Roy Thompson has a clear vision for how he wants to shape the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football team during his first preseason camp as head coach.
“Our attention to detail, getting those guys to play hard and finishing each and every rep…that’s what we’re looking for, and that’s what it’s going to take to win not only the first game, but each game,” said Thompson. “You’ve got to repeat that level every week. I think sometimes you focus on those little things in the spring, and then you lose sight of them until after the fact. But if you can have a mindset of every day being ultra important and trying to get it done at an elite level…that’s how we’ll have success.”
Thompson expects approximately 140 student-athletes to report for preseason camp on Saturday, Aug. 9, and participate in the Wonder Boys’ first practice of the season on Sunday, Aug. 10. Of those, approximately 70 are returners who participated in spring practice. The other 70 are newcomers, some from the high school ranks and some transfers from other universities and colleges.
“When I first got hired, we talked about the philosophy of go to work,” said Thompson. “Each and every day, you have to go out there and be the best version of yourself to try to do it at an elite level. The 70 guys that went through spring ball with us…those guys definitely have it. Now we’ve got new guys coming in…how do we get all those guys to mesh and understand the principles of who we are? I think Coach (Michael) Golden (ATU head strength and conditioning coach) did a great job in the summer workouts. We had over 100 kids here then, so they started to be able to go through our workout program and understand about being on time, accountability and finishing at an elite level. Some of them have a clue, but when you get out there on the grass it all ramps up.”
The daily schedule for the Wonder Boys during preseason camp will consist of practice each morning and a combination of team building, position group meetings, special teams meetings and weight training each afternoon. That pattern will continue until classes begin on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at which point they will move toward their weekly routine in preparation for the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 4, at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
“I’m excited to see how these kids compete,” said Thompson. “As coaches, we’ve got to do a great job of each and every day maintaining a high standard of accountability and detail for our players. Some guys are going to rise to the top and make it through this. Some are not going to be quite ready to meet our standards of excellence for what it takes to be successful. It’s our job as coaches to make sure that the kids who get on the bus to go to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks have passed the test. We’ll have a group of about 80 men that will travel to Southwestern ready to go to work.”
The results of competitive situations during practice will determine which 80 Wonder Boys will be on those buses.
“Competition breeds everything,” said Thompson. “We want to know who are the guys that have that competitive edge. We recruited these guys and retained them because they have a skill set. When we put those guys in a team situation or a one-on-one competition, usually the cream is going to rise to the top. We’re looking forward to getting out there and competing in all the different phases to see who the guys are that we feel like we can go to battle with when we go to SWOSU.”
Thompson said that a daily sense of urgency will be essential in his team being ready to take the field at Milam Stadium in Weatherford, Okla., on Sept. 4.
“We want to let them know who we are…our core values of how we want to represent Arkansas Tech University,” said Thompson. “We want to not only build their body, but build their mind. We’ve got 22 practices before that first game. When you go through in the summer and make the schedule out of what you’re going to do every day, it really hits you how important each day is. We’re going to try to stress that to our guys as coaches…how important every day, every rep is, because you’ve only got 22 days and you don’t want to waste one with a bad practice or not being at your best.”
The opportunity to lead the Arkansas Tech football program is one that Thompson has been building toward for a long time. It began when he was selected to coach his peers on a youth team back home in Mississippi. It continued through 18 seasons as an assistant coach, which included five Great American Conference championships at Ouachita Baptist University and recognition as the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II assistant coach of the year in 2024.
Now, as the 18th head football coach in Arkansas Tech history, Thompson is focused on leading the Wonder Boys back to the level that produced 18 conference championships (1931, 1935, 1939, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1994 and 1999), five national playoffs berths (1971, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009) and a national runner-up finish (1971).
“I’m excited,” said Thompson. “You’ve got all of these guys who decided to come to Tech or stay at Tech…they believe in a vision. I’m excited to meet the standard. I know the Wonder Boy community wants to win at a high level. We’re going to try to attack this thing every day. Every day I wake up trying to figure out how to make Arkansas Tech football the premier Division II school in the state of Arkansas. That’s my goal.”
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
