Melson picked to lead alma mater
Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/rhtn/Sports/4045/
Rogers School District athletics director Mark Holderbaum will recommend to the Rogers School Board on June 17 that Matt Melson be named the next baseball coach at Rogers High School
“ Matt Melson has a lot of traditional ties to the Mountie baseball program as a player and as a current coach on the staff, ” Holderbaum said late Wednesday afternoon, confirming the recommendation.
If approved, Melson would succeed Dr. Tom Woodruff, who retired from the position he held for 18 seasons. Woodruff took the Mounties to 15 state tournaments and never had a losing season.
Holderbaum said he and Melson talked at length about how to take the program “ to the next level. ”
“ Coach Woodruff certainly has done a good job getting to the playoffs, ” Holderbaum said. “ He has a great record over his career. We’re going to try and move that to the next phase, where we’re trying to take the place of Fayetteville or Har-Ber at the top and have both of our schools in state championship games.
“ He’s got a lot of good insight where the program needs to go. He has a good concept of what needs to happen both within the program and within the community. ”
Fayetteville beat Har-Ber last month for its third straight Class 7 A state title. Rogers splits into two high schools this fall. Keith Kilgore, who led Bentonville to a state title in 2002, will coach Rogers Heritage High School.
Melson said he’s excited about the opportunity to be the head coach at Rogers, where he played as a student and coached as an assistant.
“ I feel really blessed, ” he said. “ I have an extreme amount of loyalty for the Rogers school system. I feel like I bleed Mountie blue. ”
Melson is a 1993 Rogers grad. He played baseball for the Mounties and at Westark Community College — now the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith — before transferring to the University of Arkansas, where he was a volunteer coach. He also coached as a volunteer with Woodruff from 1996 until he was added as an official assistant in 2000.
Melson is currently coaching the Rogers High School team playing in the Wood Bat League. The team is winless through the first two weeks.
“ Our program has been very successful in the past, ” he said. “ We want to build on the legacy of the players who have come before and paved the way. Our players are excited about doing that. ”
Melson’s father, Larry Melson, coached football, basketball and golf at Rogers before his death in 1991 at the age of 42. In 1999 he was inducted as a charter member of the Mountaineer Athletic Hall of Fame.
The school district posted an assistant baseball coach’s position at Rogers High School to its Web site on Tuesday.
Holderbaum said last week that school officials had hoped to fill the vacancy before the summer break, which began this week.
Woodruff announced his resignation at the team’s seasonending banquet two weeks ago. He coached Rogers since 1991, a year after the program resumed with Nick Nicholas at the helm.
Woodruff said he was “ elated and ecstatic” about Melson’s ascension.
“ It sends a clear message from our administration, ” Woodruff said. “ If you’re a good teacher, a good coach in the system, if you’re loyal and you have patience you will be rewarded.
“ Certainly, Matt is all those things and is now being rewarded. ” Poultry Fest run planned
The Poultry Fest 5 K and 1 Mile Fun Run will be June 14 at the Pinnacle Hills Promenade. The run / walk will begin at 7: 30 a. m.; Fun Run at 8: 30 a. m.
Registration will be from 4 p. m. to 7 p. m. June 13 at the Embassy Suites in Rogers, and from 6 a. m. to 7 a. m. June 14 at in the parking lot east of Dillard’s.
For more information, call Pat Semon at 927-2821.