This week in Texas high school football: February 14

UIL realignment appeals On Monday, San Angelo ISD announced it was appealing its placement in District 3-6A in the latest UIL Realignment released on February 1. SAISD cited additional travel, safety of students and missed classroom time as primary drivers behind the appeal. San Angelo Central is currently placed in District 3-6A with Abilene, Weatherford, Richland, Haltom, Euless Trinity and Hurst Bell. SAISD without a doubt would prefer a move to District 2-6A with longtime rivals Odessa Permian, Odessa, Midland Lee and Midland High along with Wolfforth Frenship and Amarillo Tascosa. There’s no timetable on when the UIL will hear the appeal but based on a simple look at travel times in 2-6A vs. 3-6A, I believe San Angelo ISD has a valid case. Also of note, Fort Worth ISD is appealing the placement of YMLA and Trimble Tech in Class 6A. The two schools, which do not have attendance zones, have enrollments well below the 6A cutline and in YMLA’s case, has the enrollment of a 3A Division II program. FWISD is hoping to get both schools placed in 5-4A Division II with the other FWISD 5A programs minus Arlington Heights and South Hills. This appeal is much more of a long-shot as UIL policy dictates schools such as these be placed in the highest classification regardless of enrollment and with no district having a unanimous vote to let them in the road is likely difficult in winning an appeal. Pflugerville hires McCallum's Taylor Wednesday morning Pflugerville officially announced Austin McCallum's Charles Taylor as the Panthers' new head coach. Taylor guided the Knights for four seasons that culminated with a memorable 14-1 record in 2017, the school's best-ever, that resulted in a state semifinals run. Taylor takes over for long-time head coach George Hermann who retired this past season after 21 years at Pflugerville. DeSoto update It’s been quiet in DeSoto since Todd Peterman’s resignation in late January. The job posting was not placed on THSCA or TASA which indicates the district may have a small core group of guys it wants to bring in for interviews. Expect things to head up the week of February 19 with interviews starting and a likely hire at the regularly scheduled February 26 board meeting. Kitna departs After three years, the Jon Kitna experiment ends in Waxahachie as the former NFL quarterback resigned his post on February 9. Kitna, who posted a solid 20-13 record in his three years at the helm led the Indians to the third round of the playoffs in 2017, but rumors of his departure had been swirling for quite some time. From his first day on the job, the community was certainly split about multiple items related to his hiring and that split never seemed to heal during his three seasons. I recommend reading the story on the resignation from Travis Smith in the Waxahachie Daily Light, that gives some background info on some of the issues in town at the moment. The new head coach will have a tough task of not only bringing the community back together, but also navigating the Indians’ transition to Class 6A in a very difficult district. The job is still a very good one and one name already surfacing is former DeSoto head coach Todd Peterman. He lives in the area and is in search of a gig so there’s no doubt from a logic standpoint the move makes sense. There will be plenty of other strong candidates who put in for this one, so the search will be fascinating to watch. McKinney’s Smith departs for Prosper ISD admin role After a mostly quiet coaching carousel in DFW, things are picking up and Friday’s action was a big player as DCTF learned that McKinney head coach Jeff Smith informed his players he was leaving to take a role as Prosper ISD Assistant Athletic Director. The move is pending board approval, but it’s likely to be approved as Prosper ISD AD Valerie Little worked with Smith during her stint in McKinney ISD. Don’t look for this job to be posted for long. I expect McKinney ISD to identify a short list of candidates, bring them in for interviews next week with a targeted decision date at the February 27 board meeting. Katy Seven Lakes opens Katy ISD has their second opening of the off-season as late Wednesday it was announced that Katy ISD had reassigned Head Coach Lydell Wilson after six years at the helm, two playoff appearances and a 30-31 record. Wilson, who led Rosenberg Lamar Consolidated to a state title in 2007 failed to win a playoff game in his tenure at Seven Lakes. Frisco Memorial tabs Roberson as first head coach Monday night, Frisco ISD named Dallas Skyline head coach Derick Roberson as the school’s head football coach. Roberson, who has spent the last three years leading Skyline, has experience as an assistant athletic director in Dallas ISD and prior to that move, Roberson was head football coach at Dallas Adams. Frisco Memorial will open in August of 2018 and will begin varsity play in the fall as a 5A Division II program so Roberson has his work cut out for him to hire a staff and build a program from the ground up. It will be interesting to see what direction Skyline goes in as this is a program in transition. The glory days under Reginald Samples have vanished as the Raiders missed the playoffs for the first time in 23 years in 2017. Does the admin try to bring back one of Samples’ previous assistants or do try and make a splash hire? Wills goes to Wall As in Michael Wall to become its next coach as the Lake Travis offensive coordinator, considered by many a rising star in the coaching ranks, was named HFC at last Wednesday’s board meeting. Wall, who has been the mastermind of the explosive LTHS offense the past four years, has an extensive resume and should bring plenty of excitement to the Wildkats. Navasota Update Navasota will begin interviews for its vacant head football coach position this week. DCTF has learned that NISD will bring in a total of 12 candidates for the initial round of interviews and sources indicate there will be a panel-style interview at least for the first round of interviews. Kirbyville Hires Kirbyville named West Orange-Stark assistant Craig Jones as its next head football coach at the board meeting Monday night. Jones had also been the head baseball coach at West Orange-Stark but will not coach baseball this season and instead will get to Kirbyville and get his feet on the ground as quickly as possible. Considering Jones will be the school’s third AD in as many years, this is a good move. Natalia promotes from within After one of its best seasons in years, Natalia decided to stay in-house to replace Chad Graves who departed a couple of weeks ago to take over at Palacios. NISD named defensive coordinator Ilyan Martinez as its next Head Football Coach/Athletic Director on Monday evening. 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 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