VAN BUREN (KFSM) – After nearly three decades of roaming the hardwood, Randy Loyd has decided to hang up his whistle.
The coach of 29 years in western Arkansas, the past 22 as the Van Buren boys coach, decided now is the time to retire.
“I think it’s been on my mind for two or three years,” Loyd said. “I thought I’d like to finish my career out as a full-time athletic director and I’ve got five or six years before I’m completely done.”
Loyd finishes his coaching career with a record of 709-364 with 356 of those wins coming at Van Buren as the boys coach. Loyd had stops at Johnson County Westside and County Line before taking over the Pointers in the fall of 1994.
Van Buren has surged to be one of the premiere 7A boys basketball programs over the past few seasons as they went 65-19 over the past three seasons under Loyd. Missouri signee Mitchell Smith (6-foot-10 forward) was a big reason for that success as well.
“I feel good with where the program is at,” Loyd said. “We lose a lot with this year’s class but we have a lot of really good young kids who are going to keep this program going in the right direction for whoever takes over.”
Even though Loyd said he’d been fighting with the decision over the past few seasons, the success of the program and the supporting cast around him made the job easier.
“It really wasn’t too difficult and the team I had was awesome,” Loyd said. “I had a lot of help from my assistants so the struggle of doing both (coaching and athletic director) wasn’t a struggle at all because of the help I had. I just thought it is probably the thing to do at my age and the point of my career.”
