Hal Wasson of Keller Fossil Ridge new SLC

[Gobbla2001]

new SLC coach, awaiting approval

[bobcat1]

I've been hearing that, but haven't read it anywhere yet.

[Gobbla2001]

no link, but:

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Sources: Carroll finds its coach

However, Wasson needs to be approved by school board Monday


02:04 AM CST on Saturday, January 27, 2007
By TODD WILLS and BRANDON GEORGE / The Dallas Morning News


Hal Wasson will be recommended as Southlake Carroll's next football coach at Monday's school board meeting, two sources close to the program said Friday.

Wasson's hiring is pending approval by the Carroll ISD school board, which is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Monday in the auditorium at Johnson Elementary School in Southlake.

Wasson, the coach at Keller Fossil Ridge, was among four coaches interviewed Wednesday to replace Todd Dodge, who left in mid-December to become the head coach at North Texas.


The three other coaches interviewed by a six-person advisory committee – Plano East's Johnny Ringo, Frisco's Vance Gibson and Andrews' Blaine Springston – said they were notified Friday by Carroll officials that they would not be offered the job.

Wasson, 50, has long been considered a frontrunner for the job because of his connections to the football program. He was the running backs coach at Carroll in 2001 and 2002. Wasson's son, Chase (now at Texas State), was a record-setting quarterback at Carroll and led it to the 2002 5A Division II state title. Wasson's wife, Sallie, is a teacher in the Carroll ISD.

Wasson is 122-83-2 in 19 seasons as a head coach, 28-15 in four seasons at Fossil Ridge. His teams have reached the playoffs 11 times. Wasson led Fossil Ridge to a 10-2 record and the District 6-4A title in 2006 and was named district coach of the year.

Wasson replaces Dodge, who was 98-11 in seven seasons at Carroll. Dodge led Carroll to a 79-1 record and four 5A state titles in his last five seasons.

Wasson takes over a Carroll team that returns seven offensive and two defensive starters from last year's Class 5A Division I state champion.

Wasson runs a spread offense similar to Carroll's. Carroll's offense should again be potent with the return of quarterback Riley Dodge (4,184 passing yards, 54 TDs; 1,119 rushing yards, 13 TDs), Todd Dodge's son and The Associated Press' 2006 5A state offensive player of the year, running back Tre' Newton (2,010 rushing yards, 20 TDs) and wide receiver Blake Cantu (80 catches, 1,283 yards, 14 TDs).

Wasson becomes the ninth football head coach in Carroll's 44-season UIL varsity history that has produced an all-time record of 398-126-8.

Carroll has been particularly impressive in the last 20 seasons, winning seven state titles in eight championship game appearances. Carroll's record the last 20 seasons is 244-39-1, including a state-record 72-game regular-season winning streak from 1986 to 1993.

Wasson will attempt to keep Carroll's current eye-popping streaks in tact. Carroll has played in five consecutive 5A state-title games, won 48 consecutive games and has a 50-game regular-season winning streak.

Terms of Wasson's one-year probationary contract are expected to be released Monday. A news conference will follow the Monday board meeting to introduce Wasson to the public.

twills@dallasnews.com and bgeorge@dallanews.com


HAL WASSON
Age: 50

Family: Wife, Sallie; son, Chase (22) and daughter, Chelsie (19).

Head coaching record: 122-83-2 in 19 seasons

Notable: Wasson's first name is Harold but he goes by Hal. ... From 1986 to 2000, Wasson was the head coach at Class 3A/2A schools Italy, San Saba, Pittsburg, Kerens, Mexia and Liberty Hill. ... Wasson's younger brother, Tim, is the defensive coordinator at Lewisville. ... Wasson is a Kerens High School (located 15 miles east of Corsicana) graduate and attended three colleges: Navarro, Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin. ... Wasson graduated from Abilene Christian in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree and attended graduate school at SFA from 1983 to 1984. ... Wasson's résumé states that he was a member of Abilene Christian's 1977 NAIA Division I national championship team. Wasson was an all-conference punter on the 1978 team and averaged 38 yards per punt during the 1978 and '79 seasons... This is the second consecutive time Carroll has hired a Fossil Ridge coach. Todd Dodge coached at Fossil Ridge in 1998 and 1999 before Carroll hired him in 2000.

[bobcat1]

Good enough for me and Good luck to him!

[LHMom]

I think everyone has pretty much known this was coming. Not sure if everyone on this board knows but Hal Wasson was the AD/head football coach at Liberty Hill before Coach Vance. I hope he (Wasson) has a lot more success than he did in LH. Remember - Vance turned LH in to a winning program.

[stevieray]

LHMom, what were the circumstances of his departure from LHill? Did he just leave for bigger and better pastures or were there some controversy at the time of his departure?

[LHMom]

He left spring of my older son's freshman year. I am not aware of any controversy directly with his leaving...

[BU97]

I know Hal very well, he left LH before Chase's junior year and went to SLC, I think that he wanted to go someplace that Chase could play and him not have to deal with the HC issues and just enjoy coaching his kid.

BTW before we start bashing him and declaring Coach Vance as the next Tom Landry, LH was not a great program before Wasson got there and it is not like they started winning 10 games a year as soon as he left.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by BU97
BTW before we start bashing him and declaring Coach Vance as the next Tom Landry, LH was not a great program before Wasson got there and it is not like they started winning 10 games a year as soon as he left.
I don't believe I've seen any negative comments about Wasson from anyone from LH on here or any other forum. We're all aware what our program has been over the years.

[BU97]

Originally posted by LHMom
I hope he (Wasson) has a lot more success than he did in LH. Remember - Vance turned LH in to a winning program.

Sorry, I took this to be a negative statement, but maybe I read something into it. My appologies.

BTW Liberty Hill has the finest supt. around in my opinion.

[olddawggreen]

Originally posted by LHMom
I think everyone has pretty much known this was coming. Not sure if everyone on this board knows but Hal Wasson was the AD/head football coach at Liberty Hill before Coach Vance. I hope he (Wasson) has a lot more success than he did in LH.

I didn't realize that. How long was he there? Wasn't Vance's first year at LH about 2000 0r 2001? He has definatly built a great program.

Wasson will do fine at SLC, he will have a lot more to work with here at Carroll than he did back when he was at Liberty Hill, there are currently about 420 kids in the off season football program in grades 9 through 12 at Carroll ISD. Loaded with tallent, 8 returning starters on offense, pleanty to reload with.