This Week in Texas High School Football: March 14

Chris James hired at Fort Worth Paschal After his surprising resignation from Crowley three weeks ago, former head coach Chris James didn’t remain without a gig for long as on Thursday morning he was named new head coach at Fort Worth Paschal. James has quite the building job ahead of him as Paschal has been a long struggling program and posted an 0-10 record in 2017. Killeen Ellison hires Houston Waltrip’s Wright On Friday morning Killeen ISD announced via press release that it had hired Houston Waltrip head coach Todd Wright as its next head football coach. Wright, a former kicker at Arkansas spent four years leading the Waltrip program and posted a 26-14 record including a district title in 2017. Todd Peterman speaks on interest in Waxahachie job and an update DCTF spoke to former DeSoto HC Todd Peterman on Thursday afternoon regarding his current job status and the rumors swirling about his involvement in the vacant head coach position at Waxahachie. Peterman, who had earlier in the day interviewed for the Killeen Ellison job, stated he was indeed one of three candidates who interviewed with the hiring committee at Waxahachie. “I did apply for the opening at Waxahachie and interviewed earlier this week,” Peterman said. “I was told I was one of three candidates who interviewed. My interview with the committee was on Tuesday. I felt like I had a good interview and I am of course extremely interested in the position. Waxahachie is a great football community with a lot of tradition and even though the district is really tough they have all the ingredients to build something special.” Peterman stated he was told the original timeline of having a hire in place may be pushed back. “I know originally they wanted to have a hire by March 19, but that it’s unlikely they have a decision in place by then,” said the former DeSoto head coach. It appears as of Monday that the superintendent (who was originally leaving for Lumberton but decided to stay) has reconfigured the hiring committee and will interview the three additional candidates. I’s unclear if the original three candidates will be interviewed again. My sources indicate the three new interviews are two current DFW head coaches and a head coach in Central Texas. Ramirez moves to admin; Carrollton Turner open After five seasons leading the RL Turner Lions program, Mike Ramirez informed DCTF on Thursday afternoon that he had been promoted to the co-athletic director position in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, thus leaving an opening at Carrollton Turner. Ramirez advised DCTF that the position would be posted and interviews would start up after Spring Break. McDowell continues trend of TXHSFB coaches to the college ranks Right before Spring Break we had another big opening in the Houston area as Richmond Foster head coach Shaun McDowell informed DCTF via text message that he was leaving Foster to take a role in player personnel at Baylor University. McDowell’s departure leaves a big opening in the Houston area as McDowell posted a 49-14 record in five years including a 14-1 mark in 2016. Zeinert leaves Rice Consolidated Friday Rice Consolidated ISD posted an opening for Head Coach/Athletic Director on the school’s website. This marks the end of Gary Zeinert’s five-year tenure leading the Raiders where he posted a 27-29 record. Zeinert also spent two years as the head coach at Charlotte. Blount resigns at Mathis Mathis head coach Rod Blount made public his resignation due to personal reasons after four successful seasons. Blount led the Pirates to the 2015 state semi-finals and his teams posted a 33-18 record in his four years at the helm. Gary Schultz resigns at Honey Grove due to health Honey Grove head coach Gary Schultz announced on Thursday that he would be resigning as the HFC/AC due to health concerns. Schultz suffered a mild heart attack and underwent a bypass procedure in November just days before the Warriors first playoff appearance since 2012. Schultz spent a dozen years as a head coach at Bogota Rivercrest, Thrall, Alba-Golden, Linden-Kildare and Honey Grove posting a 43-82 record. Spring Break movement Typically, the second week of March is when the vast majority of the state is out on Spring Break, so movement is sparse. We were made aware of a few items of note earlier in the week as on Monday we learned that both Elkhart and Baird would have new coaches in 2018, while Floydada promoted defensive coordinator Scotty Bruington to head football coach after the previous HFC Todd Bandy moved to an athletic director only role. 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 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