It’s a circle that began in 1995 when Joe Foley asked a recently retired Arkansas Tech University men’s basketball player if he had an interest in coaching.
Thirty-one years later, that circle is now complete and one of the winningest programs in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history has its new leader.
Daryl Fimple, ATU alumnus and six-time state champion at the highest classification of Arkansas high school girls’ basketball, is the seventh head coach in the half-century history of intercollegiate women’s basketball at Arkansas Tech.
Fimple’s appointment was announced on Monday, March 30, by Abby Davis, ATU director of athletics. He will be introduced to the ATU community as head coach of the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns during an event at Tucker Coliseum at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1. A reception will follow in the Tucker Coliseum Green and Gold Room.
“Daryl has been preparing for this opportunity since he was 10 years old,” said Davis. “From his first exposure to Arkansas Tech through Marty Barnes’ basketball camps to his days as a player for the Wonder Boys and continuing through his service on Joe Foley’s women’s basketball staff as a student assistant, Daryl became encultured in Arkansas Tech basketball from an early age. He took what he learned from Coach Barnes and Coach Foley and became one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in Arkansas history. In Coach Fimple, we have identified an individual who has the knowledge, the relationships and the will necessary to add to the incredible championship tradition of Golden Suns basketball.”
Arkansas Tech will celebrate its 50th season of intercollegiate women’s basketball in 2026-27. The Golden Suns have won two NAIA national championships, earned one NCAA Division II national runner-up finish, made seven national tournament semifinal appearances, won four NCAA Division II region championships, claimed 26 regular season conference titles and recorded 35 20-win seasons since the founding of the program in 1977-78.
Under the leadership of head coaches Jim Yeager (1977-82), Jim Dickerson (1982-87), Joe Foley (1987-2003), Carin Pinion-McNabb (2003-05), Todd Schaefer (2005-07) and Dave Wilbers (2007-26), the Golden Suns have earned 1,125 all-time wins, which ranks top 10 in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history.
Fimple won 668 games during a high school girls’ basketball head coaching career that included stints at Lonoke High School (1999-2005) and North Little Rock High School (2005-26).
North Little Rock had never won a state championship in girls’ basketball before Fimple’s arrival. The Lady Charging Wildcats won the title for Arkansas’ largest classification in his first season (2006) and his last (2026), with four more state championships (2010, 2016, 2018 and 2022) in between for a total of six state titles.
Fimple’s North Little Rock teams reached the state semifinals 17 times and the state championship game nine times. He led the Lady Charging Wildcats to 16 conference championships, and 56 of his players signed scholarships to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level.
“I am deeply honored to accept the head women’s basketball coach position at Arkansas Tech University,” said Fimple. “Returning to the program where my career began as a student coach is a true full‑circle moment. I am committed to honoring the university’s proud tradition, developing champions on and off the court and building a future our community can be proud of. Thank you for this incredible opportunity.”
Fimple graduated from Alma High School and enrolled at Arkansas Tech in 1993.
A reserve guard with the Arkansas Tech men’s basketball program from 1993-95, Fimple helped the Wonder Boys win two Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships and reach the semifinals of the 1995 NAIA National Tournament, matching the best national tournament finish in program history.
Shortly after he decided to stop playing following his sophomore year, Fimple was invited by Foley to become a student assistant with the Arkansas Tech women’s basketball program.
Fimple accepted the life-changing apprenticeship under Foley, who is the all-time leader in basketball coaching victories at Arkansas Tech (456), a two-time NAIA national champion (1992 and 1993) and a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
“Like all of us, Daryl went through the growing process,” said Foley. “He started at Lonoke…he won there, and then he got to North Little Rock and turned it into a perennial powerhouse. He’s grown into a fabulous coach who has a great rapport with his kids. They love playing for him. He knows how to have fun, but he knows how to work hard, too.
“He will bring in good talent, and he knows how to work with it and get the best out of them,” continued Foley. “We recruited some of his kids (at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock), so I know how disciplined they are and how well-prepared they are. He’ll work hard at it. (ATU) has made a great choice. He’ll bring a great amount of enthusiasm to that program, and I think he’ll be great.”
