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Bryant Athletic Director Mike Lee, left, shakes hands with then baseball coach Kirk Bock after Bock led the Hornets to their fourth state title in 2016. Bock will take over as Bryant AD in June after Lee announced his resignation recently.
Bryant Athletic Director Mike Lee, left, shakes hands with then baseball coach Kirk Bock after Bock led the Hornets to their fourth state title in 2016. Bock will take over as Bryant AD in June after Lee announced his resignation recently.
Courier file photo
BRYANT – With longtime Bryant Athletic Director Mike Lee announcing his resignation recently, another longtime Hornet will ease into Lee’s role. Kirk Bock was announced as the next athletic director. It seems an easy transition as Bock was already the assistant athletic director, as well as serving as offensive coordinator for the five-time defending champion football Hornets, while also winning the Broyles Award as best assistant coach in 2020.
Bock was the Bryant’s head baseball coach prior to that, leading the Hornets to four state championships during his tenure on the diamond, adding to one state championship at Harrison.
Bock will officially take over for Lee in June, with Lee taking another position in Morrilton.
Lee’s official title for the South Conway School District will be director of maintenance, where he explained he will be involved in maintenance, custodial and also assist in athletics. Lee was Bryant’s athletic director since 2011 and he explained his decision to transition to Morrilton.
“This is year 28 for me in the public school retirement plan,” Lee said. “ T-DROP (Teacher Deferred Retirement Option) is an opportunity for educators to essentially create a separate retirement annuity. I live in north Conway (and) that’s about a 55-minute ride one way for me so I start thinking, ‘I really need to run a full race in the T-DROP plan,’ which is 10 years. I’m not going to move from where my wife grew up on the farm. So I’m thinking 10 more years of driving back and forth to Bryant, and then this opportunity came up with Morrilton and their superintendent (Shawn Halbrook) and I have been good friends since the late 90s. He and I coached football together at Harrison along with Coach Bock. It just added up to be the best decision for my family and I to transition to Morrilton. Part of this decision is I’m going to shave off about 70 minutes of driving. That’s pretty significant.”
Lee and Bock have been friends longer than the 1990s, meeting first in 1985 when both were members of the University of Central Arkansas Bears baseball team. The duo went on to coach at Harrison together before meeting up again in Bryant, this time for the past 12 years.
“For me, the school district got it right,” Lee said of the hiring of Bock to fill his shoes. “He has experience with not only our athletic department as the assistant AD from 2016. He also has experience within our school district and has proven himself most capable.”
Bock, who will no longer serve as the offensive coordinator, said he won’t try to fix what’s not broken when he officially takes over AD in June.
“We’re excited about getting going,” Bock said. “It’s very hard to replace Mike Lee, but if we can just stick with his vision for our program, I think we can carry on what he was trying to do for our school district and our athletic programs.
“Mike has enhanced every program that we have. He has set aside a good template for that and we’re going to try to continue what he started.”
Both Lee and Bock kept in touch throughout the years where Bock started his coaching career at Northwest Missouri State before going to Mountainburg. From there, he spent five years at Van Buren before going to Harrison for nine seasons and then ending up at Bryant as the head baseball coach and freshman offensive line coach in 2008. Bock attempted to get Lee to Van Buren, where Lee ultimately coached at before Bryant, before finally hooking up at Harrison.
“I kept trying to get Mike in at Van Buren and there wasn’t a slot,” Bock explained. “We got together and went to Harrison together. Then he went to Morrilton and then to Van Buren and then I came here. Then we hooked up together again here. Been a great friend for almost 40 years now.”
Lee also showed appreciation to Tom Farmer, now Benton’s mayor.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Mayor Farmer who was Coach Farmer when I met him,” Lee said. “He was the guy who hired me in the AD position at Bryant and helped me tremendously the first couple of years. I couldn’t be more appreciative of his influence on me.”
It’s been a great ride for Lee at Bryant, propelling the Hornets into the history books.
“The administration I served under was tremendous,” Lee said. “As an athletic program we’ve been successful the past 12 years. That starts with parents and kids, and school board members, administration, superintendents, principals, and of course athletes. We’ve been blessed with some great athletes and great coaches.
“The stars lined up for Bryant the past 12 years to be successful and I don’t see anything deterring that from continuing. In 12 years, I think we’ve captured 16 or 17 state championships. It’s been a good ride. Under Kirk’s leadership, I think it will continue.”
