Scoop27
02-12-2019, 05:56 AM
CLUTE — Brazosport ISD looked outside the district to find its two new head football coaches to lead its high school teams into the 2019 season, hiring a pair of proven winners.
Mark Kanipes, who turned around a struggling Santa Fe football program and led it through the aftermath of a campus massacre, has been hired to take over as head coach at Brazosport High School, the district announced Monday.
Brazoswood’s new head football coach comes from North Texas, where Danny Youngs led the Wichita Falls Hirschi program for five seasons. He will replace Dean DeAtley, who stepped down after 18 seasons at the Clute school.
“After a thorough selection process, we believe that we have hired two outstanding football coaches and positive leaders of student-athletes,” new Brazosport ISD athletics director Alan Weddell said in a news release announcing the hirings Monday night.
An Angleton native, Kanipes has 35 years of coaching experience and is a disciple of Weddell, the La Marque football coaching legend and hall of fame member, winning three state championships as an assistant coach there. Brazosport ISD hired Weddell as its new athletics director last month.
Kanipes won a fourth state championship as the assistant head coach at Pearland High School. He also has made coaching stops at La Porte, Aldine MacArthur, Plano West and East Central high schools.
He also earned national recognition as one of 32 finalists for the 2018 Don Shula Coaching Award, earning the Houston Texans’ nomination for the honor.
The Indians finished last season 5-6, including a 3-3 mark in District 12-5A Division II. District coaches selected Kanipes as coach of the year.
In five seasons at Santa Fe, Kanipes slowly rebuilt a program that had won just two games in the two seasons before his arrival in 2014. He posted consecutive 1-9 seasons his first two campaigns, improving to three wins in 2016 and a 5-4 mark in 2017.
Brazosport ended last season under interim coach James Scott Smithey, who took over after the district removed head coach Mike Ferrell without public explanation Oct. 25. The Exporters finished 8-4 and 5-6 the last two seasons, including consecutive playoff berths.
Youngs compiled records of 11-3 and 10-3 the last two seasons, earning postseason appearances both times out of District 1-4A. The Huskies lost to Stephenville in the state quarterfinals in 2017 and to Decatur in the region round last year.
Hirschi earned recognition as Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 4A Team of the Year and as District 1-4A Coach of the Year both seasons.
The Huskies made the postseason four of Youngs’ five seasons at the school, where he compiled a 30-29 record overall.
Both Kanipes and Youngs will serve as campus athletics director at their respective school. Each is scheduled to start in their new post Feb. 18.
Mark Kanipes, who turned around a struggling Santa Fe football program and led it through the aftermath of a campus massacre, has been hired to take over as head coach at Brazosport High School, the district announced Monday.
Brazoswood’s new head football coach comes from North Texas, where Danny Youngs led the Wichita Falls Hirschi program for five seasons. He will replace Dean DeAtley, who stepped down after 18 seasons at the Clute school.
“After a thorough selection process, we believe that we have hired two outstanding football coaches and positive leaders of student-athletes,” new Brazosport ISD athletics director Alan Weddell said in a news release announcing the hirings Monday night.
An Angleton native, Kanipes has 35 years of coaching experience and is a disciple of Weddell, the La Marque football coaching legend and hall of fame member, winning three state championships as an assistant coach there. Brazosport ISD hired Weddell as its new athletics director last month.
Kanipes won a fourth state championship as the assistant head coach at Pearland High School. He also has made coaching stops at La Porte, Aldine MacArthur, Plano West and East Central high schools.
He also earned national recognition as one of 32 finalists for the 2018 Don Shula Coaching Award, earning the Houston Texans’ nomination for the honor.
The Indians finished last season 5-6, including a 3-3 mark in District 12-5A Division II. District coaches selected Kanipes as coach of the year.
In five seasons at Santa Fe, Kanipes slowly rebuilt a program that had won just two games in the two seasons before his arrival in 2014. He posted consecutive 1-9 seasons his first two campaigns, improving to three wins in 2016 and a 5-4 mark in 2017.
Brazosport ended last season under interim coach James Scott Smithey, who took over after the district removed head coach Mike Ferrell without public explanation Oct. 25. The Exporters finished 8-4 and 5-6 the last two seasons, including consecutive playoff berths.
Youngs compiled records of 11-3 and 10-3 the last two seasons, earning postseason appearances both times out of District 1-4A. The Huskies lost to Stephenville in the state quarterfinals in 2017 and to Decatur in the region round last year.
Hirschi earned recognition as Dave Campbell’s Texas Football 4A Team of the Year and as District 1-4A Coach of the Year both seasons.
The Huskies made the postseason four of Youngs’ five seasons at the school, where he compiled a 30-29 record overall.
Both Kanipes and Youngs will serve as campus athletics director at their respective school. Each is scheduled to start in their new post Feb. 18.