Arkansas high school hires ex Tulsa coach Bill Blakenship

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) Former University of Tulsa football coach Bill Blankenship has been hired as the head coach at Fayetteville High School in northwest

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) Former University of Tulsa football coach Bill Blankenship has been hired as the head coach at Fayetteville High School in northwest Arkansas.

The Fayetteville school board approved the hire Wednesday night. Blankenship was head coach at Tulsa - his alma mater - from 2011 until his firing in 2014. Blankenship was a longtime high school coach in Oklahoma before joining the Tulsa staff as an assistant in 2007.

His overall record in four seasons was 24-27 with the Golden Hurricane.

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The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1PLzp6I ) that Blankenship will earn $91,447 as the coach for Fayetteville, which won the state championship last year in Class 7A, the largest division in Arkansas. He replaces Daryl Patton, who resigned for personal reasons with a 116-43-2 record and four titles in 13 seasons.

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Information from: Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.nwaonline.com