By Donna Lampkin Stephens

After five years in the 501, Chris and Brooke Parker are open to wherever the future takes them.
The Maumelle couple has coached at Central Arkansas Christian since 2004.

He coached boys basketball for five seasons, leading the Mustangs to a record of 96-56, although with the success of the school’s football program, he has been short-handed at the beginning of every season. With his full team, his record is 82-24 overall, 56-14 in conference play. He led CAC to three conference championships and two runner-up finishes.
This season, CAC reached the quarterfinals in its debut in the Class 5A State Tournament, winning nine of its last 11 games to close 17-11. The Mustangs tied for second in their first run through the 5A-West and lost to North Pulaski, the eventual state runner-up, by one point in the quarters.
His teams made four state tournament appearances, reaching the quarterfinals three times and semifinals once. Before his arrival, the school had qualified for just two state tournaments since 1975.
She coached volleyball for four seasons, leading the Lady Mustangs to state tournament appearances every year. The Lady Mustangs won two conference championships and finished runner-up two years. They completed the best season in school history during her final season, 2007, with a 22-4 record and a quarterfinal finish in the Class 4A State Tournament.
She gave up volleyball this year to concentrate on softball. Her husband is her assistant. In 2006, she led the softball Mustangs to the state title in just the second season after restarting the program. They reached the quarterfinals in ’07. Her softball record at CAC through four years was 65-45-2.
CAC did not renew their contracts for 2009-10.
“We’re praying about it and are going to leave it up to God,” Chris Parker said. “If we can find a large public high school, we’d certainly consider that, but we’d also consider a return to the college ranks if the opportunity presented itself. We’re not really tied down.
“We love central Arkansas; we love Northwest Arkansas, so anything in those parts would work, but we’re also looking back in the Texas area where our families are. We’ll move anywhere — Alaska to Maine, Florida to California. We’re not limited by geography.”
Chris Parker’s previous coaching stops have been at the college level, including Lubbock Christian, Jackson State, Texas Southern, Houston Baptist and Arkansas Tech. Brooke Parker coached at several private schools in Texas before coaching softball and volleyball at Dardanelle prior to their arrival at CAC.
Brooke calls their children — Hunter, 14; Kayla, 9; and Amberlyn, 6 — “gym rats and field rats.”
“After school, they go to the gym or the field, whatever season it is, and when my practice is over I work out with them and take them to their practices,” she said. “That’s the way it’s always been. I know some people look at our lives and think, ‘How do they do that?’ but we love it.”
One of the best parts of their time at CAC was the chance to work together.
“We enjoyed working together probably a lot more than most couples do,” Brooke said. “We shared an office there, loved having our kids there. Since we were going to spend so much time there, it was nice they could be there with us.”
Chris said there was no problem working under his wife in softball.
“It would probably have been a lot worse if she wasn’t my best friend in the world,” he said. “I think it works because I recognize that she has forgotten more softball than I will ever learn, and I know that.”
She also serves as his sounding board during basketball season.
“She doesn’t give me suggestions for what to work on, but after each game I’ll say, ‘Tell me what you saw,’ and she’ll give me her feedback,’” he said.

CHRIS
Chris grew up in Houston and had an opportunity to walk on as a junior college basketball player but instead chose to walk on at Abilene Christian for football in 1987. He was one of about 30 who tried out and one of two kept on the offensive side.
“But after going through the scout team for a week, I decided my heart wasn’t in it, so I ended up working as a student assistant on the basketball team,” he said. “That was always my passion.”
He wanted to coach college basketball but didn’t want to major in physical education, so he called the video coach for the Houston Rockets to ask his advice on a major.
“I’d always had an interest in video, and he said, ‘If you can get a degree in some sort of corporate video program or something like that, that would help you immensely, and the other thing I’d do is get a business degree,’” Chris remembered. “He said that colleges are a business, and it would help you, especially administratively, to understand how a business works.
“And wouldn’t you know it, the very next semester Abilene Christian launched a brand new major, corporate video with a required business minor. I jumped all over it. I think I was in the second class that graduated.”
From ACU he went to Lubbock Christian University, an NAIA program, to work as an assistant coach. While there he earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Texas Tech. From there he went to work as an assistant under former Arkansas assistant Andy Stoglin at Jackson State in Mississippi, then landed the recruiting coordinator’s job at Texas Southern.
After a year away from the college game to work as dean of students at Westbury Christian School in Houston, he went to Houston Baptist University under another former Arkansas assistant, Ron Cottrell, for four years as recruiting coordinator. Then it was on to Arkansas Tech for another year as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator before taking the CAC job in 2004.
He said the high school and college levels each had their pros and cons.
“In high school, certainly, I have much more time to spend with my family,” he said. “In college, it’s just a completely different level. You’re able to travel, meet a lot of people, develop relationships with the players. In college, you’re much closer to the guys; you’ve spent so much time recruiting them, you’re helping them, they come to you with their problems and rely on you more.
“In high school, the relationships are more distant. They live at home and have their friends, so your communication as a coach is not only with your team but also with your parents. In college, you’re able to devote so much more time exclusively to basketball. The college game is much more in-depth than you’re able to spend in high school.”

BROOKE
Brooke Parker grew up in Midland, Texas, but graduated from high school in Abilene in 1991. Growing up, she was involved in all sports — softball, volleyball, track, basketball and gymnastics.
“I did anything the school had to offer,” she said. “I wanted to be on the court or the field.”
But she actually went to Abilene Christian on vocal and trombone scholarships.
“I was even in an opera in college,” she said.
She started as a physical therapy major but changed to physical education because she wanted to coach. She stayed on at ACU to earn a master’s in school supervision with a focus in high school athletics.
Her first job was at Westbury Christian School in Houston — where Chris was her boss.
“We met in ’96 in the beginning of the school year, went on one date and got married,” she said. “We eloped and couldn’t tell anybody. Our family didn’t know for two months.”
At Westbury she coached high school volleyball, taking her team to a state runner-up finish, and was an assistant basketball coach on a state championship team and an assistant softball coach for a team that made the regional tournament. From there she spent four years at the ninth-grade Calvary Episcopal School in Richmond, Texas. For three years there, she was athletic director and coached the volleyball team to the conference championship and the boys track team to a third-place conference finish.
Then she made the move to Foster High School in Houston, a Class 4A public school.
“I knew the AD well, and he wanted me in the district for me to move into the women’s administrator role,” she said.
She coached freshman volleyball and junior varsity softball and served as an assistant for both sports at the varsity level before they moved to Arkansas for Chris’ job at Arkansas Tech. She coached both sports at Dardanelle before they moved to Mustang Mountain.
THE FUTURE
Brooke said they loved the type of student they got to work with at CAC.
“You don’t always get the most talent, but they are amazing kids who don’t mind working,” she said. “It was a fun place to be.”
At CAC, she taught science and health; he taught Bible and Web design. She is certified pre-K through 12th grade. She said they would look for a good fit for Chris first.
“I’m real sellable,” she said. “I can work anywhere. Obviously, I want to be in coaching. At some point, I want to work up to be director of women’s sports somewhere. I’m not ready to give up coaching at this point — I enjoy the kids and the impact I get to make — but at some point, definitely.”