Howe ISD will soon be challenged to find themselves a new athletic director and head football coach. It could be the third consecutive year that there is a completely new staff in place depending on if any of the current coaches follow Zack Hudson to Class 4A Mabank ISD where he recently accepted the head football coaching position. A lot depends on which direction the superintendent and school board want to go in. But in Texas, like it or not, one must admit that having a good football coach is as important or more important than the marquee sign that welcomes new folks to the city. But the job of athletic director is much different. It requires someone who can and be willing to survey the fields and courts from say 500 feet above all sports, not just football. It’s an interesting dynamic in small school Texas athletics. Nine times out of 10, the head football coach is the athletic director. For one, football is the cash cow and where 90 percent of the money is generated. However, a good athletic director has to be able to distribute the proper time and dollars into other areas. This is where the challenge lies in small Texas schools.
Knowing that it is important for the ISD to have a good football coach, the role of athletic director is often granted to the good coaches because of the power and salary bump that comes with it. When a head football coaching position is posted which does not also have the title of athletic director associated with it, the pool of candidates diminishes greatly. Sherman ISD recently has gone through this by not giving the title of athletic director to their head football coach. The results were not good for the fans, players, and parents of the Sherman Bearcats for a decade. One might argue that the lack of a proud maroon-wearing fan base might have been the difference between a mega bond failing instead of passing. But that’s Sherman. You could look right here at a Howe coach and go back just a couple of years at an interesting scenario where Eric Johns served in Gainesville as the athletic director and head varsity basketball coach. Nothing wrong with that for sure, especially for basketball fans and parents. But Johns was also an assistant football coach under the head coach which ultimately worked for him. Huh? Those situations can disrupt the chain of command and usually, those stories end in bitterness and a Paul Harvey ending.
Before anyone gets too excited about any possible candidate, the hiring process has not yet begun as no school board motion has been made. The possibilities we will mention are all under contract and may not even apply for the position. There will more than likely be 150 to 200 applicants for this job and there will be excellent choices and there will also be diamonds in the rough that will no doubt be missed.
Again, not to stir things up, but not sure if you noticed but the wind of the rumor mill picked up through town this week. The mill kicked into high gear from some students, parents, and fans who made it known that they want the ISD to bring Dale West back. Zack Hudson has shown to be a master at hiring good coaches in Howe and the hiring of West helped him earn a record of 26-12 while he was here. The overwhelmingly popular West left for Collinsville a year ago to take over as athletic director and head football coach and well deservingly so. West, while the Bulldogs offensive coordinator, led Howe in the Slot-T offense to an astonishing 13,269 rushing yards in three seasons (349 rushing yards per game), 6.87 yards per carry, 152 rushing touchdowns (four rushing touchdowns per game), and eight playoff games, five of which were wins and all were against teams far more athletic than Howe. If you want to expand on West and what he brings to the table, there’s his unmistakable uplifting and encouraging and fiery attitude that is infectious not only to the kids but also to the community. West and his friends have raised thousands of dollars for several years now to deliver Thanksgiving meals to those in need. That kind of trait is much more important to hand down to a 15-year-old boy than to be able to cut block a defensive end. But West also is a sincere and honorable man who would be hard-pressed to make a commitment to Collinsville and not see it through, regardless of his affection for Howe. However, that’s how the job works and that’s how you elevate your career. Besides, the Howe athletic director and head coach position does pay more than Collinsville one would assume. In West’s first year as an athletic director, we can with authority say that Collinsville’s girls’ volleyball and basketball improved exponentially from the year prior which indicates that he understands the role of athletic director as well as head coach in football. By the way, his Pirates made the playoffs and beat a district champion which was far more athletic than them. Seems to be a pattern.
If West were to come back to Howe after a one-year absence of landing his first head coaching and athletic director position, it would not be the first time in Howe’s history for that to happen. In 1988, Howe ISD made two young hires for the Friday night sidelines – Ricky Ake for the trainer and Joey McQueen as an offensive assistant. McQueen was labeled a “can’t miss” coach and was swooped up by Bells ISD to lead the Panthers in 1989. He did so and took them to their longest playoff run in history that year. But when Howe’s Jim Fryar left for Jacksboro, calls were made from students, parents, and Howe ISD members to try and get McQueen back to Howe. Emotionally, for McQueen it was a tough decision to leave Bells after the success they had, the relationships he had made and with the arrow pointed straight up, but that’s how the job works and that’s how you elevate your career.
Another option is to hire from within which didn’t produce the results Howe was looking for in the last situation this occurred. Upon Cory Crane’s unexpected and shocking resignation after the 2010 fantastic football season, Howe elevated Joe Watson from defensive coordinator to head coach and athletic director. Watson, a wonderful human being, and good football coach didn’t have the chips to play with as the head coach that he did as an assistant and he survived only two seasons as the leader of the ‘Dogs. The “buzz” from kids, parents, and fans as their favorite choice among current coaches that Howe could elevate and lead the program would be current Defensive Coordinator Mike Segleski. He’s had experience in that role previously at Aubrey.
The other option is to just open it up and hire a brand new person to the program. A new athletic director and head coach would likely be given a year to settle in before any sudden expectations of winning would be applied, especially with the Bulldogs coming off of a 1-9 season in 2017. A brand new coach would have to be indoctrinated into the Bulldog traditions, that unless he has some familiarity to Howe from the past. That brings up again Joey McQueen that has made it known that he wants to move back to the North Texas area to be near his grown children that have given him grandchildren near here. McQueen became Howe’s 17th head coach back in 1990 when he took over for Fryar and immediately led Howe to the bi-district title and regional championship game in 1990 as well as winning the district championship the following year in 1991 (still ranks statistically as the sixth best team in school history). He left Howe after the 1992 season to lead the Mason Cowpunchers, where he resumed his playoff success. McQueen’s only time since 1989 to not be a head coach was a two-year period when he was an assistant at Hardin-Simmons University. McQueen, who is currently the athletic director and head coach at Comfort ISD would be an interesting choice to once again lead the Bulldogs not only because of his familiarity to the school, his long documented record of leadership, but because he is a professional athletic director who’s experience that allows for him to see the role of all athletic programs, not just football. It was McQueen who hired Tim Rose to be the head basketball coach in 1990 to help with the struggling program after it was all but squashed before his arrival. McQueen’s fingerprints are still all over Howe due to his impact he had in his short time. Those who were highly influenced by McQueen are community leaders now. HHS Cheerleading Coach Pam Kirby, Community Bible Fellowship Associate Pastor Jesse Farrer, and even this economic developer and journalist all credit McQueen’s leadership as engines for theirs.
For the football fan, those will seek only the one who can get the Victory Light turned on after the games. For the non-football sports parent, they seek someone who will let their kid practice said sport even during football season. For those with a dog in the hunt, they just want someone who cares – someone who will not dog-cuss their kid, someone who will get after them when they are doing wrong and tells them that he loves them in the end. They want someone that can create another generation of leaders in our community and be able to immediately point at the person who influenced them to better themselves because that person cared about them.
This could be a fairly quick process because the coaching staff is down three coaches at the moment and if any left with Hudson, that will create a dire situation. But looking at those involved in this process between the school board and the coaches mentioned, they all lay their heads down and night and pray to the same Lord about their future and His desires. And as a parent of an athlete, that’s already a victory.
