enjoyed my time there. When I left, it was a good move for me. I think now that I’m going back, it’s a good move for me.
“My time at Chapel has been wonderful. I’ve gotten more here from the people in this community than I could ever give back or repay. They’ve supported us. They followed us all over Arkansas and parts of Louisiana to games. They’ve given and supported our program with their hard-earned money. It’s a special, unique place with as caring a group of people as I could ever hope to be around.
“My biggest appreciation would be to Mike LaRue, our former principal, who retired and Mr. John Gross, who took a chance on me. That’s where my biggest thanks would be and to the board who was in place at the time that gave me an opportunity to come here.
But, there’s too many to mention. There are lot of friendships here for me and a personal attachment here with all three of my kids finishing school here. It’s a very special place. We live here and don’t have any plans, right now, to move from here. We’ve set up a home place here and we like it.”