Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football

The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football team represents Arkansas Tech University in college football at the NCAA Division II level. The Wonder Boys are members of the Great American Conference (GAC), fielding its team in the GAC since 2011. The Wonder Boys play their home games at Buerkle Field at Thone Stadium in Russellville, Arkansas.

Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football
First season1911
Athletic directorAbby Davis
Head coachKyle Shipp
4th season, 12–21 (.364)
StadiumThone Stadium
(capacity: 6,500)
FieldBuerkle Field
Year built1934
Field surfaceFieldTurf
LocationRussellville, Arkansas
NCAA divisionDivision II
ConferenceGreat American
Past conferencesIndependent (1911–1928, 1956–1957)
Arkansas Intercollegiate (1929–1955, 1958–1994)
Gulf South (1995–2010)
All-time record57440445 (.583)
Playoff appearances5
Playoff record3–5
Conference titles14
RivalriesSouthern Arkansas[1]
ColorsGreen and gold[2]
   
MascotJerry the Bulldog
Websitearkansastechsports.com

Their head coach is Kyle Shipp, who took over the position for the 2019 season.

History

John Tucker is ultimately responsible for the idiosyncratic nickname "Wonder Boys" for Arkansas Tech University. On November 15, 1919, Tucker, as a 17-year-old freshman, scored two touchdowns and kicked two extra points to lead the Second District Agricultural School Aggies to a 14–0 upset win over Jonesboro. In newspaper accounts following the game, Tucker and his teammates were referred to as "Wonder Boys," and the nickname remains to this day. Tucker was labeled as "The Original Wonder Boy" and was associated with the school for the rest of his life. He went on to play on the University of Alabama's Rose Bowl team in 1931 and served Arkansas Tech in a variety of roles – including coach, athletic director and chemistry professor – between 1925 and 1972. Two buildings on the Tech campus – Tucker Coliseum and Tucker Hall – are named in his honor.[3]

Postseason and championships

Originally the Second District Agricultural School when formed in 1909, Arkansas Tech has made five appearances in football national playoffs (1971, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). Led by All-American receiver Rick Thone, the 1971 Wonder Boys (12–1–0) made it to the national championship game of the NAIA playoffs, losing to Livingston State (now University of West Alabama) in the title game, 14–12, played in Birmingham, AL. In 1994, Tech lost in the first round of the NAIA playoffs to Langston (OK), 56–42, after capturing the final Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) football crown earlier that season. Firman W. Bynum, long-time Dean of Men at Tech, was the school's first All-American football player in 1939.

Tech won AIC football championships in 1931, 1935, 1939, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1994.

Arkansas Tech left the NAIA after the AIC disbanded following the 1994–95 academic year. Tech joined NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference at that time. Since then, Tech's football program has made appearances in the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 1999, 2004 and 2009. The 1999 team was the first from Arkansas to win the GSC football championship outright, while the 2004 Wonder Boys were the first team from Arkansas to host or win an NCAA Division II Playoffs game. Tech earned that honor by defeating Catawba College (N.C.) 24–20 on November 13, 2004. The Wonder Boys returned to the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 2009 and defeated the University of North Carolina at Pembroke 41–13 in the first round before falling to University of North Alabama 41–28 in the region semifinals.

