As the beginning of the 2025 Arkansas Tech University football season approaches, first-year head coach Roy Thompson is focused on establishing a standard that will return Wonder Boys football to the upper echelon of the Great American Conference.
“If we do it right this year, we’ll build a foundation that will live on,” said Thompson. “Our goal is to make sure the foundation is solid. Great teams have culture. Great teams have identity. Great teams know who they are. That’s what we’re trying to do. Our motto is go to work. If you want to be the best version of yourself, you have to go to work every day. If we can get our team to focus on that, we’re going to be fine.”
Arkansas Tech will open its 110th football season by facing Southwestern Oklahoma State University in GAC action at Milam Stadium in Weatherford, Okla., on Thursday, Sept. 4. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
The Wonder Boys are picked by league head coaches to finish seventh in the 12-team GAC this season. Arkansas Tech is seeking its first winning football season since 2017.
ATU has won 18 football conference titles. The most recent one was in 1999. The next time a group of Wonder Boys hoists a conference championship trophy it will end the longest gap between league titles in Arkansas Tech football history.
“If these kids buy into what we’re teaching and what we’re doing, then the conference championships are going to come,” said Thompson. “This team is as talented as any team I’ve ever been a part of, but you don’t win championships off of talent. You’ve got to be disciplined. You’ve got to be detailed. You’ve got to play extremely hard. You can’t beat yourself. Are we a championship team yet in all those areas? No. My job…my goal…is to get those dudes to be disciplined, to be detailed and to play extremely hard. I’ll guarantee you this — they’re going to play hard. Now I’ve got to get them to be disciplined and detailed. That’s the goal going forward.”
When considering the greatest strengths of his 2025 team, Thompson points to depth above all else.
“We’ve got over 140 guys on the roster, and most of those guys can play,” said Thompson. “We want to be a 2-deep football team on both sides of the ball. I think our run game is really, really good right now. We’ve got several running backs, and they’re all playing well. And then we had a scrimmage the other day…that defense was scary. They were hitting people. Those dudes are running to the ball. It’s going to be exciting to see.”
Thompson expressed confidence at the beginning of preseason camp that the 70 Wonder Boys who went through spring practice and summer workouts are invested in the culture of the program. He was anxious to see how the approximately 70 newcomers would mesh with those returners. He has been pleased with the results.
“The kids we have recruited have great personalities, great attitudes and great work ethic,” said Thompson. “A lot of times when you bring in new guys to any organization you don’t know what the ego is going to be like, if they’re going to be selfish or if they know it all. These kids have come in and really embraced the identity of our program, and because of that they are progressing really well. We’re really a team working toward one goal. They know what the expectations are, and they’re working hard to achieve those expectations.”
Live coverage of Arkansas Tech football games during the 2025 season will be provided by KCJC 102.3 FM, the EAB Media Group app and www.arkansastechsports.com.
Talk to you on the radio.
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.
