Cy-Fair ISD stays in-house for new Cy-Ridge head coach
There’s not much question that Cy-Fair ISD has set the standard for success in large multi-school ISD’s in football in recent years. So it makes sense an assistant from one of the district’s more successful programs would be named as new head coach at Cypress Ridge, as Cy Ranch DC Andrew Shanle was named last week. Shanle, who spent time in the NFL prior to his coaching days, has been at Cy Ranch since 2013 as the defensive coordinator. Prior to that, Shanle was a defensive assistant at Brenham and Cedar Creek and spent a year at Midland University in his native Nebraska.

Struggling 6A programs make new hires
Two of the state’s most downtrodden 6A programs named new head coaches last week and both are hoping to do a bit of rebuilding on the fly. El Paso Socorro currently holds the state’s longest losing streak at 37-games named PSJA LB Coach Anthony Hinsley as its next head coach. While Plano West, who has lost 26-straight games, finally found its new coach after a more than three-month search as Lewisville Hebron OC Tyler Soukup was named head coach.

Major shakeup in Magnolia ISD
The changes have come quickly in the athletic department at Magnolia ISD. A few weeks ago, athletic director Mike Spradlin left the district to return to the sidelines as head coach at Rockwall-Heath. MISD quickly moved to promote Magnolia West head coach JD Berna to the role of Magnolia ISD Athletic Director, creating an opening at Magnolia West. Interviews cranked up this week for that job opening. Then last week, Magnolia High came open as head coach Sterling Doty accepted the same position at his alma mater Stephenville. Doty’s move shouldn’t come as a major surprise to Magnolia ISD as he was quickly identified as the leading candidate for the Stephenville job as soon as it opened up. The job was posted on THSCA Monday and interviews should ramp up after the job closes on 3/15/19.

Austin Area 5A Division II schools land new coaches
Georgetown East View moved fairly quickly to hire a new head coach as San Saba head coach Jerod Fikac was named last week as the Patriots’ new coach. Fikac led one of the state’s most remarkable turnaround stories last year at San Saba as the Armadillos went from 3-7 to 14-1 and a trip to the 2A Division I state semifinals. While down in BBQ Country in Lockhart, LISD named former Abilene Cooper head coach Todd Moebes as its new HFC/AD. Moebes spent 2018 out of coaching after his sudden resignation from Abilene Cooper last July. He had a tremendous run on the southside of Abilene going 54-34 in seven seasons at Cooper, including 11 playoff wins.

Tyler Chapel Hill quickly names Jeff Riordan as head coach
After resigning his post at Crosby, Jeff Riordan didn’t remain without a job long as Tyler Chapel Hill on Monday night named Riordan its next head football coach/athletic director. Riordan posted an impressive 67-17 mark at Crosby in seven seasons and led the Cougars to the 2014 state semifinals. Riordan, however resigned in February after a tumultuous 2018 season that saw Crosby ISD mired in financial woes, those woes impacted the athletic department and Riordan was forced to let go of several coaches in cost-saving moves. Riordan has plenty of ties to East Texas and was the offensive coordinator for a state title team in Sulphur Springs and his wife is a native of Lindale.

Taylor Ducks will have a new coach
After seven seasons in Taylor, TISD reassigned head coach Rusty Purser and will begin a search for a new HFC/AD. Purser, who came to Taylor after several seasons at Borger in the Texas Panhandle, posted a 32-47 mark in the town just northeast of Austin. His best year was an 8-4 mark in 2016, however Taylor made the playoffs all seven seasons he was at the helm.

Gonzales brings in Mike Waldie
Tuesday night, Gonzales ISD hired Pearland OC Mike Waldie as its next HFC/AD replacing Kodi Crane who departed for Caddo Mills in early February. Waldie spent one year at Pearland after resigning after two seasons at Daingerfield. Waldie has been a head coach at Luling and Woodville as well and holds a 33-31 overall record as a head coach.

Troutman returns home to Sinton
Last week, Sinton decided to bring a native son back home as Klein Collins offensive line coach Michael Troutman was named new HFC/AD at Sinton, replacing Tom Allen who resigned due to health reasons. Troutman is a relative unknown when it comes to being a head coach, but he’s been a part of an outstanding staff at Klein Collins that has seen several assistants in recent years move on to head coaching positions. Sinton struggled in 2018 going 2-8, but there’s a long history of winning and Troutman will look to keep that pace up in 2019.

Pearsall looking once again
The Pearsall Mavericks will have their third head coach in three years after the resignation of HFC/AD Joey Rivera on Monday after just one year. Rivera reportedly has conditionally accepted a job at another school and his departure leaves Pearsall in a tough spot. A year ago when Rivera was hired, there was a definite split on the hiring committee on who should be named, giving plenty of ammunition to the crowd who preferred the other finalist over Rivera now. It’ll be interesting to see if a new hiring committee is formed or if the superintendent and district administration strikes out on their own for this hire.

Questions abound in McGregor and Whitesboro
Both McGregor and Whitesboro had some questions arise about how its school boards and district administration have been handling things in regard to changes made at the head football coaching position. We start in McGregor where last week McGregor ISD and Judd Thrash parted ways with a year remaining on Thrash’s contract. After an investigation into the athletic program, no wrong-doing was found on Thrash’s part and the district agreed to pay him every penny owed in his contract in return for his separation from the district.

Thrash, per the terms of the agreement, gets a positive reference and McGregor ISD can now move on after what has been a very public and at times ugly split. However, the damage to the district reputation has been done and there’s no question how things were handled will limit the potential applicant pool.

While in Whitesboro, in a stunning move, the school board voted 4-3 to not renew the contract of HFC/AD Eddie Gill after 13 seasons. Prior to Gill’s arrival in 2006, Whitesboro who had been playing football since 1911 had never made the playoffs and had won just 71 total games from 1976-2005. Gill posted a 72-73 mark in his time at Whitesboro, led the Bearcats to their first ever playoff appearance in 2011 and took Whitesboro to the playoffs in seven straight seasons. Included in this run was two trips to the third round of the playoffs, yet after an albeit disappointing 7-4 2018 campaign, the board decided to not renew Gill. From the outside looking in, this appears to be a classic case of small town politics at work and most likely Gill made a couple of enemies who were on the school board and they decided to send him packing, despite unprecedented success.

Terry Ward takes over in Grapeland
Monday night, Grapeland named former Harleton head coach Terry Ward as its next HFC/AD replacing Wayne Mahaffey who announced his retirement. Ward spent four difficult seasons in Harleton posting a 10-32 record, but he’s well known for a six-year run at Tenaha where the Tigers were 59-12, including a state title in 2011 and a runner-up finish in 2012.

It’s officially clinic season in the state of Texas and if you have coaching clinic information that we are missing below by all means send it our way! You can e-mail it to me at matt.stepp@texasfootball.com or reach out to me on twitter @Matt_Stepp817

March 6: THSCA FAST Tackling Clinic, El Paso

May 3-4: I-45 Clinic, The Woodlands

May 3-4: El Paso Football Clinic, El Paso

June 11-13: Angelo Football Clinic, San Angelo

July 21-23: 2017 THSCA Coaches Convention & Coaching School, Houston

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Matt Stepp is the Texas High School Football Inside for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Find him on Twitter: @Matt_Stepp817.