Randy Sandefur steps down as North Little Rock football coach

Sandefur was an assistant at North Little Rock for 38 years before the school promoted him in 2021

Randy Sandefur is stepping down as head football coach at North Little Rock High School to take a job with the Little Rock parks department. 

Sandefur was an assistant coach for 38 years before North Little Rock promoted him the head role in 2021. He will be the city's director of parks and recreation. In his two years at the helm, the Charging Wildcats went 10-3 and 7-7. 

He submitted his letter of resignation Wednesday morning and starts his role with the city on Thursday.

"It's bittersweet," Sandefur told THV-11 News in Little Rock. "I'm going to miss it, but it's time that.I do something else."

It's the latest in a flurry of coaching movement in the AAA 7A Central League. Defending 7A champion Bryant hired Quad Sanders his next coach Wednesday after coach Buck James unexpectedly resigned to become Conway's head coach on Tuesday.

When he took over at NLR in 2021, the Charging Wildcats had reached the last five state 7A championship games under two different head coaches. Sandefur led them to the state semifinals where they lost to eventual 7A champ Bryant in 2021 and the quarterfinals in 2022, which ended with a 45-0 loss to state runner-up Bentonville.

Sandefur is looking forward to watching the Charging Wildcats — and cheering — from the stands. He said NLR is going to be "really, really good" this upcoming fall.