Bradley Spencer took his Harding University degree in management information systems to Acxiom, but after two years, he knew there was a void in his life.
“I’m big into technology, and I’d always wanted to get out in the corporate world, preferably somewhere dealing with databases and programming,” he said. “But (after two years), I was getting ready to move on and do something else.
“I needed to do something where I felt like I was valued and giving back. I just felt like working there wasn’t my calling, and I wanted to give back.”
He’s found that calling now at Central Arkansas Christian, where he teaches computer programming and web design and is the newly named high school boys basketball coach.
“The teaching is something I enjoy along with coaching basketball,” he said. “It was like the perfect fit.”
But it was a bit of a winding road to get him there.
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Spencer, 25, was a standout player at Lonoke High School and Harding, and he stayed involved with the game while in the corporate world, working camps, officiating games and working with Conway Boys and Girls Club teams. In the spring of 2015, his friend Matt Hall called and wanted Spencer to join him at Mustang Mountain as his assistant coach.
“I always knew I wanted to go back and coach; I just didn’t know when,” said Spencer who, after the phone call, went on to pass the required Praxis test and be accepted into Southern Arkansas University’s online Master of Arts in Teaching program.
He started at Mustang Mountain on June 1, 2015 — a couple of weeks before Hall got an unexpected opportunity to go to Russellville. With the late opening, CAC’s girls coach, Steve Quattlebaum, took the reins of both programs for last season, and Spencer served as assistant for the boys team.
“Even with Matt, I wanted to come in and bring this ball of energy, the same way I played, bring a passion for the game,” Spencer said. “I just wanted to work my tail off and do whatever I needed to do.
“With Coach Quattlebaum, the mindset I used was, ‘Don’t panic; you’re here for a reason; keep doing your job and something will work out.”
And it did.
Spencer said he was blessed to be able to work under Quattlebaum, one of the state’s most successful girls coaches who also took the Mustangs to the state tournament several years during a previous double assignment.
“I always knew of him, but I had never spoken to him before,” Spencer said. “But it was like we’d been coaching together for years. Being on the sideline with him, he taught me a lot. I decided I was just going to work hard, do what he asks me to do and just pray and hope at the end there would be a huge benefit for it.”
He said Quattlebaum asked him early if he wanted to one day be a head coach.
“I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and he said, ‘I’ll help prepare you to be one,’” Spencer remembered. “From that day on, I started really listening to him and watching everything he did, just trying to add more to my tool bag for the future.”
Quattlebaum said that although the double duty was difficult, he would not have given up the boys after last season if he didn’t think Spencer was ready.
“I wouldn’t want to leave the kids in a bad way, but I feel totally confident — with the way he worked throughout the year — that he’s going to do a great job,” Quattlebaum said. “I think he’s going to do great things.”
With the CAC football team reaching the Class 4A state quarterfinals, the basketball Mustangs got off to a slow start but showed improvement all year, finishing 10-16 after a 1-12 start. The Lady Mustangs went to the state championship game, and Spencer was on the bench with them.
“I just thought it’d be a good experience for him for when he gets his team there,” Quattlebaum said. “I think we’ll have a good relationship. I’m going to do anything I can to help him. He loves player development, and I’m going to turn some of my kids over to him. He loves to see kids work and get better, and I’m going to take advantage of it. I’ve gotten so old — I know the stuff, but I can’t demonstrate. But he can, so I think that works great.”
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Spencer was born in Lonoke and started playing basketball in an elementary classroom league. Early, he said, he was more of a baseball player, but by the time he was a freshman, he had started focusing on basketball, playing for coach Wes Swift as a Jackrabbit as well as for Swift’s Wings AAU team.
“Coach Swift taught us how to play hard, and that’s something that doesn’t take much talent, just to play with guts and defend,” Spencer said. “I bought into that philosophy. He took me to several camps, and the one I appreciate the most was point guard college, where I learned a lot about how to be a leader on the floor as well as off.”
When he was a senior, the Jackrabbits won the 2008 state championship.
From there Spencer went to Harding to play for Jeff Morgan.
“He was at several (Lonoke) games, and after going to an actual Bisons game (at the rowdy Rhodes Field House), I was sold,” he said. “The crowd was amazing; the culture was amazing. I fit in well there, and coming from a winning program and going to a winning program was the best I could ever get.”
At Harding, he played on two NCAA Division II national tournament teams, including his senior season, when the Bisons won the Great American Conference and beat Central Missouri in the opening round of the national tournament before falling to Minnesota-Mankato in the semifinals.
For his career, he averaged 9.2 points and 4.8 rebounds and ranks among Harding’s all-time leaders in defensive rebounds (seventh with 414), offensive rebounds (eighth with 121) and steals (ninth with 143).
At Harding, he met Makala McNair, a standout player at Alpena who transferred from Arkansas State after a year. They were married in 2013 and have a 10-month-old daughter, Olivia.
Shortly after the season ended in February, Dr. Carter Lambert, CAC’s president, visited Spencer’s office about the position.
“After speaking to my family about it, I wanted to be at CAC even if it was junior high or head coach, but the opportunity hit so soon, I said, ‘I can’t let this pass by,’” Spencer said. “‘It’s something I need to take hold of right now while it’s in front of me.’
“I told (Lambert), ‘Hey, I’m at your service. Whatever you need me to do for this program, I’m here to do it.’ I’m very thrilled about it. A 25-year-old head coach — that’s a pretty good opportunity for me.”
In a press release announcing the hiring, Lambert praised the young coach.
“Bradley exceeded our expectations this year and exhibited exceptional basketball knowledge and experience as well as the ability to communicate with his players,” he said. “What convinced us that he was the person to lead the boys basketball program is the maturity and Christian spirit he displayed.
“The feedback we received regarding his work was overwhelmingly positive.”
After a year at Mustang Mountain, Spencer said he was sold on the family atmosphere.
“It’s similar to Harding,” he said. “We share the same church background, but just the openness of acceptance for individuals in need or who are just searching for some love. I really enjoy the Christian encouragement they bring there, that whole Christian environment.
“The mission work, the service days — that’s always good being able to give back to the community. It’s a great place.”
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