Calcagni returns to roots
Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Little Rock School District now has maybe the state’s most experienced middle school football coach.
Ron Calcagni, whose lengthy career includes stints in high school, college and professional football, has been hired as head coach at Henderson Middle School, LRSD Athletic Director Johnny Johnson said.
Calcagni, 50, replaces Jeff Flanigan, who left Henderson to coach basketball at Ashdown, Johnson said.
Calcagni had been head coach and general manager of the financially-troubled All American Football League’s Arkansas franchise until the league folded in March.
“I just wanted to look and see where God would lead me,” said Calcagni, adding he also considered other business opportunities. “Everything just kept leading back to Henderson Middle School.”
Johnson said Calcagni first inquired about openings in the LRSD around May 1.
Calcagni went on contract July 22 at Henderson, a move that will allow him to watch his son, Chase, a junior quarterback at Conway High School, play each week this fall. Middle school games are played during the week and do not coincide with high school games on Friday night.
“I can’t coach him and I can’t work with him,” Calcagni said. “But I can at least be there and support him like my father did for me.”
A star quarterback on the Arkansas Razorbacks’ 11-1 team in 1977, Calcagni previously was head coach at Newark High School (1982-1983 ), an assistant at Arkansas State (1984-1986 ), an assistant at Houston (1987-1991 ), an assistant with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1992 ), an assistant at Tulsa (1993-1994 ), an assistant at Oklahoma State (1995-1999 ), a graduate assistant at Oklahoma (2000 ) and an assistant / front office executive with the Arkansas Twisters (2001-2006 ).
Oklahoma won the national championship in 2000.
Fordyce tight end / defensive end Kevin Williams was recruited to Oklahoma State by Calcagni. Williams became an All-American defensive tackle for the Cowboys and a firstround draft choice of the Minnesota Vikings.
“We’re excited to have somebody with Ron’s background coaching in the school district,” Johnson said.
Calcagni and Johnson became acquainted through the AAFL, which was scheduled to play its inaugural season this summer at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Among the practice sites the Arkansas franchise was looking at included the field at the old Southwest Middle School, now the LRSD’s Hamilton Learning Academy.
“We always stayed in touch,” Johnson said. “When Ron called me about a job opportunity, it just happened Henderson was one of the middle schools that had a vacancy for a head football coach.”
Johnson said his department can make recommendations about middle school personnel, but the decision to hire Calcagni was made by the school’s principal, Marvin Burton.
Middle schools in the LRSD comprise students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Johnson said Calcagni had to have a new license to teach and coach.
Calcagni, who will teach physical education at Henderson, said he held his first day of minicamp Monday morning.
“I started basically on this level,” said Calcagni, who graduated in 1979 from Arkansas with a degree in physical education / health. “I coached junior high and high school at Newark, and here I am at 50 years age and doing it again. It’s one of those things. Things didn’t work out with the All American Football League. Here were are — players and all — without jobs.”
Calcagni said there are no indications the AAFL will make another attempt to play.
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