The Five Most Intriguing TXHSFB Head Coach Hirings for 2026

6A: Vernon Hughes, Converse Judson

Picture Converse Judson as an iPhone, and legendary head coach DW Rutledge as Steve Jobs. Stick with me here. Rutledge, a visionary coach, built a program that revolutionized TXHSFB. Converse Judson held the UIL record for consecutive winning seasons from 1977 to 2020, and coaches from far and wide visited the high school to study the process. Rutledge left in 2000, but he is forever associated with the team he built. Every coach after him has been a “Judson Guy,” someone who either coached with him or played for him. But after five consecutive losing seasons, the 42-0 loss to Laredo United in the bi-district round of the playoffs was the final straw. This iPhone needed a factory reset.

For the longest time, Converse Judson has tried to hold on to what it was. Vernon Hughes’s hiring is so intriguing because he is the man they’ve tasked to find out what they can be. The circumstances of his hiring are also fascinating. Hughes was not originally interviewed by Converse Judson. The administration was in talks with a sitting state championship head coach. When they couldn’t come together on a contract, the coach recommended they talk to Hughes. 

We’ve characterized Hughes’ hiring all offseason as savvy, not splashy. Hughes went 2-7 in one year at Mesquite Horn. But the Jaguars were in the most dominant 6A district in Dallas. Talk to enough coaches from that district, and they’ll say Hughes did an outstanding job considering he lost 30-something players who moved away before the season started. Hughes also proved himself a quarterback whisperer in two seasons at Pflugerville Weiss, posting a 17-5 record.

5A: Stephen Jackson, Lancaster

Leaving West Mesquite was one of the most difficult decisions of Stephen Jackson’s career. In just two years, with a 22-3 run and the first outright district championship since 1995, he felt like he was building a community just as much as he was building a team. 

But Jackson, a DeSoto native, knows arguably the best high school football in the country is played along the I-20 corridor in South Dallas. Take this highway, and you’ll pass by perennial powers like DeSoto, Duncanville, Cedar Hill, and South Oak Cliff. Then there’s Lancaster. It has just as much tradition - and talent - as the other programs. But it’s the only one without a state championship. 

“You look at the speed that comes in and out of Lancaster every year, they’re perennial state champions in track,” Jackson said. “You’re winning state in basketball. You’re winning state in track. Why not win state in football?”

Now, Jackson is taking that same West Mesquite formula to a Lancaster team coming off its lowest win total since 2003. But Jackson says this is far from a complete rebuild. He is extremely complimentary of former head coach Leon Paul, now at Wilmer-Hutchins. Paul won a district title and led Lancaster to the playoffs in four of five seasons, despite playing in the vaunted District 11-6A with a lower enrollment than most opponents. 

“You don’t go into a job looking at it like, ‘Oh, man, they went 3-7, so it’s a bad job.’ They could be 3-7 for a bunch of reasons,” Jackson said. “They were playing 6A football with 5A numbers. They were also in the toughest district in the state of Texas. If they’re in any other district, they’re probably 10-2.”

Lancaster dropped to 5A this offseason. And while they’ll still have to face DeSoto and Cedar Hill in district play, a loaded group of returning players with 6A experience makes the Tigers a team to watch in 2026. Jackson calls rising junior safety James Foster III (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) the best safety in the country. The offense returns leaders like quarterback Joseph Hairston and running back Victor Scott (North Texas commit). 

Inserting a new head coach onto a veteran team can cause friction. But after his first team meeting, Jackson knew two things for certain. Leaving West Mesquite was the hardest decision in his professional career. It was also the right one to come to Lancaster. 

“The kids were extremely excited and extremely bought in from Day One. Rarely does that happen like that. To know how invested they were and how much they wanted to be successful, the turning point was Day One.”

4A: Cliff Watkins, Decatur

Decatur’s head coaching search was shocking to the state on two levels. First, that Steve Huff, after two trips to the state semifinals in four seasons, would leave for a job in Oklahoma. No. 2: Glen Rose head coach Cliff Watkins would make the seemingly lateral move from one Class 4A program to another. 

