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On 4/15/2024 at 9:42 AM, LIBERTY82 said:

Well, I was rather confident this was a done deal, but I have since heard that there is a short-list of 3 candidates and nobody appears to be a lock, just yet.  Next board meeting is tomorrow April 16.

Just curious, did Randy Rowe apply for this job?

12 hours ago, Cats01 said:

Confirmed. Kedrick Harrison is the new AD/HFC at Liberty ISD. 

Do we have a run-down of Coach Harrison's accomplishments?

55 minutes ago, oldschool2 said:

I think that with a lot of "smaller" schools.. in the area for sure.. it's easier to justify giving a higher salary to the head football coach if AD is attached to the job.  In turn, being able to attract a higher caliber of applicant for the job.  Plus, you won't get a good football coach (in most cases) if they know they have other job responsibilities other than just coaching football.  Even if it's a "coaching job" like teaching P.E. or something... but head coaches will want to reserve those kinds of jobs for their coordinators.

And yes.. there will be cases where HFC/AD are much more partial to the football program than to the entire athletic program as a whole.  To be fair, their job will be on the line based on the success of the football team.. even if every other athletic teams in the school flourishes.  So I get it.

That's also why I don't really have a problem with hiring an AD only.  AD only can be solely responsible for the entire athletic department.. and the HFC can focus solely on the success of the football team.

My whole point was that I LIKE the concept of an AD ONLY position.

With the caveat that this person needs to have a FOOTBALL background, Not that they need to have been a Head Football Coach, but if you don't have a football coaching background then you really don't know what ALL it takes for a football program to be REALLY successful.

13 minutes ago, highsky said:

"Having an AD that does not understand the inner workings of what it takes to win in football is NOT a recipe for success." 

Not necessarily....if the AD is separate and worth their salt, it doesn't matter if they don't know much about football.  All they have to do is bring the HFC in to tell the AD what they need staff wise and have the HFC sit in on interviews and perhaps take the lead on the football parts of the interview.  After the interviews are over, the HFC and AD can get together and discuss the candidates and hire. Now, this may not exactly be the format that it would take but the separate HFC would need to obviously have a LOT of input on football hires so any separate AD would be smart enough to know that.  Any AD who does not listen to his/her coaches is likely to fail. 

 

 

A LOT more that goes into running a football program than just hiring coaches.

But, I get your point.

However, GREAT Football programs and GREAT Football schools will have experienced FOOTBALL guys as AD's. This is even true at the college level. If a school really wants to be GREAT at football, then you need a football guy at the helm.

An AD can make decisions that are in the best interest of all Athletic Programs that HELP football, or an AD can make decisions that are supposedly in the best interest for all Athletic Programs that HINDER football. Only a football guy knows the difference.

25 minutes ago, AggiesAreWe said:

I would expect him to keep the current OC if he is still there.

The job has been posted since he was named interim, in fact the OC job was actually posted by Reyes and he was in the process of calling people for interviews before he got the Palestine job.

On 4/4/2024 at 10:18 PM, AggiesAreWe said:

Yes. The interim tag has been removed as it should have been all along.

This is a good thing for all involved.

Congrats Coach McDonald.

Now, who is he going to hire as his OC?

What direction is Lumberton going to go in Offensively?

On 4/2/2024 at 2:22 PM, highsky said:

By that logic, the AD should coach every sport at that school.  The previous AD was a boys coach at one time.  As long as the sports have good coaches and the budget is managed well among the sports, what does it matter who the AD is?   

From what I hear, there is groundswell support for a separate AD (this person has never played or coached football) and head football coach at Liberty.  Liberty is bigger than Hardin but still falls under the "small school" criteria you posited. What then? 

Anyway, Chad T has done a good job for us this past year as HFC and expect him to do well as AD. 

 

Preface, I am a FOOTBALL COACH.

There are numerous advantages to having an Athletic Director ONLY position. The AD is an Administrator and overseeing every Athletic program is a daunting task, It is a full-time job, if done right.

However, Football is a different animal, it is light years different from any other sport. The sheer number of coaches necessary to be competitive as well as the large number of participants makes it different than any other sport. If you have never coached football, then it is going to be very difficult to understand what goes into having a successful program. Having an AD that does not understand the inner workings of what it takes to win in football is NOT a recipe for success.

24 minutes ago, NEDDAWGS said:

Wasn't publicly announced if so. They have a board meeting next monday as well, might have gotten pushed. 

Thanks for the info.

On 3/15/2024 at 6:39 AM, DP#1FAN said:

Hopefully they will make a announcement on the next HC/AD Monday night. 

Did Kirbyville make a hire?

On 2/19/2024 at 10:04 PM, AggiesAreWe said:

Trey Allen was never going to stay there past 4 years.

You need to do a FOI request for this application list?

17 minutes ago, AggiesAreWe said:

Correct

Any timeline on a new Superintendent hire? Is McDonald going to atleast get a year to prove himself?

