Like salmon, more Texas high school football coaches are swimming upstream into the college ranks at an unprecedented level. Jeff Traylor, a long-time head coach at Gilmer High School, led UTSA to a Conference USA championship in 2021. Joey McGuire, a three-time state champion head coach at Cedar Hill, was named Texas Tech head coach late in 2021. 

Two of the 12 top jobs at FBS programs in Texas belong to a former high school coach. Add Sonny Dykes (TCU) who spent a year at J.J. Pearce and Rhett Lashlee (SMU) who started at the high school ranks in Arkansas after his college career, and that number grows to 25 percent. 

That trend will only continue as more high school coaches gravitate towards the college ranks. There is no doubt that future college head coaches are either already making their way up the ranks or still at the high school level waiting for the right opportunity. 

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football put together a list of potential college head football coaches to watch over the next few years. 

Shawn Bell, Baylor quarterback coach 

Bell re-wrote the record book at Baylor as a quarterback from 2003 to 2006, graduating with 28 school records by the time he exited Waco. He threw for 5,666 yards and 38 touchdowns, which is still good for fifth all-time at Baylor. The China Spring product quickly rose in the high school coaching ranks once his playing career was over. 

It made sense considering his dad, Mark, was a successful high school coach for decades. Bell earned his first head coaching job in 2009 at Clifton High School. He moved on to Magnolia West in 2010 and compiled a 44-27 record over six years. He spent the 2016 season in charge of Round Rock Cedar Hill, leading the program to its first ever district championship. 

That was his last season at the high school level. He returned to Baylor after 10 seasons coaching at the high school level, including eight as a head coach. Bell was an offensive analyst in 2017, the offensive line coach in 2018 and 2019, the tight ends coach in 2020 and the quarterback coach in 2021. The next obvious step is for Bell to become an offensive coordinator and then eventually a head coach inside the state of Texas. 

Emmett Jones, Texas Tech passing game coordinator/wide receiver coach 

Jones, a walk-on at Texas Tech in the mid-1990’s, has paid his dues at the high school and college level, and many hoped he’d get the SMU job when Dykes left for TCU due to his experience coaching and his ability to recruit in his native Dallas. Jones graduated from North Texas in 1999 and began his coaching career at his alma Mater Seagoville High School from 2001 to 2004. 

Jones would become a mainstay in the Dallas area thanks to time as an assistant at Dallas Lincoln and Dallas Skyline from 2004 to 2013. He was given his first head coaching opportunity in 2012 at South Oak Cliff where he went 30-8 in three seasons in charge of the Golden Bears. The program went multiple rounds deep and produced FBS talent in each of his three seasons leading the program. 

Jones returned to Texas Tech as the director of player personnel in 2015 before a promotion to outside receiver coach from 2016 to 2018. He then spent three seasons as the wide receiver coach at Kansas before returning to Texas Tech after the season when he was hired by Joey McGuire to be the passing game coordinator and wide receiver coach. 

Will Stein, UTSA co-offensive coordinator/quarterback coach 

It’s no secret that former quarterbacks have an inside track to head coaching opportunities in modern football. Stein fits the mold of an eventual head coach after a strong career at Louisville and a hot start in coaching. Stein began his coaching career as a graduate assistant working with quarterbacks under Charlie Strong at Louisville before a promotion to quality control and wide receiver coach in 2014. He followed Strong to Texas a year after Strong’s departure and held the same positions for the Longhorns in 2015 and 2016. He was elevated to quality control and quarterbacks in 2017. 

Strong was fired at Texas following the 2017 season, so Stein stuck in the Austin area by taking a job as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterback coach at powerhouse Lake Travis where he led the offense from 2018 and 2019. In 2018, Lake Travis averaged 434.3 yards and 41.1 points per game. Those numbers improved to 443.5 yards and 42.6 points per game in 2019. Lake Travis went 26-4 and made consecutive appearances in the state semifinals in his two years with the Cavaliers. 

UTSA hired Stein as the passing game coordinator and wide receiver coach in 2020. He remained at the position through 2021 and was promoted this offseason to co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for the upcoming 2022 season. 