But when Matt Stepp unpacked it on the latest episode of Tep and Stepp, it all started to make sense. Huff didn’t leave because something wasn’t working underneath the hood of the program. By moving, he gets to be closer to his son playing football at Central Oklahoma and his daughter attending college in Kansas, while also drawing a retirement pension from Texas and taking a full salary in Oklahoma. Watkins, meanwhile, said the success of Decatur’s athletics program as a whole drew him to the job. Watkins has two daughters who are standout athletes in basketball and volleyball. Decatur’s girls’ basketball team is the back-to-back state champion, while the volleyball program is a state power. 

“The amount of success they’ve had, not just in football, but all of their athletic programs. It’s such a rare opportunity,” Watkins said. “There aren’t many places I would’ve left Glen Rose for. Decatur definitely checked all the boxes. It’s a chance to be around a great community and great tradition and have a lot of success in a lot of different sports.” 

On the football field, Decatur will be one of the most intriguing teams in Class 4A. Watkins won 10-straight undefeated district championships in his time at Glen Rose, compiling a perfect 46-0 district record. His teams traditionally had a high-flying passing attack, and Decatur has three standout wide receivers back in the fold. Rising junior Wyatt Dunn (5-foot-9, 160 pounds) exploded onto the scene as a sophomore with 52 catches for 951 yards and 13 touchdowns. Fellow wideout Kasey Boner (5-foot-9, 165 pounds) runs a 4.6-second 40-yard dash. 

“Wyatt Dunn looks to be a really tough kid to cover, just watching him at 7-on-7 in the slot. Then you have Kasey and Henry (Anderson) on the outside who have a lot of speed and run good routes. The quarterback is doing a good job getting the ball out.” 

But the Eagles should also fly around on the back end of the defense. Rising junior safety Colton Braziel was the District Defensive Newcomer of the Year with 130 tackles, seven pass breakups, five tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Linebacker Deven Moreno (71 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles) is a three-year starter and returning all-district player.

3A: Randy Pippin, Palestine Westwood

Here’s the deal: Palestine Westwood could’ve hired me as the head football coach, and they probably would’ve been on this list. The Panthers have finished each of the last two seasons with an interim head coach, which has hampered their chances at a deep playoff run. This year may be the best chance ever to play December football with 17 returning starters, headlined by Texas Tech quarterback commit Kavian Bryant (4,082 total yards, 37 passing touchdowns).

But Pippin is an intriguing coach himself. Last season, he served as Brazoswood’s defensive coordinator. But calling him “Brazoswood defensive coordinator Randy Pippin” is like saying “Cleveland Browns head coach Bill Belichick.” Pippin won a national championship as the head coach at Trinity Valley Community College in 1994. But Pippin’s June 1 start date at Palestine Westwood means he’ll have a truncated offseason. The offense will score points with Bryant at the helm. But Pippin will only have a couple of months to rebuild a defense that surrendered over 40 points in four of its final five games.

2A: Kerry Therwhanger, Garrison

Believe it or not, Kerry Therwhanger enjoyed his two-year retirement. He spent his days babysitting his grandbabies and catching up on time he’d lost while winning a state championship at Timpson. But his grandkids are going back to school soon. Around January of this year, he started coming down with “the bug.” He had a fever, and the only prescription was more high school football.

When he applied for a local job, word started spreading around East Texas that the legendary coach wanted back in. Once Garrison reached out, it felt like the perfect spot for Therwhanger. He’d faced them numerous times over the years as a head coach at Lovelady and Timpson. It’s a football town.

The Bulldogs also have a bevy of senior leadership, most notably returning First Team All-District quarterback Riley McGuire. Garrison also has the linemen to protect him. 

“Garrison is known for having larger kids,” Therwhanger said. “That’s something we haven’t had at Lovelady and Timpson. We had trouble finding linemen. Garrison has a plethora of those types of kids annually. This next year is gonna be no exception.”

Therwhanger, a longtime 2A football coach, says Garrison is a small-school anomaly for their size up front and their all-around depth. The Bulldogs might not have the Terry Bussey-type phenom, the five-star who led Timpson to its first state championship in program history. But they have incredible depth. 

“It would be nice for us to play as many kids one way as possible,” Therwhanger said. “When you get into the 2A teams, not a lot of them have that ability. Kids tend to get worn down during games. If we don’t have to do what everybody else does, then that’s going to give us an advantage.”