Winds of Change
Breaking down HS coaching carousel
Matt Malatesta
Jan 26, 2018, 11:36 am
Dr. Mike Jackson new coach at Grand Oaks Vype
Originally appeared on Vype.com
So, what’s new in Houston HS sports?
Let’s start with football. While the state title games are over, the coaching carousel has been in full swing, especially with UIL realignment on the horizon.
n case you missed it, here’s what has happened. But more importantly, let me help our followers read between the lines.
Starting up north, District 12-6A has had some serious turnover.
Conroe – Cedric Hardeman of Alief Taylor replaces Robert Walker
Hardeman gets his players into college, period. He’s one of the best promoters in the city. Should use that to draw athletes to Tiger program. Will implement 7 on 7 and recruiting seminars.
The Woodlands – Mark Schmid Resigns; OC Jim Rapp is the Leading Candidate
This is a huge job in the State of Texas. Rapp will likely get this job as DC Pat Kennedy has been hired to open the new Montgomery School – Lake Creek. Big question is who will Kennedy take with him to Montgomery?
Big word here in this entire picture is RESIGNS. Will Mark Schmid coach next year? In a recent conversation with Schmid, the former Highlanders coach said there is a good chance we would be seeing him back on the sidelines in 2018. Schmid confirmed to VYPE that he is currently weighing options and could make a decision as soon as February. Schmid does currently live in Brenham. Stay Tuned.
Grand Oaks – Dr. Mike Jackson of La Marque opens new school
Dr. Mike has been at St. Pius, Chavez and La Marque in the past and has had success. See the word DR. in front of his name. He’s a tremendous administrator and will do a great job opening a new school on the athletic front. They will not play their first varsity district football game until 2021.
Lake Creek (Montgomery) – Pat Kennedy, DC of The Woodlands opens new school
Great first hire by Lake Creek. Kennedy is TOUGH, but the kids who play for him really respect him. He is used to winning and his defenses have been some of the best in the state. He’s going to have to be patient in this build out of the new school, which will likely be a Class 5A.
Another amazing hire at Lake Creek is Tommie Sledge, the volleyball coach at Oak Ridge, who has led the War Eagles to the state tourney a few times. With Royal Oaks opening and cutting into the Oak Ridge zone, Sledge will open Lake Creek which draws from the Woodforest Community that has kids who play select volleyball.
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DISTRICT 16-6A
Aldine ISD – Richard Delgado Retires; Hired assistant AD Dre Thompson. District must hire new superintendent
What does all of this mean? Dre Thompson is a great hire and understands the importance of athletics, and keeping Aldine kids in Aldine. The KEY is the new Superintendent. This new hire MUST understand the IMPORTANCE of ATHLETICS in the school curriculum – such as Athletic Periods and Coaching Benefits, just to name a few. The future success of ALDINE ISD will start at the tippy top – the new Superintendent.
Eisenhower – Kerry Bamburg is Out; Keeath McGee and Eric Jackson are Finalists
The Ike Eagles have been a power program for years in Houston. In fact, AD Dre Thompson was once the head coach there and wants to get the right guy in place. If so, the Eagles can return to the top of the district. Ike has been to the state finals in 1999 and the state semis eight times.
Keeath Magee is no stranger to the Houston-area. He was the head coach at Willowridge, then left to be the head coach at North Crowley, then left to be the coach at Beaumont Ozen. Then to Pearl River CC, then was an assistant at Westfield and is now an assistant at A&M Consolidated.
Eric Jackson was the GHFCA Assistant Coach of the Year at Ike in 2015. He’s a defensive coach.
MacArthur – Andy Garza is Out; MacArthur Wayne Crawford and Scott Joseph are the finalist
Big Mac hasn’t been in playoffs since 2007 – which is a decade. Building from the junior highs will be paramount for this new hire. Wayne Crawford is an existing offensive coach at Mac, while Scott Joseph is the Morton Ranch DC. He was recently at Navarro CC and is the brother of Gary Joseph.
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DISTRICT 19-6A
Katy Taylor – Chad Simmons replaces Trey Herrmann
Stability, stability, stability. Coming over from his DC post at Cinco Ranch, Simmons is a solid pick to replace Herrmann, who was placed on admin leave. It left the Mustangs in a mess with a ton of talent in the stable last year with Ian Beek, Ottito, Max Wright (ACL), etc. It was a bad situation all the way around. Simmons will bring a much-needed TOUGHNESS to Katy Taylor.
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DISTRICT 21-6A
Summer Creek – Brian Ford Retires
Retires? He’s too young to retire. Brian Ford is off to the golf course after opening Summer Creek a decade ago. He built a solid program over the years, which is coming off a playoff appearance. Ford is from the North Shore David Aymond coaching tree and helped the ‘Stangs win their first state title in 2003. So who gets the job? DC Corey Sterling is definitely a candidate, who joined Ford from North Shore as well.
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DISTRICT 22-6A
Pasadena ISD has two positions to fill at Dobie and South Houston, while legendary coach Chris Massey leaves Deer Park to pursue a career with Balfour Rings.
