Finished the first draft about a week ago. Strange having free time from it after spending the last year either planning the trip, living the trip or writing about the trip. The final tally (before the editors get at it) is 222 pages and 136,500 words. It’s still got some flaws but overall I’m happy with the result and I think its something anyone who who’s interesting in Texas and/or high school football will enjoy. I’m giving it to the editors on Thursday. They say they’ll have it for 4 or 5 weeks. Then I’ll start shopping for a publisher.

Below is one of the first things I wrote for the book about a year ago, think it makes some good points, but I decided that it pulled to far away from the Texas focus on the book. Texas in itself just proved to be too interesting and the comparison component of the book wasn’t as necessary as I’d envisioned. Hope you enjoy the short piece.

                Bishop Gorman High School is a Catholic school in Las Vegas with around 1200 students. Until the last five years they fit very well with public school athletics in Nevada. The school was in a rundown neighborhood just east of the Strip, the facilities were nothing special; there was no football stadium on campus, and Gorman played home games at various schools around Las Vegas. They had up and down years winning a few state championships, but also finishing in the middle of the pack other years.

                This changed in 2007 when Gorman moved to a new campus in the suburbs west of town. The new campus had outstanding athletic facilities including a football stadium that holds 5000 fans. At the same time Gorman further separated itself from the surrounding schools by paying their coaches a living wage and giving them teaching schedules that allowed them to focus on their teams. While the facilities and coaching support might be seen as pretty typical in the Texas AA or AAA, in Nevada, this commitment to support athletics put Gorman head and shoulders above every school in the state.

 The school quickly became a magnet for talented athletes from around Las Vegas who wanted to be part of a program that clearly valued athletics more than its neighbors. The investment has paid off in a huge way; Gorman has now won the past four state football championships, six straight state baseball championships, and three of the last five championships in boys’ basketball. Not only are they winning, but Gorman has risen to a level where Nevada public schools simply can’t compete. In football, schools have threatened to forfeit rather than play against Gorman.

How can a public school coach, who must teach five classes; often unrelated to his coaching duties, who has to worry about fundraising for the basic necessities, who has to recruit assistant coaches to work long hours for almost no pay, may have to line his own fields, has to make sure his players are eligible and may not have any regular offseason contact with his team, compete with an institution like Gorman that gives its coach the tools, resources, and support staff needed to run a quality program?

Nevada’s high school sport governing body, the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association, is considering barring Gorman from AAAA competition. In a petty and obvious attempt to punish Gorman, the NIAA passed over Gorman to play in the annual game between Nevada’s big school football champion and the champion from Arizona.  In a statement, NIAA president Ed Bonine declared Palo Verde, a school that didn’t even make the state finals, a “better fit” to play in this game against a preseason top-20 school and state champion from Arizona.

It is clear something needs to be done to better balance the competitive level in Nevada. The public schools in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada simply can’t compete with the resources and energy Gorman is putting into athletic success. The Las Vegas area coaches are right in not wanting to put their kids at risk by lining them up against a team like Gorman.

But what exactly has Gorman done wrong? If Bishop Gorman simply decided to fund and support athletics better than the rest of the state then they aren’t to blame for anything. There is nothing wrong with trying to put the best team you can on the field. Opponents claim Gorman is actively recruiting the entire city of Las Vegas. Something public schools are forbidden from doing. They also allege Gorman is offering scholarships to entice the best athletes in Las Vegas to transfer. Gorman hasn’t helped matters any by threatening lawsuits, demanding league schools play them rather than forfeit mismatches and failing to recognize the playing field slanted in their favor even exists. For someone who has been on the wrong side of too many unequal matchups, it’s hard to feel too sorry for Gorman or see them as an innocent victim.

It’s an ugly situation all the way around. On one side, poorly supported and funded public schools whining about unfairness while increasingly slashing budgets for their already neglected programs. On the other side, Gorman, with every advantage, playing the persecution card because others have tired of being their doormat. The kids and coaches are the ones caught in the middle, doing the best they can without the resources to compete at an elite level.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.  Gorman is taking advantage of their private school status that allows them different guidelines. The Nevada public education system does not support athletics correctly and offers mediocre programs. In Nevada, as in much of the country, athletics are on the chopping block whenever there is a budget issue. This has resulted in poorly supported programs that can’t compete with a school that puts their money where their mouth is and actually supports athletics rather than just pretends to. Why shouldn’t a great athlete in Las Vegas want to play for Gorman rather than at a school who really only cares about standardized test results? And why shouldn’t Gorman try to be as good as they can on the athletic field?

The real solution to the problem Gorman represents is not to demonize them for pursuing excellence but to raise the bar of Nevada public school athletics. Give the public schools the resources to compete and athletes will be more likely to stay in their neighborhood schools rather than transfer.

This is much easier said than done. As long as Nevada elects governors who make their reputations by cutting “waste” from the education system and as long as Nevada voters go along with it the problem will be very difficult to solve. As long as school effectiveness is measured only by graduation rates and test results, there’s no reason for any school administrator to go out on a limb and push for quality athletics.  The first step is to recognize extracurricular subjects such as football are not “waste” but a valuable part of education.

Texas coaches are very worried about this type of scenario playing out in their state if private schools are ever allowed into the UIL. While private school inclusion may undermine public education to some degree, the excellent quality of public school extra-curricular programs will keep anything like what’s happened in Southern Nevada from happening in Texas, in the short run. Serious football players will always want to play against the best competition, in the best facilities and for the best coaches. In many states, that means transferring to private schools, In Texas, the public school will have a big edge for the foreseeable future. As a public school guy, I’m hoping this is always the case.

I’m finally coming down the home stretch on the first draft. I’m writing the Cedar Hill chapter, the last of 11 teams, 201 pages and 124,399 words so far. I’ll have the draft finished and sent to my editor in less than a month.

