Samples Suspended, Duncanville Placed on UIL Probation

The UIL State Executive Committee (SEC) met to discuss a number of topics on Wednesday, most notably to hear the case of the District 8-6A Executive Committee (DEC) referring a case involving Duncanville High School and using a coach who wasn’t a district employee during football season. The 8-6A DEC met in November to discuss the case and opted to send the case to the UIL for review and the SEC ruled that Duncanville did use a coach who was not an employee of Duncanville ISD and ruled that head coach Reginald Samples would be suspended for one game and the football program placed on probation. Coach Samples owned up to what he referred to as a “mistake” and advised he would take the suspension and move forward.

Baccarini Retires at Keller Fossil Ridge

Keller Fossil Ridge head coach Tony Baccarini announced to his team that he was retiring for coaching and going to work at an analytics firm on Tuesday. Baccarini is a 33-year coaching veteran and had spent the past 17 years at Fossil Ridge. He is the longest tenured coach in the history of the school, including the past 13 as head coach. Baccarini guided Fossil Ridge through some lean years after the opening of Keller Central and Keller Timber Creek cut into the talent pool. His best seasons were a 10-2 mark in 2007, a 9-4 mark in 2013 and a 10-1 record in 2017. New Keller ISD athletic director Eric Persyn has already had to make one hire at Timber Creek this offseason and now he’ll be looking to hire a new coach at a second school.

Jack Alvarez Leaves Copperas Cove for Cuero

After two seasons leading Copperas Cove, head coach Jack Alvarez informed his team Tuesday morning that he would not be returning for a third season. Pending board approval on Thursday, he’ll be named the next head coach at Cuero. Alvarez, who came to Cove after a highly successful run at Ennis, posted a 10-11 mark in two years leading the Bulldawgs and led CCHS to the playoffs in 2018 with a 7-4 mark. Alvarez is a 22-year head coaching veteran with a 175-85 overall record including a state title in 2014 at Ennis and back to back title game appearances in 2008-2009. Alvarez takes over a tradition rich program in Cuero that won the 4A-Division II state title in 2018 and from all indications has some strong younger classes in the pipeline.

Plano Makes a Change

Plano ISD announced in a press release on Wednesday that Plano head coach Jaydon McCullough would be reassigned to a new role in the district after a dozen seasons as head coach with an overall record of 70-59. McCullough, a Plano alum, had been on staff with the Wildcats since 1993. He played under legendary Plano head coach Tom Kimbrough and coached under Kimbrough’s successor Gerald Brence, who later moved to Plano ISD Athletic Director. McCullough’s teams were always competitive at Plano, but the standard at Plano is incredibly high and many around the program had wanted a change for quite some time. Plano only had two playoff wins in McCullough’s tenure and those came in his first two seasons in the bi-district round. Plano has not advanced past the area round of the playoffs since a state semifinal run in 2007 in Gerald Brence’s final season, in four of the past five years Plano has failed to get a winning record all this with an enrollment of 5,000 students. Most anticipated the hiring of new athletic director Jeff Smith last week from Prosper ISD would spur change on and that’s exactly what’s happened. The big question going forward now is can Plano still be successful at football with the current model (which is very unique to Plano ISD) in place?

Bill Howard Retires at Wylie

Wylie head coach Bill Howard announced to his team on Friday that he was retiring as the head football coach. Howard, who led Wylie to the 2008 Class 5A Division II title game, piloted Wylie through the opening of a second high school, posting a 90-78 overall record. Longtime defensive coordinator Jimmy Carter was quickly named the Pirates new head coach, which should make the transition quite smooth.

Chris Ross Leaves Red Oak For Lovejoy

Chris Ross, who in two seasons totally turned around a struggling Red Oak program, announced Tuesday morning he would be leaving Red Oak to take over at Lovejoy. Ross, who went 20-4 in his two years leading the Hawks, takes on a new challenge in Lovejoy where he will work for LISD superintendent Mike Goodard, who hired Ross at Red Oak. Lovejoy won’t be a total rebuild like Red Oak; the Leopards have been a consistent playoff competitor and the district feels like Ross, known as a program builder, can take Lovejoy to the next level. Red Oak ISD wasted no time in naming assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Michael Quintero as the next head coach. Expect most of the staff to stay intact at Red Oak as Quintero looks to keep the momentum going.

Colleyville Heritage Update

The final round of interviews at Colleyville Heritage is this week and all indications are the two finalists are a current DFW area head coach and a former DFW area head coach who has spent time in the college ranks. Expect a decision to come down this week from Grapevine-Colleyville ISD.

Pflugerville Weiss Coaching Search Update

Pflugerville ISD received well over 100 applications for the vacant head football coaching position at Weiss High School. PISD is narrowing the field down to eight (possibly up to 10) candidates to be called in for what is expected to be a single round of interviews next week. Expect a lone finalist to emerge from this pool to be presented to the school board at March board meeting just before Spring Break.

Big Moves in Burleson

Big changes are happening in Burleson ISD has Burleson head coach Gary McElroy announced to his team on Tuesday that he was leaving to take over at Peaster, which is looking to enter UIL district competition in 2022, likely as a 3A Division I program. Burleson ISD athletic administration longtime Athletic Director Phil Anderson is retiring and BISD named Kevin Ozee as their next AD. Ozee has been an athletic director in Carroll ISD (2009-2014) and Arlington ISD (2014-2017) and has worked in private business since then.

Plainview Names Abilene Cooper OC as New Head Coach

Plainview ISD tabbed Abilene Cooper co-offensive coordinator Jonathon Haddock as the Bulldogs’ next head football coach on Friday. He replaces Ryan Rhoades, who moved into the Plainview ISD athletic director spot. It will be Haddock’s first-ever head coaching gig and he takes over a once proud program that has seen a steady decline over the past few seasons.

Mexia Down to Three

Mexia narrowed its field of candidates from eight to three last week and are bringing those three finalists in for the final round of interviews on Wednesday. Reports are the candidates are a DFW area assistant, an East Texas assistant and a current East Texas head coach.

Henrietta Parts Ways with Byron West

News broke on Friday that Henrietta ISD has decided to not renew the contract of head coach Byron West, meaning they’ll have a new head coach for the first time since 2005. West has been the head coach at Henrietta since 2005, compiling a 99-74 record at the school. Last season, the Bearcats went 5-6 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Jacksboro. In his 15 years at the helm, Henrietta has missed the playoffs just once. He is the program’s most decorated football coach as he turned around a program that had won seven playoff games. Since 2005, West has won nine playoff games and four district titles including a 12-1 mark in 2015 and a 10-3 record in 2016.  West still has plenty of community support as at a special board meeting Monday, there was a massive show of support for Coach West from the community of Henrietta. No doubt whoever gets this job will have to do some mending of fences as the community and school board don’t appear to be on the same page.

Quanah Sets a Timeline

Quanah ISD will be accepting applications through March 6 for their vacant head football coach athletic director position. The district had received 105 applications as of Tuesday. The applicant pool will be narrowed to eight to 10 candidates who will be brought in for an initial round of interviews March 9-13.

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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 19: 2nd 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, Denton

February 21-22: Central Texas Clinic, Waco

February 22: Highway 5 Clinic, Melissa

February 26: 3rd 2020 NTFCA Coaches' Clinic, Fort Worth

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.