Hiawatha Hickman is swamped.

As if preparing to coach against Scott Surratt in the 4A Division II State Championship wasn’t already enough, he’s being inundated with requests from people all over Orange, Texas for tickets and sideline passes to watch his West Orange-Stark Mustangs play in AT&T Stadium against the vaunted Carthage Bulldogs on Friday.

Hickman’s not complaining, though. These are great “problems” to have, especially considering so many people were against him leading the Mustangs in the first place.

There were going to be mixed feelings regardless of whoever took over for legendary WO-S head coach Cornel Thompson, who retired after the 2021 season having led the Mustangs to a 129-22 record in 11 seasons, including the 2015 state championship. But the naysayers were particularly loud about Hickman, who had spent the previous six seasons as a defensive assistant under Thompson and had no head coaching experience.

The West Orange-Cove CISD school board meeting to approve Hickman’s hiring was tense, with deliberation taking two hours before a 4-2 vote was announced in his favor.

Hickman didn’t exactly ingratiate himself with those opposed to his hiring after back-to-back 5-6 seasons to start his head coaching career. But the Mustangs picked up steam with a 9-3 record in 2024 and have reached the state championship in Year 4.

“People can say what they want to say,” Hickman said. “I just did it ‘The Mustang Way’. That’s the only way I know and now we’re back to where we need to be.”

Hickman knew taking over for a legend would be difficult. He understands people’s hesitation with his hiring, but he was also hellbent on proving his doubters wrong.

“This job should have been hard to get,” he said. “I know there were some people who thought other people might have been able to do a better job than me, but my superintendent at the time, Rickie Harris, thought I would be the guy. I got here and integrated myself in the community, to the school; made myself present in the school with the administrators. And those people felt like I was the guy to keep this thing going.”

If there was ever a season for Hickman to show off his head coaching chops, it’s been this season. The Mustangs started off with a bang by defeating Newton, who is playing for the 3A Division II State Championship, but then dropped three of their next four – one to 5A DII Nederland, another to perennial power Waco La Vega, and the other to 12-2 Fort Bend Crawford - before rattling off 10 straight wins.

“It’s one of the unique things about being at a place this successful, you have to play a tough schedule,” Hickman said. “I think we have our kids convinced that there are going to be some bumps in the road. We just told our kids to stay the course and that we were going to be better having played the schedule we played. We’re starting to reap the benefits of it.”

While there might be some outside the WO-S locker room still undecided on Hickman, there’s full buy-in from those inside the program.

“He means the world to me,” star running back Khelvy Jefferson said. “After Coach T left, people were talking about how the program was never going to be the same and West Orange-Stark was going to die off. A lot of that hate was toward Coach Hick. He just kept his head down, tuned out the distractions and the haters.”

Jefferson thinks a lot of “hating” is due to outsiders not actually knowing who Hickman is and what he’s about.

“I don’t think they really know him personally like we do,” Jefferson said. “I think it’s outside talk. Coach T was around for so long and then [Hickman] had a rough first few years, so people were sitting there saying it was never going to be the same. It’s more so, they don’t know him personally like we do.

“No matter what people say about him, he’s a great guy and I wouldn’t want anyone else as my head coach.”

Hickman hasn’t changed a lot from his predecessor, or from Coach Thompson’s predecessor, Texas High School Football Hall of Famer Dan Hooks, who passed away on Dec. 9 at the age of 87. It’s all about ‘The Mustang Way,’ which still includes the players going out in “Full regalia,” or full pads for every practice. Every single one.

That’s not to say Hickman hasn’t made changes.

“This game’s about players,” Hickman said. “Those first two years [I was head coach], we had some players, but we didn’t have as many as we’ve had in the past. Our demographics are changing, and we don’t have more than everybody now; we have to develop kids. My Superintendent saw the vision, ‘OK, now we have to develop.’ We brought in a strength and conditioning guy; we brought in an academic person. We concentrated on those things to make us better.”

And look where it’s gotten Hickman and West Orange-Star - back to playing for the state championship.

Now, Coach Hickman, about those tickets...