Going out on top: North Little Rock boys basketball coach Johnny Rice retiring

By Kyle Sutherland I Feature photo by Tommy Land 

Shockwaves were sent from Central Arkansas across the state Thursday afternoon as North Little Rock boys basketball coach Johnny Rice announced he is retiring from the game after spending his entire career in the NLR School District.

He released the statement via social media:

In his decade-long career, Rice won more than 80% of his games, won more than 100 conference games, was a four-time Arkansas High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year and won six state championships (2013-15, 2018, 2021-22).

His team this season played the toughest schedule in Arkansas prep basketball history, competing in multiple notable tournaments, including the Battle of the Bluff, City of Palms Classic and King Cotton Classic against some of the top national competition. NLR won the King bracket at the King Cotton, knocking off Beaumont (Texas) United in the title game. United lost only two other games this season and won the Class 5A Texas state championship. The Charing Wildcats also ran by Texas power Richardson, which finished the season 33-2 and beat Duncanville, handing the No. 2 team the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 its only loss of the season.

The Charging Wildcats finished 27-3 and ranked No. 12 in the Power 25.

More than 40 of Rice’s players signed college scholarships, including KeVaughn Allen, who started four seasons for the Florida Gators and now plays in the Pro Basketball League in Belgium. His most recent top players, Nick Smith Jr. and Kel’el Ware, are five-star prospects in the 2022 class and are only the second duo playing at the same high school to earn McDonald’s All-American game honors.

A Rose City native, Rice served just over three decades in the North Little Rock School district after earning his degree from Ouachita Baptist. He took over the varsity boys program before the 2012-13 school year and quickly become one of the state’s top coaches, winning a state title in his first season that eventually led to a three-peat.