Husband and wife coaching duo headed to Green Forest

Kristin Whetham has coached in the Berryville School District since 2006, including a successful tenure as the Lady Bobcats’ head volleyball coach. She said she always expected to retire from Berryville.

Now, though, Whetham is moving a few miles up the road as the new volleyball coach and athletic director at Green Forest. She had been an assistant athletic director at Berryville.

“I think it was just kind of the perfect opportunity at the right time,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to move up a little bit, and everything just fit right.”

Whetham’s husband, Ryan, is also headed to Green Forest to serve as an assistant football coach and start a wrestling program.

Unlike his wife, Ryan Whetham is returning to his old school. He spent 11 years at Green Forest before moving to Berryville.

In fact, Ryan Whetham was an assistant football coach for the Tigers when Dalton Ewing — Green Forest’s new head football coach — was an all-state player for the Tigers.

“I went over there one day last week and coach Ewing introduced me to the kids and I just told them I’m glad to be coming home,” Ryan Whetham said.

Ryan Whetham has spent the past few years as the wrestling coach at Berryville. He said he was intrigued by the opportunity to start a program from scratch at Green Forest.

“That’s what I’m really looking forward to,” he said. “Seth Record has taught me really, really well, I learned a lot from him in the past four years. Yeah, I’m really excited about it.”

Both Whethams said breaking the news to their athletes at Berryville was difficult.

Kristin Whetham said the timing of their hiring in Green Forest, just before spring break, meant they had to wait a while to break the news.

“We had to wait about a week and a half before we could tell them,” she said. “A lot of them had already found out, but it was definitely an emotional day. It was hard.”

“It was pretty tough,” Ryan Whetham said. “The wrestlers are kind of dear to my heart, so it was tough telling them.”

The Whethams’ son, Talon, is an eighth-grader who was the starting quarterback for Berryville’s junior high football team last fall.

“Telling the eighth-graders was pretty tough, because that’s Talon’s group and I’ve seen them play football since the fourth grade and been around them since they were in kindergarten, so it was kind of hard to tell them as well,” Ryan Whetham said.

Kristin Whetham said the athletes she coached at Berryville will always hold a place in her heart.

“I’ve grown to love those kids like my own kids,” she said. “I would do anything for them and I made sure and let them know I would still do anything for them. Anything. It was really hard, but I am really, really excited.”