This Week in Texas High School Football: January 31

Manvel opens After an incredible run at Manvel, head coach Kirk Martin announced to his team on Tuesday that he’d be resigning his post to take an assistant role at the college level. It’s been reported Martin will take a position as the quarterbacks’ coach at Syracuse. Martin has ties to head coach Dino Babers as his son, Koda, who played football at Texas A&M married Babers’ daughter Jazzmin who was a volleyball player at Texas A&M. Martin will certainly be a key contributor in the Orange’s recruiting efforts in Texas. Manvel, who lost in an epic state title game in 2017 to Highland Park, will be one of the state’s most sought after jobs, especially considering the Mavericks are dropping to 5A Division II next realignment.  In addition, Alvin High School also opened up on Tuesday as head coach Robert Wilcox announces his retirement after a 24-year stint as head coach. He posted a 142-117 record with stops at Alvin, Kingsville, Round Rock McNeil, Huntsville, Royse City and Arp. Big changes on the 7-on-7 front The Texas -on-7 Board of Directors met last week and officially set the date for the 2018 7-on-7 state tournament which will return to Veterans Park in College Station June 28-June 30. The big change on the 7-on-7 scene is the addition of a third division as a pilot for 2018. Teams will be divided into three divisions with 6A, 5A, SPC and large TAPPS schools in Division I and 4A, 3A Division I schools and small private schools will be in Division II. In Division III will be 3A Division II, 2A and 1A schools. The Division I state tournament will remain at 64 teams, Division II will have 48 teams and Division III will feature 16 teams. The state qualifier schedule will be released on Sunday, February 4. Pearland with two splash hires The much-rumored hires in Pearland ISD came true Monday as the news became public with Pearland hiring Richmond George Ranch head coach Ricky Tullos and Pearland Dawson hiring Clear Brook head coach Mike Allison. We start with Pearland, where the Oilers without a doubt landed a big hire in Tullos who turned a new program at George Ranch, that just started in 2012, into a powerhouse in Class 5A and then navigated the Longhorns’ move into Class 6A. Tullos was 59-17 in six years at GRHS and never had a losing season. From 2013-2015 GRHS was an incredible 42-3, including a 16-0 mark in 2015 and the 5A Division I state championship. Pearland Dawson hired a familiar face as former defensive coordinator Mike Allison returns after three years leading Clear Brook. Allison posted a 16-16 mark in three years at Brook with the highlight being an 8-5 run in 2016.   Aldine names coaches at Eisenhower and MacArthur Aldine ISD decided to promote from within for both openings at MacArthur and Eisenhower at the end of last week. MacArthur promoted QB coach Wayne Crawford, while Eisenhower promoted defensive assistant Eric Jackson. Both are going to be first-time head coaches in 2018. Deer Park alum returns home One of the most decorated alums in school history returns home to take his first head coaching job as Austin Flynn was hired as Head Football Coach at Deer Park on Monday night. Flynn, a 2002 graduate of Deer Park, went on to a very successful playing career at Iowa State before going into coaching. Flynn started as an assistant at South Houston High before moving to GVU where he spent the last seven seasons. LaHue announces retirement at Buda Hays Consolidated Hays Consolidated ISD will be looking for new head football coaches at both its high schools as I confirmed with Buda Hays’ Neal LaHue that he would be retiring effective at the end of the school year.  “It’s been a great run for the past 30 years, but it’s time to spend some more time with my family and I wanted to give administration time to find a quality coach,” said LaHue. Coach LaHue spent five seasons at Hays and was also head coach at San Antonio Roosevelt for six years and prior to his time as a head coach, he had a lengthy stint as an assistant at Corpus Christi Calallen, Seguin and Kerrville Tivy. Earlier this month, Kyle Lehman opened up when Josh Kirkland left after just one season to join the staff of childhood friend Eric Morris at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio. A shakeup in Laredo There was some major movement inside of United ISD last week as Sergio Salinas, who led a tremendous turnaround at Laredo United South, moved over to take over at district rival Laredo Alexander. Salinas led USHS to an impressive 10-3 mark in 2016 spent six years leading the Panthers and will now look to replicate that success at Laredo Alexander. Wylie East moves quickly In what has become common place for Wylie ISD, it again moved quickly in naming a new head football coach as on Tuesday it was announced Boerne head coach Mike Dormady was named to be the second ever coach at Wylie East. Dormady spent six years as head coach at Class 4A Boerne and he has ties to the DFW area as before his first head coaching gig at Wallis Brazos he was an assistant at Coppell. Dormady’s departure at Boerne opens up what many feel is an attractive mid-sized job down in the Hill Country. Texas City staff moving up Texas City head coach Leland Surovik will have some job openings on staff as both his coordinators on Monday were named to their first head coaching positions. Assistant head coach Shone Evans was named the new head coach at LaMarque, replacing Mike Jackson who was hired at Conroe Grand Oaks.   While defensive coordinator Ryan McIver was named the new HFC/AD at Weimar High School. Pflugerville update Pflugerville is bringing in eight candidates for a round of initial interviews on Wednesday January 31 and a group of finalists (probably two or three) will be brought back in to interview with the superintendent of Pflugerville ISD the first week of February. The goal is to have a lone finalist present to the school board at the February 15 meeting. My sources indicate the eight candidates include two internal candidates, three current head coaches in the Austin area, a coordinator in the Austin area, a coordinator from Central Texas and a DFW area head coach. Dumas wastes no time It appears Dumas will continue to have a Dunnam leading the way pending board approval, defensive coordinator Aaron Dunnam will be named the new head football coach for the Demons. Dunnam, whose older brother Chad led Dumas for the past five seasons, takes over after Chad was named the new head football coach at Amarillo High. Aaron Dunnam will lead Dumas into a new classification in 2018 as the Demons drop down to Class 4A. Palacios brings in Chad Graves The long struggling Sharks bring in Natalia head coach Chad Graves to try and turn their fortunes around as he was formally approved by the PISD school board on Monday night. Graves, who spent the past six years in Natalia, led the Mustangs to one of their best seasons ever with a 9-2 mark in 2017. He spent six total years in Natalia and after just two total wins in his first two years Graves and his staff got the Natalia program completely turned around. Alto names Meeks Monday afternoon saw former East Texas power Alto name Tatum offensive coordinator Ricky Joe Meeks as its next Head Football Coach/Athletic Director. Meeks, a former FBS recruit out of Mount Vernon is the son of legendary East Texas coach Dickey Meeks who recently retired from coaching. It’ll be Meeks’ first head coaching job and he’s considered one of the rising stars in the coaching ranks. Coaching Clinics With the off-season starting that means it’s also clinic season throughout the state of Texas,  here’s a listing of clinics from around the state, if we don’t have you clinic listed e-mail it to us at matt.stepp@texasfootball.com February 9-11: Lone Star Coaching Clinic, Hilton Conference Center, College Station www.lonestarclinic.com February 15-17: Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, Winstar Casino, Thackerville, OK https://www.nikecoyfootball.com/clinics/view/45/dallas-red-river February 16-17: Hill Country Football Clinic, Admiral Nimitz Museum, Fredericksburg http://www.hcfc-blc.com February 16: Four States Clinic, Texas High School, Texarkana May 5-6: Best Little Clinic in Texas, Wingate Hotel and Conference Center, Round Rock http://www.hcfc-blc.com May 25-26: Gateway to Mexico Clinic, Laredo June 12-14: Angelo Coaches Clinic, San Angelo http://www.angelofootballclinic.com/index.html July 22-25: 2018 THSCA Convention & Coaching School, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio http://www.thsca.com/convention