Garland ISD named former Allen offensive coordinator Derek Alford as the next head football coach at Rowlett High School on Tuesday night.

Alford replaces Doug Stephens, who spent the last eight seasons leading the Eagles. Stephens, who also leads the Texas State 7-on-7 Board of Directors, announced his retirement in March. 

Alford has been coaching for 28 years with stops at Wichita Falls, Garland, Petrolia and Waco Midway and at Allen as an assistant. He also has head coaching experience having spent five seasons leading Quinlan Ford from 2005-2009. Alford was the offensive coordinator for Allen’s 2017 6A-Divison I state title team under head coach Terry Gambil, whom Coach Alford worked with at Waco Midway. 

“This is a great opportunity to come home since I grew up in Garland ISD,” said Coach Alford, a graduate of South Garland High School. “When I worked at Garland High, we lived in Rowlett and we loved it, it just feels like home for us."

As far as the Eagles on the gridiron, Coach Alford says he’s excited to get started. 

“This isn’t a rebuild here at Rowlett," he said. "Coach Stephens has had a top-notch program for several seasons and I’ve had had a lot of respect for him and the job his coaches and kids have done. So we are coming in to try and build on what has already been built and its my job to keep Rowlett football at a high level,."

Rowlett finished the 2020 season with a 4-2 record, just missing out on the playoffs due to a quirky Garland ISD tiebreaker system used because of Covid-19.