Riley Dodge, Southlake Carroll head coach 

Dodge’s dad, Todd, made an early foray into college coaching after a successful high school career at Southlake Carroll. Todd was hired as the head coach at North Texas after the 2006 season and went 6-37 in four years before leaving for a job an assistant job at Pittsburgh and eventually returning to the high school ranks where he recently led Westlake to three straight state championships. 

The younger Dodge is on a similar path, though, he’d hope to have more success if he does make it to the college ranks. Riley currently leads Southlake Carroll, his alma mater. He led the Dragons to the 2020 state championship game, and he holds the pedigree as a former quarterback to move up whenever the right opportunity arises. 

Drew Sanders, Vandegrift head coach 

A Mexia native, Sanders was a second-team all-district player and a captain for the Blackcats in a district championship season as a senior. He attended Hardin-Simmons where he played football and coached as part of four conference championship squads. Upon graduation, Sanders began his coaching career as an assistant at Mexia and Killeen before moving to San Antonio Taft. 

Sanders became a head coach in 2006 at Austin Travis. He led the Rebels to the second playoff appearance in the previous 10 years in 2008. Sanders moved to north Austin to start the program at Vandegrift High School in Leander ISD in 2009. He’s turned the Vipers into perennial contenders and arguably the best team in LISD, which includes Cedar Park and Rouse. He holds a winning percentage over 70 percent and has been an all-district coach of the year four times. 

Marcus Shavers, McKinney head coach 

A graduate of Allen High School and a former defensive lineman at the University of Arkansas, Shavers feels destined for a college job due to his age (mid-30s) and reputation within DFW. Shavers first became a head coach at Lubbock Estacado where he went 18-6 during his tenure. He’s gone to the playoffs twice in his four years as head coach at McKinney in a district that includes Denton Guyer and Allen. 

Ricklan Holmes, Tyler head coach

Holmes is a Tyler native who starred as a football player and track athlete in high school before continuing his career at Oklahoma State and a stint in the NFL. Holmes returned to Tyler as an assistant coach for Derek Rush 14 years ago. He’s spent nearly the past decade as the head coach at Tyler High School and was recently elected the Director-Elect of District 6 for the THSCA. His success as a head coach, past as a college football player, and connections throughout the Texas high school football community makes him an ideal candidate to join a college staff if that is what Holmes eventually wants to accomplish. 

Adrian Mitchell, Klein Collins head coach

Mitchell is 31-14 in four seasons in charge of Klein Collins with the program reaching the playoffs in each of those four seasons. He spent time as the defensive coordinator for Collins before being promoted to head man. Mitchell was an all-state performer in high school in Louisiana before a solid career at Tulane. 

D.J. Mann, Lubbock Coronado head coach 

There aren’t many young coaches in Texas with the type of respect that Mann receives from his peers. He earned his first head coaching opportunity in 2021 when he was hired by his alma mater Lubbock Coronado. The Mustangs finished 7-5, including a 5-1 record in district play, and went two rounds deep into the state playoffs. Mann spent the previous four seasons at Cedar Hill in a variety of roles such as passing game coordinator, wide receiver coach, and recruiting coordinator. He’s spent time in nearly every part of the state of Texas, including stints at Crosby, Sulphur Springs, Wylie, Ranchview, and Palo Duro. 

Travis Bush, New Braunfels Canyon  

Bush is an obvious choice to eventually return to the college ranks because he spent the early part of the 2000s on various staffs around the state. Bush played quarterback at Gregory-Portland under his dad’s direction before continuing his football career as a wide receiver at Texas State in the late 1990s. He began his coaching career with one year at San Marcos in 2000 before beginning as a grad assistant at TCU from 2001 to 2003. 

Bush took over as the wide receiver coach at Texas State from 2004 to 2006. He was then promoted to co-offensive coordinator at Texas State from 2007 to 2010. Bush moved on to become the first offensive coordinator at UTSA in 2011 prior to a move to Houston to coach running backs. After one game in the 2012 season, Bush was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. He remained there through 2014. 

Bush returned to the prep ranks as a head coach at Seguin in 2016. He stayed there for five seasons before taking the head coaching job at New Braunfels Canyon in 2021. At Seguin, Bush resurrected the program and led the school to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2018 to 2020. The 2018 team broke a 12-year playoff drought for Seguin. Canyon went 4-6 in Bush’s first year.