A Big Retirement in Houston

Big news dropped in the Houston area on Friday when Cy-Fair head coach Ed Pustejovsky announced his retirement. Pustejovsky had been at Cy-Fair since 1982 and was the head coach from 2004-2019, leading the Bobcats to an impressive 138-57 record and the 2017 6A Division II state championship. He also led Cy-Fair to the regional finals in 2006, 2013 and 2018, and the regional semifinals in 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2014. In his final three seasons his teams posted a record of 37-4. Cy-Fair ISD typically stays inside when jobs at their most successful programs come open, and no school has had more success than Cy-Fair. However, if this job does open up to outside candidates, the list of applicants will be large and that list will be full of names who have won a lot of games.

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Tyler Lee Update

Tyler ISD appears finally ready to name the next head football coach at Tyler Lee as a special board meeting has been called for Thursday. Expect a current DFW head coach to be named Thursday for this job, opening up a fairly significant job in the area.

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An alum takes over at El Paso Chapin

El Paso Chapin announced El Paso Franklin OC Ryan Warner as its third head football coach in school history. Warner, a Chapin alum, replaces Rene Hernandez, who stepped down after 13 seasons leading the Huskies on Fort Bliss.

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Pflugerville Weiss HC Tommy Aultman moves into Pflugerville ISD Athletic Department

Tommy Aultman not only started the program at Pflugerville Weiss, but also turned it into a success story. But he’s decided to turn the page on a new life chapter and has accepted a position in the Pflugerville ISD athletic department. Aultman, who led the Wolves to a 9-3 mark in 2019 just one season after going 0-10, authored one of the state’s great turnaround stories. It’ll be interesting to see if athletic director Todd Raymond stays inside with the hire or elects to look outside of the district. The job was posted on THSCA Tuesday so at least on the surface it appears a wide net is being cast. Pflugerville Weiss will move up to Class 5A Division I in the upcoming UIL Realignment.

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An update from Canton

Canton interviewed 10 candidates last week for its vacant head coach position and is in the process of cutting the list down this week. The smart money is on a current head coach in Central Texas and an announcement should come at the February board meeting.

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Gilmer Stays Inside

Gilmer decided once again to no stray too far away in its search for a new head football coach as Gilmer ISD announced offensive coordinator Alan Metzel would be promoted to HFC/AD replacing Matt Turner, who announced his retirement earlier this month. Metzel, who has been a longtime assistant in Gilmer, will take over a tradition rich program that posted a 10-4 record in 2019. Metzel has spent 17 years in Gilmer from 2001-2004 and then from 2006 to present. He’s a 28-year coaching veteran.

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Paul Williams Retires at Little River Academy

After just two seasons leading the Bumblebees, Paul Williams announced his retirement effective at the end of the school year. Williams was 6-16 in two seasons at Little River Academy and led the ‘Bees to the playoffs in 2018 where they lost to West in bi-district. This will be the first football head coaching hire for athletic director Jared Hunt who took over as the district athletic director in 2018 after coming back from the University of Arkansas.

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Muleshoe hires Corpus Christi Flour Bluff Offensive Coordinator

Muleshoe named Corpus Christi Flour Bluff offensive coordinator Jason Richards as its next head coach on Tuesday. The Mules brought in three finalists over the past week for the final round of interviews. The finalists included Richards, a coordinator in the Concho Valley, and a current head coach in West Texas, specifically down near Big Bend Country.  Richards takes over a once proud program that has won just a single game the past two seasons.

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Delbert Kelm resigns at Crawford

Delbert Kelm resigned his post on Monday after 29 seasons in Crawford ISD, the last 13 as head coach. Rumors of Kelm’s departure had been swirling for three weeks, so the news does not come as a surprise. Kelm posted a very impressive record of 130-34 in his tenure as head coach and led the Pirates to the 2015 state title game. The smart money with this job opening is CISD stays In-house and promotes from within.

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Texas 7-on-7 Information to be released soon

The Texas State 7-on-7 board of directors met last week down in San Marcos to conduct their initial planning meetings for the 2020 7-on-7 season in Texas, which will likely begin in late April and conclude with the state tournament the final weekend of June. The location for the State 7-on-7 Tournament has yet to be announced, but expect it to remain in College Station at Veterans Park. For 2020, the soft-shell helmets, which were mandatory at state a year ago, will now be mandatory in State Qualifying Tournament (SQT) play. There are also reports that the length of games during SQT play may be shortened from 40 minutes to 30 minutes. Expect the SQT schedule along with any rule changes to be announced sometime in early February after UIL Realignment.

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UIL Realignment Coverage presented by James Hardie

Don’t forget next week we’ll have a special UIL Realignment Preview Edition of the Tep And Stepp podcast as the DCTF crew gets you geared up for UIL Realignment on February 3!

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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.

February 7-9: Lone Star Clinic, College Station

February 12: 1st 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, North Richland Hills

February 14: Hill Country Clinic, Fredericksburg

February 14-15: South Plains Clinic, Lubbock

February 19: 2nd 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, Fort Worth

February 21-22: Central Texas Clinic, Waco

February 22: Highway 5 Clinic, Melissa

February 26: 3rd 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, Denton

March 4: 4th 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, Dallas

May 1-2: El Paso Football Clinic, El Paso

May 15-16: I-45 Clinic, The Woodlands

June 11-13: Angelo Football Clinic, San Angelo

July 19-21: 2020 THSCA Coaches Convention & Coaching School, San Antonio

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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.