TXHSFB's Most UNDERRATED Coaches in 2026

Class 6A: Mike Rabe, Katy Jordan

Not all coaching records are built the same, and Mike Rabe’s 101-109 career mark in 20 years as a head coach is a prime example. Rabe has always left his program in a better place than where he found it.

At Ganado, his first job, the Indians went 1-9 in his inaugural 2006 season and were 9-3 by 2009. Then, he went 0-10 in 2010 at Waco Connally and built the Cadets to 7-5 in 2014. 

Since 2015, Rabe has launched two new programs in Katy ISD and has built them into the district’s Tier 2, behind the flagship Katy Tigers. In 2015, Katy Mayde Creek went 0-10 in its first season of varsity football. In 2019, Rabe’s last season with the Rams, the team went 9-3. Rabe started the Katy Jordan program in 2020. In the first varsity season (2022), the Warriors went 5-5. The last two seasons, they’ve made the third round of the playoffs.

Class 5A: Roger Adame, Mercedes

In the first year Adame was elevated from assistant to head coach at Mercedes in 2014, he led the Tigers to their highest win total since 1999, finishing 9-2. That inaugural year was the first glimpse of what Adame would become - the program’s all-time winningest head coach with an 87-46 record over 12 seasons. Mercedes has made the playoffs every year except for 2023. This past year’s 11-1 record was the first double-digit win season since 1993.

Class 4A: Brian Hulett, Springtown

In 18 years as a head coach, Brian Hulett has missed the playoffs only once, in his first season at Eastland in 2008, when the Mavericks went 6-4. And even that season was a remarkable turnaround, considering Eastland had gone 2-8 in back-to-back years before Hulett. In his last three years at the helm (2011-13), Eastland went 12-1, 10-3, and 13-1, respectively, the first deep playoff runs since the late 1980s.

Since 2014, Hulett has become the winningest head coach in Springtown history. From 1954 to 2013, the Porcupines had seven double-digit win seasons. In 12 years under Hulett, they’ve done it five times. Springtown has never missed the playoffs under Hulett’s watch.

Class 3A: Clint Conkin, Slaton

Clint Conkin inherited a Slaton program that had lost 14 of its last 15 games in 2023. Under his watch, the Tigers have gone from 2-8 to 7-4 to 10-3. The 10-win season last year was the program’s first since 1980.

Before turning Slaton around, Conkin went 52-21 over six seasons at Clarendon. His 12-2 record in Year 1 (2017) was the program’s first trip to the fourth round of the playoffs since 1972. 

Class 2A: Kevin Stennett, Cisco

Cisco is one of the Big Country’s most consistent programs. Since 2002, the Loboes have had just two losing seasons and reached five state championship games. Sometimes, a program’s proud pedigree can lull TXHSFB into forgetting how good a job the head coach has done. I feel Stennett has fallen into this category. The Loboes have reached at least the second round of the playoffs in all six seasons with Stennett at the helm, and have made the fourth round of the playoffs four separate times. 

When Stennett took over, longtime head coach Brent West (203-42 over 19 seasons) stayed on as athletic director, and Cisco dropped down from Class 3A DII to 2A DI. Both factors certainly helped Stennett’s transition. But a changing district, and a legend looking over your shoulder, also could’ve rocked the stability within the building. The fact that it hasn’t is a credit to both Stennett and West’s working relationship.