When Brownwood head coach Steve Freeman resigned following the 2008 season, it set off a bit of chain reaction that ended up affecting a handful of schools.
Coppell head coach Bob Shipley, father of UT receiver Jordan Shipley and Coppell standout Jaxon Shipley, decided to return to his roots of small-town football and take the Brownwood job after two years at Coppell. Before arriving at Coppell, he was the head coach at Burnet, where Jordan and former Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee starred.
Now the Cowboys have finally found their man in Joe McBride, who will take over after one 5-5 season at Frisco Liberty in its first varsity season, a highly respectable record for a first-year program. And he finished on a good note, as the Redhawks won their last two games over Frisco Wakeland and McKinney.
Coppell went 7-3 in the regular season last year, coming out of undoubtedly one of the tougher 5A districts in the area, which includes Hebron, Flower Mound Marcus and Southlake Carroll, which Coppell beat last year in a thrilling 57-53 double-overtime shootout.
The Cowboys will of course lose one of their bigger weapons in Jaxon Shipley, but still have plenty of talent returning for McBride to put to use.
McBride has a good bit of job history on his resume, highlighted by a stint as the defensive coordinator for Hebron in 2005, when the Hawks won the Class 4A Division II state title with a hard-nosed, in-your-face defense.
According to David McNabb of Rivals.com, "Liberty used primarily short-range passes to average 17 pass attempts per game. The quarterback was the leading rusher with 161 carries and another running back had 100 rushes."
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So, McBride will use a balanced offense for sure. He'll be able to apply his defensive expertise as Coppell will look to shore a few things up that saw the Cowboys give up 28 points per game last year.
According to Rivals.com, McBride wasn't the Cowboys' first choice, as they offered the job to Spring Westfield coach Corby Meekins, Conroe Caney Creek coach Glenn Hill and Navasota coach Lee Fedora, but all turned down the offer. There was also a hot rumor that Prosper head coach Kent Scott was going to leave for the bigger job and make the jump from 3A to 5A after leading Prosper to the state championship in December.
Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. He drives a Dodge Stratus!
