ARLINGTON – Duncanville’s Reginald Samples and North Shore’s Willie Gaston became the first Black head coaches to face each other in the same state title game in Texas high school history during the Class 6A Division I championnship. Only 10 Black head coaches have won state championships, and three of them – Samples, South Oak Cliff’s Jason Todd, and DeSoto’s Claude Mathis – coached on Saturday at AT&T.  

“It addresses a lot of the stereotypes that are out there (about Black coaches),” Samples said after the game. “I get tired of it, frankly. (People say) that we only do well because we have great players, but we play teams with great players week in and week out and we’ve come out on the winning side of it.” 

Three Black head coaches swept the state’s largest divisions in 2022. If DeSoto wins the nightcap on Saturday, Black head coaches will sweep the Class 6A divisions for two years in a row. Samples began his head coaching career at Dallas Lincoln in 1990. 

He was a state runner-up at Dallas Lincoln in 2004 thanks to a double-overtime loss to Kilgore. His Duncanville team lost to North Shore in the 2018 final on a Hail Mary as time expired. The Panthers also lost in the final to North Shore in 2019 and 2021 before finally breaking through in 2022. Samples is 326-88-2 in 33 years as a head coach. All at Dallas ISD schools. 

“I think the record speaks for itself,” he said about Black coach’s success at the state level in recent history. “I think what you’ve seen on the field speaks for itself. And at some point, some of the chatter has to stop. At some point, they need to just give us credit for being good coaches.”

Gaston feels the same. He stayed in the same hotel as Todd, former assistant for Samples, over the weekend ahead of the Saturday games. Gaston praised the South Oak Cliff coach and said he learned a lot in the conversation and from observing the two-time state champion coach, including on how to loosen up on some things as his tenure continues. The former NFL cornerback also recognized the moment at hand. 

“Coach Samples is a pioneer in our profession,” Gaston said. “He is all-time winningest Black head coach in the state. To be on the same field with him (is a great feeling). He does things the right way. He’s set the blueprint and we’re following it.” 

Maybe the day will come when a Black head coach winning state titles, or the fact that both teams in the championship game are coached by minorities, won’t be noteworthy. The current landscape suggests that these events will be commonplace in the future. Duncanville isn’t going anywhere. Neither is South Oak Cliff or North Shore. Gaston is also hopeful that the day where these moments become too common to notice.  

“At the end of the day, it is great, but I consider myself a ball coach,” he said. “No matter who I line up against, I think I’m one of the best in this profession. That’s how I am as a competitor.”