They’ve each coached basketball for more than 30 years and have experienced state championship success.

While basketball has become a way of life for both Northside girls assistant coaches Scott Thompson and Merrill Mankin, there are other outlets, other passions, other hobbies that the two veteran coaches enjoy.

For Thompson, who has coached for 21 years alongside Lady Bear coach Rickey Smith and has been part of the program’s six state championships, it’s getting up on stage to sing a tune. Or doing other things to occupy Thompson’s time.

“I have about a hundred-acre farm in Scott County that I have to go down and keep maintained,” Thompson, a native of Waldron, said. “And I have a river there; the Poteau River, which is on our south boundary and I get to do a little fishing, a little cleaning up around the farm, so it’s a little serenity time.”

As for Mankin, a 1971 Northside graduate in his fifth season as a volunteer assistant for the Lady Bears after successful stints at places like Charleston, Southside and Van Buren, it’s being out on a lake somewhere, rod and reel in hand, waiting to land some fish of his own.

“I’ve got a whole different set of friends on that side of the area,” Mankin said. “I’ve got people associated with fishing or outdoor that don’t even know I do this (coaching); then I’ve got the coaching side of friends that’s on the other side.

“So that’s kind of neat; when I go fishing, they don’t care if I ever coached a game or ever won a game or did that so it’s kind of a neat, different group to have that way, I’ve met a lot of people that way.”

Thompson has been in the coaching business for 34 years. After one year in his first job at Paden, Okla., Thompson went back to Waldron and coached for more than a decade before going to Darby Junior High for one year then to Northside.

His singing prowess came by accident several years ago, when he attended a show in Heavener, which had open mike auditions. Suddenly, Thompson heard his name being called.


“I heard, ‘The next entertainer will be Scott Thompson,’ and I said, ‘No, no, no, no; I didn’t sign up,’” Thompson said. “They said, ‘You did, your name is on the list.’”

It turned out his mother had chosen him to sing.

“My mother had secretly signed me up,” Thompson said. “I said, ‘Mom, I only know one song.’ She said, ‘I guess that’s what you’re going to sing.’

“So I sang a little Marty Robbins tune in Heavener and I got to where I kind of liked it. So I would go to Poteau and sing for the seniors over there and now I go on Friday nights when I can and sing with the Good Ol’ Boys (band) over in Barling, so we have a big time.”

Thompson is part of another band, the Dream Catchers, which plays at a variety of functions around the area. He also spends a great deal of time with his family, which includes his wife, Regina — principal at Tilles Elementary — their two daughters and three grandchildren, with one more grandchild on the way.

But away from basketball, family and other activities, there’s nothing like singing for Thompson.

“It’s fun; I sing a whole lot of old classic country stuff,” Thompson said. “I don’t know if it’s on a bucket list, but it’s just one of those things that I really enjoy and get a lot of enjoyment out of it.”


Mankin gets a lot of enjoyment out of basketball, a career that has spanned 43 years, 851 wins and has included a pair of state championships won at Southside.

“I still get excited in ballgames; I still enjoy that and I don’t think I’ll ever lose that and it’s just a great game and fun to be around and the kids keep you young,” Mankin said. “That’s the key, they keep you young.”

Mankin had retired from coaching five years ago. But by chance, he happened to be walking near Northside’s campus when he ran into Smith, a long-time coaching rival who asked Mankin if he would be interested in helping out with the Lady Bears.

“I was a little reluctant at first, I’m not going to lie about it (especially due to his previous association having been Southside’s coach),” he said. “But once I got in here and realized I had been at six different high schools in my coaching career, so every school I was at, I was loyal to those kids.”

His first coaching stop was at Liberty-Eylau High School, right outside of Texarkana, Texas. It was there where Mankin truly discovered his other favorite pastime, fishing.

“Really, it started out just loving doing it,” Mankin said. “Then it got to be where it was a relaxation, to get away from coaching, to have a release valve to get away from it, and I just enjoyed being out there so much.

“I still love being on the water, I always have. I don’t take it as serious as I do my coaching because I don’t have to make my living doing it but I enjoy it; it’s more of a fun thing for me.”


Mankin has even fished competitively, as he has participated in various fishing tournaments over the years.

“Tournament fishing is very demanding because you’re standing on a deck for eight hours a day casting and throwing for eight straight hours and you don’t take many breaks,” Mankin said.

“Tournament fishing is like anything, it’s a young person’s sport. You have knowledge, which helps, but the ones that have got the stamina and the young fishermen have the advantage because they’re so technologically advanced. ... They can find fish where it’s a lot quicker and faster and that’s the whole key to fishing, it’s not whether you catch one or not, it’s finding them.”

Mankin and Thompson are seeking to land big fish later this week in helping the Lady Bears go for a seventh state title. Northside (27-1) will play Bentonville at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Hot Springs for the 6A title.

Both coaches enjoy working alongside one another, as well as with Smith and the two younger assistants on the staff, Randa Grant and Connor Whitson.

“Honestly, it’s just opportunity, the opportunity to come here to work for coach Smith; it’s a dynamic group of assistant coaches and head coach. ... Everybody stays in each other’s lanes, and I think that’s wonderful,” Thompson said.
