By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
A three-time state champion will be back on the Scrapper sidelines this fall.
Brad Chesshir was named head football coach Monday night, Dec. 9, during a special meeting of the Nashville School Board.
Members voted 5-0 to hire Chesshir as assistant athletic director, football coach and teacher.
“Welcome back home,” board president Tem Gunter said. “We’re excited about your enthusiasm, and we know what you’ll bring.”
The next day, Chesshir met with the Scrappers for the first time.
A Nashville native, Chesshir played on Scrapper teams that won back-to-back state championships in 2005 and 2006.
He’s remembered fondly in Nashville and not so fondly in Warren as the defender who stopped Lumberjack Jarius Wright on a two-point conversion attempt in the finals at War Memorial Stadium, securing the 2006 state title for the Scrappers with a 21-20 victory.
In 2015, Chesshir was defensive coordinator when Nashville won another state championship, this time a 39-20 decision over Prairie Grove at War Memorial.
Chesshir will come to Nashville from the South Pike County School District, where he served as athletic director and head football coach at Murfreesboro.
Chesshir and his wife Phylicia have three children – Paisley, 9; Bailey, 6; and Parker, 4.
Superintendent Doug Graham said a recent listing of state playoff victories showed Nashville with more wins than any other team in Arkansas. “There’s a standard when we talk about Scrapper football. There’s something special about Scrapper football,” Graham said.
Chesshir “embraces Scrapper spirit, pride, tradition, the brotherhood and knows it’s something special. He’s somebody the community can relate to and rally around,” according to Graham.
A 2007 graduate of Nashville High School, Chesshir received his Bachelor of Arts in physical education in 2012 from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. He earned his Master of Science in Education in Educational Leadership from Arkansas State at Jonesboro in 2022.
Chesshir’s teaching and coaching experience includes the following:
South Pike County School District 2022 until he resigned to accept the Nashville job. He was athletic director and head football coach at Murfreesboro.
De Queen 2020-2022, assistant athletic director, head football coach
Jonesboro 2018-2020, teacher Jonesboro High School, defensive coordinator/strength and conditioning coordinator
Nashville 2014-2018, defensive coordinator/strength and conditioning coordinator
Alexandia, La., head football coach 2013; defensive coordinator/strength and conditioning coordinator 2012
Graham expressed his “appreciation for the interest” shown by local applicants Brian Bearden and Tyler Clift, both of whom interviewed before the district’s search committee. “They brought ideas for the program and some needs to think about. Both had done their preparation.”
The district received about 14 applications, according to Graham.
Over at the South Pike County School District, the coach’s departure was not ideal, but the timing will allow time to hunt for replacement, says superintendent
The South Pike County School Board accepted the resignation of head football coach Brad Chesshir at their December meeting on Monday night.
Chesshir has been announced as the new football head coach at Nashville High School earlier Monday. Chesshir was a graduate of NHS in 2007, where he was an award-winning linebacker and part of the Scrappers’ two consecutive state championship teams in 2005-2006. Chesshir was also Nashville’s defensive coordinator in 2015 when Nashville won another state title.
In his three years at Murfreesboro High School following his hire from De Queen in the spring of 2022, the Rattlers went a combined 22-11 and won first round playoff games the past two seasons after being back-to-back 4-2A regular season conference champions.
The board accepted the resignation of Chesshir by a 6-0 vote. In addition to his coaching duties, Chesshir also served as the district’s athletic director.
After the meeting, Superintendent Tanya Wilcher voiced both disappointment and hope for the future.
“Well, I hate it personally and I hate it for our district — he has been wonderful and brought a culture to us that I feel like will keep us growing for years to come. I totally understand [his decision] — it’s his family and his hometown. He wants to go [there] and build what he has done for us. He feel like he needs to go to his hometown and do that. We will definitely miss him, but I hope we will bring someone in that will just pick up and keep going stronger. I feel like we have the type of program going now that will get some good applicants, and I think someone will love to come join our team. That’s what we are — a family — and we want someone to come be a part of our Rattler tradition.”
Wilcher said there was no timetable for the process to hire a new coach, other than it would begin immediately.
“I will open it up tonight [Monday] and it will be online. We are basically going to accept applications until we find that person. I don’t want to put a time on it, because I don’t want to rush it, and I also don’t want to have to extend it in order to find the right person.”
Wilcher said that while the decision by Chesshir was not ideal, the timing was as good as it gets, allowing the district to find a new coach prior to both spring practice and summer workouts — when the pool of possibilities would be much lessened.
“In March and April you have offseason going and everything rolling, you need somebody in place to help you get all that done.”
She also wished to put a good spin on the overcast day to conclude.
“I feel like it’s been a good year, we are growing, doing well, we are proud of our sports and our academics — it’s going to be good and we will have a great second semester. I want everybody just to remember what is important which is our students.”
