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Tyler Paschal leaving Des Arc to join staff at Marion High School

In their first season under Paschal, the Eagles went 6-0 in conference play in 2019 and made a run to the 2A state quarterfinals.

DES ARC, Ark. — It was a surprise when Tyler Paschal announced that he had decided to step down as the head coach at Des Arc after just one season.

"I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a right time to leave a good place," he said about the move, adding, "and Des Arc, Arkansas is a great place."

But the chance to take a spot on the staff at Marion is one Paschal felt he had to take.

"I knew they had some openings," he said, "and what really intrigued me was that staff, most of them had been at the college level like myself and that was something that I was really interested in. Is it the right time? I don't know if it is or if it isn't, but for myself, I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

Paschal had tremendous success in his only season as the head coach. The Eagles went undefeated in conference play, captured a 6-2A conference title and made it to the state quarterfinals. But those accomplishments pale in comparison to two of their wins in early October.

"When I took the job, they told me I better beat Carlisle and Hazen," Paschal said. "And beating them back to back weeks, beating Carlisle on their homecoming, scoring 50 points and beating Hazen by 30 at our place is something that I will never forget."

He will also never forget the lessons that he learned from being the head of a program.

"You never know what to expect until you're sitting in that chair," Paschal said. "But the biggest thing is just players, they can see if you're real or fake.Getting to sit back in the head chair, I got to see the whole picture of the everything - assistant coaches, coordinators, looking at the players as a whole -- I saw the whole picture for the first time."

Paschal's biggest takeaway from his time with the Eagles wasn't X's and O's or wins and losses. It was his relationships with the people and the players.

"Make sure your relationships are real, and they're not fake," he said. "That was the biggest thing for me is Des Arc, everybody is real in Des Arc and that's something I'm going to take with my everywhere I go."

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