Conference affiliations

List of head coaches

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records and conference records[7]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C%
1 William A. Isgrig 1911 7 4 3 0 0.571
2 Erwin H. Shinn 1912–1915 32 24 7 1 0.766
3 Walter B. Casey 1916–1917 3 1 1 1 0.500
4 D. K. McWilliams 1919 5 2 2 1 0.500
5 Edgar O. Brown 1920–1932 110 77 21 12 0.755
6 John Tucker 1933–1941, 1945–1947 102 74 17 11 0.779 46 13 7 0.750
7 Raymond Burnett 1948–1953 57 30 24 3 0.553
8 Sam Hindsman 1954–1958 49 31 16 2 0.653
9 Marvin Salmon 1959–1966 78 53 20 5 0.712 37 10 2 0.776
10 Don Dempsey 1967–1975 98 54 41 3 0.566 30 22 2 0.574
11 Leon Anderson 1976–1979 41 15 25 1 0.378 8 15 1 0.354
12 Harold Steelman 1980–1985 59 22 35 2 0.390 16 20 1 0.446
13 Ken Stephens 1986–1992 68 29 37 2 0.441 14 28 1 0.337
14 Brooks Hollingsworth 1993–1996 42 16 25 1 0.393 10 14 1 0.420
15 Steve Mullins 1997–2012 171 96 75 0 0.561 75 58 0 0.564
16 Raymond Monica 2013–2018 68 34 34 0 0.500 33 31 0 0.516
17 Kyle Shipp[8] 2019–present 33 12 21 0 0.364 12 21 0 0.364

