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Joe Mallett has served St. Joseph High School 36 years

‘Coach Mallett’ arrived at Conway school when he was just 21 and never left

Published: April 29, 2016   

By Aprille Hanson
Associate Editor

Aprille Hanson
St. Joseph High School Principal Joe Mallett often greets students in the hallways between classes. Mallett, who has spent the past 36 years at the school, will resign after this school year.

At just 21 years old, Joe Mallett was ready to shadow a St. Joseph School teacher in Conway, part of his college studies. By what some may call rotten luck or serendipity, the teacher quit — something Mallett did not know until the day before he walked into the school.

“‘Here’s this earth science book, you’re going to do this, this and this and you’re going to run the off-season program,’” for boys basketball, Mallett said. He was in charge of not only the teacher’s senior classes, but all the way down to junior high. “Of course, I was scared to death; all I could say was ‘yes ma’am.’ I walked out of there with a bunch of stuff and thought, ‘Oh my God.’”

He stayed the remaining nine weeks … then for another 36 years. At the end of this school year, “Coach Mallett,” 58, who spent most of his career shaping young athletes before taking the helm as high school principal in 2001, will leave his work home.

“I always tell the kids take a leap of faith, listen to the Lord, listen to what he’s telling you. And these kids deserve the very best, they deserve every ounce of energy you have every day and I can still do that a couple more years, but the closer you get to that line, how do you pull back,” Mallett said. “I’m really at peace with it.”

“Someone said what’s your job description and you just kind of laugh. I say a prayer, ‘God help me today, help me to serve these people and do what you want me to do.’” “Coach” Joe Mallett

Mallett grew up as an only child “way out in the country, ‘Mallett Town,’” in rural Conway County, he said, attending school at Nemo Vista in Center Ridge.

“Coaches always influenced me,” Mallett said, recalling everyone from his Pee Wee to college basketball coaches. “They were always just real helpful and I enjoyed being with them and I thought I would like to be that way with kids.”

His mother taught for more than 40 years and his father was a farmer, but it was coaching that hooked him.

He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 1980 and went straight back to St. Joseph as the senior, junior and pee wee boys’ basketball coach, in addition to teaching earth science, health and physical education classes. 

“My palms sweat today; when you’re not nervous about doing a good job, you probably need to get out of it,” Mallett said, crediting family and many coach friends who helped him along the way.

Coach Chris Kordsmeier, athletic director at St. Joseph, was a senior basketball player in 1980 and said “you didn’t want to let Coach Mallett down.”

But, that did not mean the players did not have a little fun at his expense.

“The guys one day, they took his car,” a gold Ford Fiesta in the 1980s, Kordsmeier said. “It was such a small car; they picked it up and hid it behind the gym. He thought somebody stole his car. He took it in good spirit.”

Mallett found his forever faith in the spring of 1981. Though raised Methodist, Mallett converted to Catholicism, committed with his wife Teresa, a cradle Catholic, to raise their children in one faith. After marrying in 1979, they went on to have three children, Matthew, Sarah and Mark. The couple has eight grandchildren.

“We don’t pray to win, God doesn’t care who wins the game,” Mallett said. “We pray to represent ourselves, our school, our family and our church in the right way. And we pray afterwards, thank you to him for helping us through this.”

Mallett has helped to build up or implement various athletic programs at St. Joseph — including volleyball, baseball, softball, track, golf, soccer and bowling — though he said it’s really thanks to the staff, donors and parents.  His coaching achievements include his senior boys’ basketball team winning state in 1986, and his teams competing in 19 state tournaments, 13 conference championships and 11 district championships. In July 2011, he was inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“Coach Mallett worked us hard, but he was always a good friend with the kids, a father figure,” Kordsmeier said. “We always felt comfort going to talk to him about anything. He helped us become men.”

In 2001, Mallett left coaching when he was asked to be the interim principal of the high school. It’s not a job he sought, he said, but one he’s enjoyed. For the past four years, he’s also coached seventh grade girls’ basketball.

“I go outside for drop-off and try to greet each kid, call them by name; you can kind of tell how things are going in their life. Wave to the parents, make sure they don’t run over their kids,” Mallett said. “You’re working on everything from maintenance, budget prep, kids getting sick, you’re cleaning up stuff. It’s the gamut. Someone said what’s your job description and you just kind of laugh. I say a prayer, ‘God help me today, help me to serve these people and do what you want me to do.’”

During Catholic Schools Week in January, students throughout campus surprised him by dressing like him for a day — golf shirts and sweater vests.

“That was bordering on child abuse,” Mallett laughed. “But it was really kind of them … One of the girls gets out and she had the little golf beanie hat and I said, ‘Hey, nice hat’ and I thought wait a minute.”

Mallett said he is not retiring and will continue working wherever God leads him next.

“Other than my family, this school is the most important thing in this world to me, family and faith; faith is always at the top,” Mallett said, adding to his students, parents and staff: “Just be proud, take care of their Catholic school, their parish school. It’s a blessing; it’s a gift from God and never take it for granted.”

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