While Terry Gambill’s hiring as Midway’s new football coach garnered most of the headlines, there are six other area 11-man schools that will be led by first-year coaches this season.

New Connally coach Mike Rabe led Class 1A Ganado to the state semifinals the last two seasons. He plans to maintain the Cadets’ ground attack but add a little more in the passing game.
Jerry Larson / Waco Tribune-Herald

Mike Rabe, Connally

Rabe takes over the Cadets after a four-year run at Class 1A Ganado.

Rabe’s record there was 22-27, but he took the Indians to the state semifinals the last two seasons, falling to Cayuga both times. Ganado went 9-4 in 2008 and was 9-5 last year.

With the Cadets, he inherits a team that returns 15 lettermen, but only four starters on both sides of the ball.

Rabe said he’s impressed with the team speed he’s seen in his time with Connally.

The Cadets, who came up just short of the playoffs with a 4-6 record, are looking for their first winning season since 2005.

Rabe has installed an offense based on the I-formation, and he said Connally will likely throw the ball a little more than it has in the last few seasons.

The goal of the offense, much like the slot-T that Connally ran last year, is to control the clock and methodically march the ball down the field.

“We’ll take a big play if it comes, but we’re not very trick-playish,” Rabe said.

The Cadets will run a 4-3 on defense, and Rabe expects his athletes to be aggressive and force as many turnovers as possible.

“The quicker we can get the ball back, the better it is for our offense,” Rabe said.

Paul Weaver, Mexia

Weaver comes to Mexia after six years at Keller Fossil Ridge, the last three of which he served as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

The Panthers posted winning records in each of Weaver’s first four seasons at Fossil Ridge before falling on hard times in the last two, combining for only four wins over that span.

Now Weaver takes over a Blackcat team that has been among the area’s best offensively over the last two years. Two-time Super Centex honoree Doug Gentry, who has 1,800-plus yards in both of the last two seasons to go with 39 touchdowns in 24 career games, spearheads Mexia’s explosive attack.

Defensively is where Weaver will need to help the Blackcats pick up the pace, and he has some solid building blocks in place to do so.

Brandon Brown, Clifton

Brown joins Clifton after three years as head coach at Jacksboro, where he posted a 15-17 record.

Jacksboro reached the postseason the last two years, falling to eventual state semifinalists both times.

Brown said the Cubs will run a spread offense, but he will tweak it year-to-year to fit the players he has. On defense, Clifton will be a 4-3 team, and Brown said he doesn’t like to change defensive schemes because he wants his players to be comfortable and fly around to the football.

Josh Finney, Teague

Finney spent the last four seasons building Class 1A Maud into a powerhouse.

In the two years before Finney arrived, Maud finished a combined 4-16, but won a district title each year of his tenure — the last three coming in undefeated fashion.

In 2007, Finney took the Cardinals to an 11-3 record and a berth in the state semifinals. They followed that up with a 12-1 season that resulted in a state quarterfinal run.

Finney coached the famed Maud Squad, the trio of Bryant House, James Dunbar and Ray Burns who each earned all-state recognition on their way to signing with TCU.

Bruce Brignac, Bremond

Brignac will be a first-time head coach after serving as a defensive coordinator under Rusty Nail, his college roommate, at Mart.

Since Brignac joined the Panthers in 2006, they posted a record of 46-10 and claimed the 2A Division II championship in his first season. Mart returned to the state title game in 1A Division I in 2008 and reached the quarterfinals last year.

Brignac stresses patience on the offensive side of the ball. The Tigers will spread the field, but they’re just looking to pick up five yards at a time and methodically keep the chains moving with their short passing game.

Defensively, Brignac used a 3-4 with a 50-front look at Mart, and that doesn’t figure to change at Bremond. He expects his defenses to play fast and swarm to the ball.

Brignac replaces the winningest coach in Bremond history in Jerry “Slugger” Hamrick, who retired with a 103-47 record and an appearance in the 2007 1A Division II championship game.

David Wells, Valley Mills

Wells is a first-time head coach after a four-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Brady.

In his time with the Bulldogs, Wells helped transform a team that was 0-10 the year before he arrived into one that went 24-3 over the final two years with a state semifinal and quarterfinal appearance.

Under Wells, Valley Mills will run a wing-T offense that is based on being physical, “but more than that, we use a lot of deception in the offensive game plan.”

“Our offense is designed to try and hide the ball,” Wells said.

On defense, the Eagles will run a 3-4. Wells said they won’t blitz very often, but will have the ability to give opponents several different looks.

“We can get in a four-man front, a five-man front or a six-man front, based on the situation,” Wells said.

Valley Mills is coming off a pair of seasons in which it finished with a 2-18 record combined.

But the Eagles have renewed optimism this year.

“There has been a 100 percent buy-in from day one,” Wells said. “... There’s an old saying that it’s a little easier to forget the past when the future has a chance to be unforgettable. (The players are) excited about what’s in front of them.”

jorts@wacotrib.com

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