2 hours ago, Matthew328 said:

I think the big question will be when Lumberton hires their new supt will that person keep McDonald and remove the interim tag or do do they want to bring their own person in....

Any timeline on a new Superintendent hire? Is McDonald going to atleast get a year to prove himself?

12 minutes ago, Guitar Man said:

Whether you like it or not, McDonald is the best hire here. The players and community support him 100%. The man is about as loyal as it gets when it comes to this job. Lumberton born and raised and came back to coach the game that he loves. Bringing in an outsider is not always the best move, because honestly to most outsiders, Lumberton is a stepping stone job. Reyes benefited greatly from that stable of kids he had. With all the talent graduating, this job is gonna be tough. McDonald isn't some guy who is gonna treat this as a notch on the ladder, and leave. That place is his home. 

You are 100% spot on.

Consistency and sustainability should be the two things that Lumberton values the most in this position.

Hearing there is WAY more to the story in Lumberton than has been put out for public consumption.

1 hour ago, SmashMouth said:

I think they are still searching for a "better deal". Looking for a more proven coach while keeping McDonald on the line by giving him the interim title.

The biggest problem with this is that McDonald has to hire an Offensive Coordinator.

Not going to be easy to get someone to come in and run the Offense for a defensive head coach with the "Interim" title in front of head coach.

3 minutes ago, pine curtain said:

Yep that is what WOS did......lol

Are you really comparing Lumberton and WOS?

The two situations are not even close.

6 minutes ago, Himothy said:

The current DC in Lumberton is "head over heels" better for the school as a whole  than this ex college oc. He has community/player support and has a great football mind.  This former college coach I am thinking of will be an absolute disaster hire for Lumberton. The proof is in the resume of this guy. IYK who it is then you will agree with me. Again, I hope I am wrong.   

I wish I knew who it was, but unfortunately I don't.

However, the connection with the kids and the community should trump "college experience" unless there is an obvious disparity in knowledge AND there is intimate knowledge of the coaches ability to connect with the kids and the community. 

If there isn't someone with first hand knowledge of the CHARACTER and LEADERSHIP ability of the "college guy" then they better do a deep dive into his background. Coaching Lumberton High School kids is nothing similar to coaching recruited college players.

7 minutes ago, Midcountyman89 said:

Being a college coach doesn’t make you more qualified, in fact, it would make you less, in my opinion. It’s completely different. In this case, “qualified,” would be someone who has shown loyalty and understanding of this level of football and what it takes to succeed in this area at said school. It seems, from an external point of view, that they are overlooking someone who is a great guy, great football mind, loves the school/kids, and is respected, in order to go for a more “flashy” hire. This is a slippery slope, and not valuing loyalty can create a revolving door and constant losing seasons. Even if someone comes in and does well, it will make the job a stepping stone—no assistant will ever think they can get it. Their last hire wasn’t flashy at the time, he was a 4A d2 coordinator with no HC experience, yet it worked. It’s no secret he inherited the most talented group L-town has seen in awhile, but it begs to question why the change in attitude. Perhaps success has got to certain people’s heads. Very odd

You are 100% spot on and all fronts.

Promoting loyal coaches who know the kids and community is the way to go.

Especially when the program has had recent success.

Continuity is highly underrated when you are talking about leadership in coaching.

14 minutes ago, Excoach1970 said:

Div 3 you mean lol, doesn’t have any head coaching experience in Texas I heard so that’s a bad rumor 

I'm not an authority and I certainly don't know the situation or any of the players involved.

I was just making a guess.

Sure don't know if there are any other more qualified applicants.

In my experience, the on staff candidate is usually the best candidate when the program has had recent success.

Considering Lumberton's history, the parents complaining about the promotion are probably wrong.

2 minutes ago, Excoach1970 said:

Like who?? 

Heard a Texas college D2 OC (with Texas HS head coaching experience) is one of the finalist. Haven't confirmed, just heard a rumor. 

Maybe?

16 hours ago, Me, myself and I said:

 

You heard wrong. There is not some pushback. There is a lot of pushback. 🙂

Simply going to promote the DC?

And some mommy's and daddy's didn't think that was a good idea?

Because there were many more qualified candidates........

On 3/5/2024 at 6:02 AM, longball24 said:

I agree with you 100% Newton will win district. With the exception that we will have the best QB to ever come through Woodville, it will be the same old song and dance as before.

You definitely have a great QB coming through Woodville, but the question is......

Do you have the coaching staff that knows how to use him, develop him and put an offense in place to take advantage of his skills??

That is yet to be seen.

On 2/27/2024 at 9:03 AM, NEDDAWGS said:

Any names from this area that we think might go after this job? 

Now this is a job that I would really like to see the applicant list.

3 minutes ago, Mr. Buddy Garrity said:

I ran outta likes. +1! 

(I have to add in: problems within the administration would cause them to leave, I've personally seen it in this area few years ago)

Lots of TRUTH to that.

Administration can make even the most LOYAL coach head for the hills.