Longtime Watson Chapel girls’ basketball Coach Leslie Henderson is returning to coaching, albeit elsewhere in the state.
Viola High School in northern Arkansas announced over the weekend it has hired Henderson to coach its girls’ basketball team.
Henderson retired from coaching last year after a 31-year tenure as the Watson Chapel girls’ head coach. Her Lady Wildcat teams won five state championships, and she also coached five state championship track and field teams. She also spent six years as the school’s athletic director.
In the year since her retirement, Henderson has been named to the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Jefferson County Sports Hall of Fame and the Watson Chapel Hall of Honor.
After a year away from coaching spent living in Kentucky, Henderson returns to Arkansas to coach the Viola Longhorns.
Viola, which plays in Class 1A, is coming off a 19-17 season in which the Longhorns earned the No. 3 seed at the 1A Region 2 tournament before falling to Marked Tree.