Who are the front runners for coach of the year?

[dovehunter]

I think its gonna be john odell from Giddings, hands down...what do yall think? wink

[PPHSfan]

Butch Ford took over as the new Head Coach at Celina, and took a team new in the leauge 11-1 the first year in. Pretty Impressive. :p

[Jimbotex40]

eeh, guaranteed coach rush from forney is...not just saying this cuz im from forney...im saying it cuz he has done an awesome job so far without dabryan and our other supposed star players that graduated. he gets his players to play with heart just like G. A. Moore does.

this is his first year as head coach and he has gotten us 2 games from the state title...quite an accomplishment after people said we would not even win our district this year.

give me a better reason than this (which will be hard to do) and i might change my mind.

[Chris Hart]

Bob Shipley of Burnet, he has took Burnet from a first round loss in last year's playoffs to a birth in this year's semi-finals, and has a very young team, Burnet will be returning 7-7 starters next year. All those listed are great candidates also, but Shipley also must be considered.

[footballgal]

Coach Monty Staumbugh , head coach of the Port Isabel Tarpons
Only his second year and has already reestablished the program, and one you will continue to hear from on the upcoming years.

[Blackcat03]

what about coach armstrong from fairfield? if i were voting he would get my vote. sure people thought he would get some wins, but who thought he could turn his team from something like 0-20 the past 2 years and go to an 11-2 record and becoming area champs. now if my information is wrong please correct it but i think its pretty close. we played them this year and they were a totally different team than we played last year. he did an awesome job.

[footballgal]

I also would have to say Coach Marcus Booker , head coach of the Cotulla Cowboys , talk about turning around a football program! eek!

[29x281]

Dan Burk of Navasota.

After 1-9 and 0-10 seasons, Navasota endured a tough pre-district schedule, finished 5-6, and made the playoffs.

Jerry Vance of Liberty Hill.

10-2 season for a team that hasn't had much recently. They were 5-5 last year and were picked to finish 5th in district coming into 2002.

[mojjo_1]

The coach from Fairfield has done an amazing job and should be one of the candidates. I'll wait two more weeks before I nominate anyone else. Let's see who wins the championship because that will take some very good coaching.

[eye of the tiger]

Probably one of the state winners will get it, but I agree with several of the others that the coach at Fairfield shoud win. What a turn around.

[crzyjournalist03]

The coach From Carthage did a great job turning the team around this year, so I think he should be considered.

But I think Rush from Forney is pretty deserving as well. Nobody expected Forney to be anywhere close to where they are this year, and I think Rush deserves most of the credit. I figure he takes it hands down if Forney wins state.

[Jacket2000]

I agree. David Armstrong has done one helluva job at Fairfield.
J2K

[Titans]

You look at the Coach from Celina, Forney, Everman, Jasper, Carthage, Cotulla, Port Isabel, and any other coach in 3A in the state of Texas and NONE of them had a turn-around like the coach from Fairfield....NONE!

Last year, Fairfield was 0-10. That's ZERO wins, not ONE. This year, they finished 11-2 and nearly defeated Bellville to go 4 rounds deep.

If there is ONE other coach in this state who went from 0-10 to 11-2 and 3 rounds deep, let me know.

As for Coach Rush at Forney, he's a good coach, but will only take his team 1 round farther than the Fairfield team.

Hands down.......FAIRFIELD coach.

[audasmom7]

Coach Purser, He has always been there for my boys and he's a great coach.... GO RANGERS

HIT EM (HARD)

[Matthew328]

If the coach from Fairfield doesn't get it something is wrong.....going from 0-10 to 11-2 and nearly beating a VERY good Bellville team in the regional semis..

[UnderwaterBasketweaver]

It sounds like the Fairfield coach had a great turnaround...but I would like to throw out the name of Kyle Story of Decatur. He's also had a great turnaround from 5-5 to 12-1. Decatur wasn't even picked to make the playoffs this year. Not only did they do this, but they beat 3 4A teams in pre-district, and went undefeated throughout the regular season, including beating B'port.

[vet93]

From region 1 I will give you the usual "homer" plug and then a few other names that deserve consideration. Homer plug...Mickey Owens from Ballinger has done more with less talent than many coaches that have been mentioned. Certainly Ballinger isn't toothless, but they typically had 6 two-way starters and very little depth. After taking a team that was decimated by graduation last year he went 9-2. This year he was 9-4, losing to Abilene Wylie, Greenwood 2 times and Breckenridge. Other coaches that deserve consideration:
1. Bob Purser...took an inexperienced but talented team to the regional finals and possibly beyond with a 13-0 record.
2. Kyle Story...metioned above as well. Came out of nowhere and looks to be good for the next few years.
3. Coaches Flowers at Merkel and Hughes from Clyde have taken down programs back to respectablility.
4. Coach Jackson from Sweetwater has taken the Mustangs deep in the playoffs both years that he has been there. Next year will be the year to watch. If he is just as successful without Carillo, then watch out!
5. Coach Hanna from Monahans has done a great job in a year when most expetected Monahans to be down.
6. Coach Keeling at Everman...Has alot of talent, but sometimes those teams tend to be harder to coach and less disciplined. Has produced a consistent winner that has a shot at repeating as state champion.

