UALR Coach Steve Shields to face off against good friend and ULL Coach Bob Marlin

Louisiana-Lafayette at UALR
7 p.m. Saturday
Jack Stephens Center

   At one time, UALR Coach Steve Shields worked for Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Bob Marlin. That was back in the mid-1990s in Pensacola, Fla. Here's a couple of paragraphs from a story written by Jeffrey Slatton for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a few years ago:

   His next coaching break came when Pensacola Junior College Coach Bob Marlin, who knew of Shields from Marlin's coaching days in Texas, asked him to be his assistant coach. Shields wasn't sure about moving to Florida, but Marlin sold him on the opportunity.
   "I had watched Steve play when I was a younger coach and followed his career. I knew that Steve had done an excellent job with Coach DeWeese. I just thought he would be a great assistant coach," said Marlin, who is now the head coach at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. "He's a good person. He had good work ethic. He was a good recruiter. And he always had great relationships with the guys."

   Shields and Marlin have never coached against each other, fighting the urge to schedule their teams for nonconference games in the past. They also talk frequently (though probably not as much this week).