CHERRY VALLEY — Cross County’s Van Paschal is moving on.
Paschal, also a former Wynne head coach, has been hired as the replacement for Chris Keylon at Harrison. Keylon has accepted a job in the Nashville, Tenn., area after four years at Harrison.
Paschal was the head coach of the Cross County Thunderbirds for two years. The 2025 T-Birds won the school’s second state championship.
Pachal was 19-6 in his two years at Cross County, including 12-2 with the state title last fall. He was the head coach at Wynne for 5 1/2 years, sporting a record of 49-15 with three conference championships. He was the head coach at Heber Springs in 2023 with a record of 6-5.
Paschal’s overall coaching record is 264-138, which is the most among Arkansas’s active coaches.
Harrison was 22-22 under Keylon. After consecutive 7-4 playoff seasons in 2022 and 2023, the Goblins were just 8-14 in his final two seasons there.
Keylon took over the Harrison job four years ago after a stint at Riverview High School in Searcy. He was replaced at Riverview by former Cross County head coach Steve Williams.
Cross County wasted no time in hiring a replacement for Paschal. The new Cross County head coach is Ty Mimbs, who has been at Jonesboro for the past six years – the last four as the Hurricane’s defensive coordinator.
