Celina ISD will name Denison athletic director/head football coach Brent Whitson as the district’s athletic director pending board approval on Monday night. The district has decided to split the duties of athletic director and head football coach after the retirement of Bill Elliott and amidst major growth in the area.

Whitson comes to Celina with a stellar reputation in both Texas and Oklahoma. He’s known as a coach who has run first-class programs in both states.

His journey as a head coach began in his native Oklahoma where he spent four seasons at Shawnee High School where in 2003 he led that program to a Class 5A state championship. He led Broken Arrow High for three seasons before coming to Texas in 2007 where he took over at Richardson High.

Whitson helped turn a struggling Richardson program into a playoff contenders in four seasons before making the move to South Grand Prairie, where he spent 10 seasons leading the Warriors, much of that time playing in some of the state’s deepest and toughest districts.

He moved to Denison in 2021 where he led the Yellow Jackets to the playoffs in 2021 and 2023 and kept the ‘Jackets very competitive in difficult 5A-Division II district races as one of the state’s smallest 5A programs.

Whitson’s record as a head coach overall is 150-133, which has been posted in 26 total seasons.

He moves into a full-time administrative role where he’ll look to bring stability to a Celina athletic department that has dealt with off-field issues related to former Celina middle school coach Caleb Elliott, the son of former Celina athletic director/head football coach, Bill Elliott.

One of Whitson’s first tasks as the district’s new athletic director will be to hire a new head football coach at Celina High School. The Bobcats won the 2024 4A-Division I state championship and are one of the state’s traditional powerhouses. They are moving up to Class 5A-Division II after UIL Realignment.

Whitson’s departure from Denison will leave an attractive job opening in the Texoma area as Denison has great tradition and outstanding facilities. The ‘Jackets were placed in District 4-5A with Anna, Celina, Prosper Richland and five Frisco ISD programs. If things go well, expect Denison to be in playoff contention during the 2026 season, especially considering sources indicate Denison has some major young talent about to come up through the pipeline as the freshman team posted a 10-0 record a year ago.