It has been a steady climb back to this moment…to this opportunity…for Arkansas Tech University football.
The Wonder Boys (5-3) will seek to clinch their first winning season since 2017 when they host the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm (1-7) for a 2 p.m. Great American Conference contest at Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Party at the Plaza tailgating will begin outside the stadium at 11 a.m. Game tickets are available at www.arkansastechsports.com/tickets.
Collegiate athletics have always been cyclical, and Arkansas Tech football is no different. The Wonder Boys won 23 games and made two postseason appearances from 2015-17, but anyone who watched the 2017 season understood that a special senior class was about to graduate.
A rough patch that included a couple of head coaching changes followed. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided less than ideal circumstances to try to rebuild an organization as large and complex as a college football program.
Nonetheless, then-head coach Kyle Shipp persevered. He, his staff and his players made the climb from three wins in 2019 to four wins in 2021 to five-win seasons in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
When Shipp pursued a career opportunity outside of coaching at the conclusion of the 2024 season, new head coach Roy Thompson stepped in to continue the rebuild of an Arkansas Tech football program that counts 18 conference championships among its achievements.
Now, after a 17-6 win over Henderson State University last Saturday, the Wonder Boys are in position to ensure that the number in the left-hand column will be larger than the number in the right-hand column when the story of the 2025 Arkansas Tech football season is complete.
“Our guys have been able to let that win (over HSU) go, put their heads down and try to get ready to beat Southern Nazarene,” said Thompson. “We’ve got a lot on the line with the opportunity to have a winning season. That’s important to us. We were able to re-focus because we set new goals and we have a new opportunity to do something that’s pretty special.”
Southern Nazarene is more capable of spoiling the party than its record might indicate. No one knows that better than Thompson.
He was defensive coordinator at Ouachita Baptist University last season when SNU pulled off perhaps the most stunning upset in GAC football history. The previously winless Crimson Storm went to Arkadelphia and defeated a previously undefeated and nationally third-ranked Ouachita team 18-17.
“(SNU) might be the most well-coached team in the GAC,” said Thompson. “When you play them, you have to keep it simple and limit big plays. Those kids are going to play hard and they do a really good job of trying to get you into one-on-one situations with their offense. For us defensively, it’s about playing collective, team defense and swarming the ball as one unit.”
Live coverage of the ATU-SNU game 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.