Deer Park – Chris Massey has Retired
Interviews begin Friday
South Houston – Dwayne Lane hired as Clear Creek Head Coach; Open
Lane brought a new culture to South Houston in a very short time, leading the Trojans to back-to-back playoff appearances for the third time in the school’s 60-year history. He got the call to come home to Clear Creek, where he used to work for coach Darrell Warden. His son is a freshman at Clear Creek as well. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Dobie – Mike Norman is out… New hire within days
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DISTRICT 23-6A
AD Ben Pardo has some key hires to make as Pearland and Dawson are open. After talking to Pardo, the decision will come down in early February. These will be big hires as dominos are sure to fall if other coaches outside the program are hired.
Pearland – Interim HC Jim Farmer
Dawson – Eric Wells resigns after opening school 11 years ago
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DISTRICT 24-6A
Clear Creek – Darrell Warden Retires; Dwayne Lane of South Houston returns to run the program
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OTHER CLASSES
Willis – Audie Jackson is out
Navasota – Patrick Goodman reassigned
La Marque – Dr. Mike Jackson moved to Grand Oakes
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The woeful state of the Astros' farm system has made it very expensive to continue maintaining a good team, prohibitively so (in part self-imposed) from having a great team. Even if they re-sign Alex Bregman, trading Framber Valdez and/or Kyle Tucker for prospects could snap the Astros' run of eight straight postseason appearances. But if they KNOW that no way do they intend to offer Framber five years 130 million dollars, Tucker 7/225 or whatever their free agent markets might be after next season, keeping them for 2025 but getting nothing but 2026 compensatory draft picks for them could do multi-year damage to the franchise.
Preliminary Kyle Tucker trade talks between the Astros and Cubs involve both Seiya Suzuki and Isaac Paredes, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me - https://t.co/kIRATDQpEn
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) December 11, 2024
The time is here for the Astros to be aggressively shopping both. It doesn't make trading them obligatory, but even though many purported top prospects amount to little or nothing (look up what the Astros traded to Detroit for Justin Verlander, to Pittsburgh for Gerrit Cole, to Arizona for Zack Greinke) if strong packages are offered the Astros need to act if unwilling (reasonably or not) to pay Valdez/Tucker.
Last offseason the Milwaukee Brewers traded pitching ace Corbin Burnes one season ahead of his free agency and then again won the National League Central, the San Diego Padres dealt Juan Soto and wound up much improved and a playoff team after missing the 2023 postseason. But nailing the trades is critical. The Brewers got their everyday rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz and two other prospects. The Padres got quality starter Michael King, catcher Kyle Hagashioka, and three prospects.
Back to Bregman
Meanwhile, decision time approaches for Alex Bregman. He, via agent Scott Boras, wants 200-plus million dollars. Don't we all. If he can land that from somebody, congratulations. The Astros' six-year 156 million dollar contract offer is more than fair. That's 26 million dollars per season and would take Bregman within a few months of his 37th birthday. If rounding up to 160 mil gets it done, ok I guess. Going to 200 would be silly.
While Bregman hasn't been a superstar (or even an All-Star) since 2019, he's still a very good player. That includes his 2024 season which showed decline offensively. Not falling off a cliff decline other than his walk rate plunging about 45 percent, but decline. If Bregman remains the exact player he was this season, six-156 is pricey but not crazy in the current marketplace. But how likely is Bregman to not drop off further in his mid-30s? As noted before, the storyline is bogus that Bregman has been a postseason monster. Over seven League Championship Series and four World Series Bregman has a .196 batting average.
The Astros already should be sweating some over Jose Altuve having shown marked decline this season, before his five year 125 million dollar extension covering 2025-2029 even starts. Altuve was still very good offensively though well down from 2022 and 2023 (defensively his data are now awful), but as he approaches turning 35 years old in May some concern is warranted when locked into paying a guy until he's nearly 39 1/2.
Jim Crane is right in noting that long contracts paying guys huge money in their later years generally go poorly for the clubs.
Bang for your buck
Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez is heading into the second year of a five-year, $124 million extension. That's 24.8 million dollars per season. Jose Ramirez is a clearly better player than Alex Bregman. Ramirez has been the better player for five consecutive seasons, and only in 2023 was it even close. It should be noted that Ramirez signed his extension in April of 2022. He is about a year and a half older than Bregman so the Guardians are paying their superstar through his age 36 season.
Bregman benefits from playing his home games at soon-to be named Daikin Park. Bregman hit 26 home runs this year. Using ball-tracking data, if he had played all his games in Houston, Bregman would have hit 31 homers. Had all his swings been taken at Yankee Stadium, the "Breggy Bomb" count would have been 25. In Cleveland, just 18. Ramirez hit 41 dingers. If all his games were home games 40 would have cleared the fences, if all had been at Minute Maid Park 47 would have been gone.
Matt Chapman recently signed a six-year 151 million dollar deal to stay with the San Francisco Giants. That's 25.166 million per season. Chapman was clearly a better player than Bregman this year. But it's the only season of Chapman's career that is the case. Chapman is 11 months older than Bregman, so his lush deal with the Giants carries through his age 37 season.
The Giants having overpaid Chapman doesn't obligate the Astros to do the same with Bregman. So, if you're the Astros do you accept overpaying Bregman? They would almost certainly be worse without him in 2025, but what about beyond? Again, having not one elite prospect in their minor league system boxes them in. Still, until/unless the Seattle Mariners upgrade their offense, the Astros cling to American League West favorites status. On the other hand, WITH Bregman, Tucker, and Valdez the Astros are no postseason lock.
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