[eaglefan24]

I know I'm a little biassed, but how anyone could give it to anyone other than Coach David Armstrong from Fairfield is beyond me. Fairfield came in after going 0-10 last season and losing the last 3 games of 2000 (13 game losing streak coming into this season) and brought these guys together in the off-season and got them believing that they could win the state championship. Fairfield was a good team, but it takes a great coach to get everything out of his players like they did. 0-10 to 11-2 area champions in possibly the state's toughest 3A Division II region is a great accomplishment and should be given very heavy consideration for coach of the year. The only way I can honestly see anyone beating him out is with an undefeated state championship, but other than that he should get the award hands down.

[PPHSfan]

I by no means want to disrespect Coach Armstrong from Fairfield, but I would like to give the view from the other side of the fence.

He brought a 0-10 team to 9-1 in the regular season but the schedule was completley different than the year before with the exception of only a few teams.

Fairfield did have a couple of impressive wins, over Rusk 8-5 and Teague 6-5, but Seven of those wins came against rather weak programs.

Lorena 3-7, Ferris 4-6, Groesbeck 4-6, Trinity 1-9, Crockett 5-5, Palestine Westwood 1-9, and Madisonville 4-6.

Fairfield only defeated four teams that beat them last year (Groesbeck, Madisonville, Rusk, and Teague.) Mexia managed to win again this year.

I understand that everyone want's their own coach to win, but I think if I were voting I would give coach Armstrong a top five vote, but I would have to wait a couple of weeks before voting for number one.

Heck I kinda think my teams coach had a pretty good year :p But I guess Coach Moore will just have to settle for Coach of the Century. :D

[eaglefan24]

I'll give ya some concession for some of that, there are some weak teams on the schedule. But let's look....the win over Rusk, who went 2 rounds deep and lost to Daingerfield who beat Celina....the win over Teague, if you are from this area you would know that the Fairfield/Teague rivalry is HUGE here and they are always close games no matter how much better one team may be...Teague made playoffs and held #7 Newton at bay for much of that game. Crockett may bave been 5-5, but they should have been a lot better than that w/ the athletes they have. Mexia has always had our number and flat out beat us in the second half in that game. But you have to understand that this team came together more and more as the season went on and after a winless season going as far as they did is well deserving of recognition.

[Bongo]

Being the team that "squeaked" by Fairfield, I think most folks from Bellville would give it to Fairfield. They were well-coached and this showed by the way they maximized the talent they had on the field. A number of kids went both ways which indicates they were well-conditioned, especially for the brand of smash-mouth, grind-it-out football they played.

A team does not make that kind of turn around in one season without some impressive coaching.

[eaglefan24]

Thanks Bongo, ya'lls team was very well coached as well. We have to give ya credit for that. Our coaches were able to get every ounce out of our players and they do deserve credit for that.

I do think that it should be a state champion coach that should get it if Coach Armstrong doesn't, but I think another coach that deserves serious consideration is Jerry Malone from Marlin. He doesn't try to dodge anyone and schedules probably the toughest pre-district schedule of any 3A team in the state with Waco University, Waco Midway, Mart, Burnet, and Ennis. Then they go undefeated in district and have 3 quality wins in the playoffs so far. They have 2 losses, but both to VERY good teams. Burnet is still playing and University was the 1st game of the year and they just got knocked out of the 4A playoffs last week by Wylie by 19-18 score. They have their hands full with Bellville this week, but if they play up to ability there is no reason they cannot take the 3A Division II state champsionship.

[Bellville22]

Armstrong from Fairfield.

Turned that program completely around.

He and assistants had a game plan that pretty much shut down a very talented Bellville offense (even though the numbers lie a bit). Held them to what I'm almost certain was a season low 10 points.

Plus his kids played with more heart and desire than any team I've ever seen, that right there puts him on top in my mind.

[BigTime]

My vote goes to John Odell .... did a great job of destroying tradition....

[BurnetDawg]

i think bob shipley from burnet should be considered b/c after a late f-ball night he showed up at our STATE marching contest pretty early that morning hes awsoem w/the palyers they absolutly love him as well as all of Burnet hes so awsome :)

[BigTime]

I would vote for either Marlin or Burnet coaches...

[MustangMan]

Thanks, vet93 for representing West Texas. There have been so great coaching jobs in this area. Coach Owens (Ballinger), Coach Jackson (Sweetwater), and Coach Purser (Greenwood). Although Merkel did not make the playoffs, Coach Flowers did a great job at Merkel. I am hoping for a great game tomorrow in Lubbock. Everyone come on out and support the BIG RED STAMPEDE from SWEETWATER!

[sinfan75]

As far as DCTF goes it usually goes to the state champion coach.Coach Mitchell of Sinton had to deal with replacin an entire O line,3 LB's plus all the injuries Sinton incurred all year and still came pretty darn close to playin this weekend.

[nxman]

I have to give my vote to Butch Ford at Celina. Granted there are other new head coaches this year that have taken their teams deep in the playoffs, but Coach Ford took a 2A team from G.A. Moore and continued the "powerhouse" tradition into 3A. And if I remember correctly, Celina only lost by one point to Dangerfield almost halfway through the playoffs (Celina's ONLY loss this year). I don't think Dangerfield has since faced quite the scare. To make the jump from 2A to 3A with an undefeated record into the playoffs deserves considerable merit. I think Celina will be a contender for years to come with Coach Ford.

[BigBrother70]

Bob Shipley

[MARLINFAN]

JERRY MALONE AND HIS COOACHING STAFF IN MARLIN