Year-by-year results

National champions Conference champions Bowl game berth Playoff berth
Season Year Head coach Association Division Conference Record Postseason Final ranking
Overall Conference
Win Loss Tie Finish Win Loss Tie
Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys
1911 1911 William A. Isgrig NCAA Independent 4 3 0
1912 1912 Erwin H. Shinn 4 2 0
1913 1913 7 2 1
1914 1914 8 0 0
1915 1915 5 3 0
1916 1916 Walter B. Casey 1 0 1
1917 1917 0 1 0
No team in 1918
1919 1919 D. K. McWilliams NCAA Independent 2 2 1
1920 1920 Edgar O. Brown 4 0 2
1921 1921 7 0 0
1922 1922 8 1 0
1923 1923 6 1 1
1924 1924 6 1 2
1925 1925 7 2 0
1926 1926 6 2 0
1927 1927 5 1 0
1928 1928 AIC 7 2 0 1st Conference champions
1929 1929 4 4 1
1930 1930 5 2 2
1931 1931 7 1 2 1st Conference champions
1932 1932 6 2 1
1933 1933 John Tucker 3 3 1 6th 2 3 1
1934 1934 5 1 2 2nd 4 1 2
1935 1935 8 0 1 1st 6 0 1 Conference champions
1936 1936 6 2 0 2nd 5 1 0
1937 1937 8 1 0 2nd 3 1 0
1938 1938 4 2 2 3rd 2 2 0
1939 1939 7 0 2 1st 2 0 2 Conference champions
1940 1940 5 3 1 3rd 1 2 1
1941 1941 6 3 0 2nd 3 3 0
No team from 1942 to 1944
1945 1945 John Tucker NCAA AIC 8 0 0 1st 6 0 0 Conference champions
1946 1946 9 1 0 1st 6 0 0 Conference champions
1947 1947 8 1 0 1st 6 0 0 Conference champions
1948 1948 Raymond Burnett 8 2 0
1949 1949 9 1 1
1950 1950 6 3 1
1951 1951 3 6 0
1952 1952 1 7 0
1953 1953 3 5 1
1954 1954 Sam Hindsman 8 1 0
1955 1955
1956 1956 NAIA Independent
1957 1957
1958 1958 AIC
1959 1959 Marvin Salmon
1960 1960 10 1 0 1st 8 0 0 Conference champions 20
1961 1961 8 0 1 1st 6 0 1 Conference champions 17
1962 1962 8 1 1 2nd 6 1 0
1963 1963 3 5 2 5th 3 3 1
1964 1964 9 1 0 1st 7 0 0 Conference champions 16
1965 1965 7 3 0 3rd 5 2 0
1966 1966 3 6 1 7th 2 4 0
1967 1967 Don Dempsey 5 3 1 2nd 3 2 1
1968 1968 10 2 0 1st 5 1 0 Conference champions 4
1969 1969 6 4 1 2nd 4 1 1
1970 1970 Division I 8 3 0 T–1st 5 1 0 Conference co-champions
1971 1971 12 1 0 1st 6 0 0 L Champion Bowl 2
1972 1972 5 4 1 3rd 4 2 0
1973 1973 4 7 0 T–5th 2 4 0
1974 1974 1 9 0 7th 0 6 0
1975 1975 3 8 0 6th 1 5 0
1976 1976 Leon Anderson 1 10 0 7th 0 6 0
1977 1977 6 4 0 T–3rd 3 3 0
1978 1978 5 5 0 5th 2 4 0
1979 1979 3 6 1 3rd 3 2 1
1980 1980 Harold Steelman 6 4 0 3rd 4 2 0
1981 1981 4 5 1 T–5th 2 4 0
1982 1982 3 7 0 T–5th 2 4 0
1983 1983 4 5 1 2nd 4 1 1
1984 1984 4 5 0 T–4th 3 3 0
1985 1985 1 9 0 7th 1 6 0
1986 1986 Ken Stephens 6 4 0 T–2nd 5 2 0
1987 1987 2 6 1 7th 1 4 1
1988 1988 6 4 0 3rd 3 3 0
1989 1989 6 3 0 4th 3 3 0
1990 1990 4 6 0 7th 0 6 0
1991 1991 0 10 0 7th 0 6 0
1992 1992 4 5 1 5th 2 4 0
1993 1993 Brooks Hollingsworth 1 9 0 4th 1 3 0
1994 1994 7 4 0 1st 4 0 0 L NAIA Division I First Round
1995 1995 NCAA Division II GSC 3 6 1 8th 2 6 1
1996 1996 5 6 0 T–7th 3 5 0
1997 1997 Steve Mullins 4 7 0 6th 4 4 0
1998 1998 5 5 0 T–5th 4 5 0
1999 1999 9 3 0 1st 8 1 0 L NCAA Division II First Round
2000 2000 7 3 0 4th 7 2 0
2001 2001 8 2 0 T–2nd 7 2 0 16
2002 2002 4 7 0 T–8th 3 6 0
2003 2003 5 6 0 T–5th 4 5 0
2004 2004 10 2 0 2nd 8 1 0 L NCAA Division II Second Round 16
2005 2005 7 3 0 T–5th 6 3 0
2006 2006 7 3 0 T–5th 5 3 0
2007 2007 5 5 0 T–6th 3 5 0
2008 2008 5 5 0 T–6th 4 4 0
2009 2009 9 3 0 2nd 6 2 0 L NCAA Division II Second Round 18
2010 2010 4 7 0 T–9th 2 6 0
2011 2011 GAC 2 8 0 8th 1 4 0
2012 2012 5 6 0 6th 3 5 0
2013 2013 Raymond Monica 5 6 0 7th 5 5 0
2014 2014 3 8 0 T–7th 3 7 0
2015 2015 9 3 0 T–2nd 8 3 0
2016 2016 6 5 0 6th 6 5 0
2017 2017 8 4 0 T–2nd 8 3 0
2018 2018 3 8 0 T–9th 3 8 0
2019 2019 Kyle Shipp 3 8 0 T–8th 3 8 0
No team in 2020 due to COVID-19
2021 2021 Kyle Shipp NCAA Division II GAC 4 7 0 T–8th 4 7 0
2022 2022 5 6 0 T–6th 5 6 0
2023 2023

    Notes

    1. Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[4]
    2. A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
    3. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[5]
    4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[6]

    References

    1. Taylor, Erick. "Russellville set to host old rivals". Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
    2. Arkansas Tech University Academic Brand Identity & Visual Standards (PDF). January 15, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
    3. Polytechnic College
    4. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
    5. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
    6. Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
    7. "Arkansas Tech Coaching Records". Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
    8. "Dream Becomes Reality for Wonder Boys' New Coach". Arkansas Tech University. September 2, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
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