I spoke to Coach Gomez at Harlingen last week, he was just coming in from spring ball. I gotta admit I felt a tinge of jealousy. It’s great to be coaching again, football is football to an extent but there is nothing like the Texas high school game. I hope those of you in the Lone Star state appreciate and continue to protect what you’ve got.

Thanks to everyone who is still following me. I appreciate your encouragement and I will continue to let you know haw the project is progressing.

Still plugging away. Added chapters on Aledo, Abilene High and almost done with Throckmorton. I’m on page 174 and have written 92,000 words. I’m also working on finding an editor. I’ve been given some suggestions. One thing I’m hearing is that a lot of publishers don’t want non-fiction books to be longer than 100,000 words, If thats true I’m going to have to make some tough cuts.

For the fist time since the fall of 2010, I got to run a football drill yesterday. I took a assistant job at North Valley’s High School in Reno, coaching the offensive line. I’m going in and meeting with my guys two mornings a week. Fun to get back into coaching again. Watching everything in Texas this past season was amazing, but I missed being involved.

I just finished my very rough first draft of my Stamford chapter of the book. So far I have La Marque, Carthage, Port Lavaca Calhoun and Stamford at various stages. 91 pages written and 57,607 words. Seven teams to go. I’m still hoping to have the 1^st draft done in the next three months. I will keep this blog informed.

A few interesting points about signing day on Wednesday. By looking on a few websites and talking to a few of the coaches, I’ve come up with at least 35 players who signed football letters of intent from the 11 programs I covered.  11 of those 35 signed D-I letters. I couldn’t find anything on Idalou or Harlingen, so the number could be a little higher.

To put that number is a little bit up perspective, the 86 public schools that play football in the state of Nevada a total of 11 scholarship letters were signed, nine for D-I schools.

Admittedly this is a little bit of an apples to oranges situation. Nevada only has two football playing colleges in the entire state, both D-I, limiting the options for kids here. Also the eleven teams I followed in Texas, while very diverse in size are all outstanding programs that are above average even in the state of Texas.

Finally, the main goal is high school football programs cannot be to get kids scholarships, even at the great programs the chances of getting a scholarship are very small for a kid entering the program. However, I DO think this number says a lot about the quality of the athletic systems in these two states.

Not to denigrate the work done by coaches in Nevada, many do a great job. The system, though is set up to make athletics and all extracurricular activities an afterthought in this state. The great majority of principals and administrators in Nevada could not care less about the quality of their programs; their overriding concerns are test scores and graduation rates, not in building a comprehensive high school in which athletics is a part. This is also reflected by the money allocated for athletics. In Texas between 1 ½ and 2 ½ percent of the academic budget goes to athletics. In Washoe County, Nevada (Reno) ¼ of one percent is spent on athletics. It is a shame that the education system of Nevada and most states invest so little in these programs that do so much good for so many kids.

Congratulations on all the kids that DID sign their letters, it will be fun to watch their progress in the years to come.

I’ll update this blog from time to time and let you know the status of my work.  First a few numbers from the journey I took this fall:

I left Reno on July 25^th and returned on December 24^th. During my 5 months in Texas I attended 37 varsity football games, (59 total if you include JV, Freshmen, 7^th grade, 8^th grade, 3 college games in one Cowboy game). I stayed in 45 different motels in 30 Texas cities and put a total of 19,689 miles on my Ford Focus. I also gained 15 pounds from lack of exercise and eating too much Chicken Express and BBQ. Been eating better and exercising since I got home, but was just too hard to do when I was on the road.

I guess it goes without saying that it’s been great to sleep in the same bed for the last three weeks and it’s great not having to fill my gas tank every other day. I knew towards the end that I would wind up near 20,000 miles. A Carthage assistant told me that I should take a longer way home to hit that number if I was close,,, maybe if it had been 10 miles,, but 311 was too much,,, when I got back I was ready to be home. I guess it would have taken another 2 miles a day, oh well.

On to the book, I’ve been working a little or a lot every day since I got home. I’ve written just over 32,000 words and have first drafts of the La Marque and Carthage chapters. I’m happy with it so far, but it is pretty rough.

Congratulations to Coach Launius from La Marque, just read that he got the head job at Hemphill HS. Also saw that Coach Chessher from Stony Point is a finalist for the Athletic Director job for the Round Rock ISD. If any Stony Point people read this let him know I wish him the best.

48,379 (?) at Allen vs. Lamar game

It’s been eight days since the last of the championship games were played and I have some thoughts on the weekend.

I spoke to a few small school coaches during the season that had some resentment about the new format, preferring the old system which allowed the teams to arrange their own venue as with all other rounds of the playoffs. I understand their issue. If two teams from West Texas or East Texas happen to match up in state, it won’t make a lot of sense to play the game in Arlington, or Houston if they get the games there is future years. With that said, I don’t see the system reverting back. With over 200,000 fans attending during the three day event, Fox Sports Southwest being able to televise every game live, all from the same 1^st rate venue in a state that has so many fans of high school football, not just fans of a particular team I’m guessing this is here to stay.

As one of those fans, I caught at least part of eight of the nine games. It is an amazing event, a showcase of the very best high school football in the country. I would encourage any fan of the sport, at some point in their lifetime to make the trip to see it, like going to the Grand Canyon, or Marti Gras, a trip to the Texas football championships is something every sports fan ought to experience once,,, I’d call it a ‘bucket list’  item but I’m sick of that term.

The attendance figures make no sense. With three tripleheaders, I would like somebody to explain how the UIL could possibly come up with an accurate total for the 4 o’clock or 8 o’clock games. Many fans who showed up for the noon game, stayed to watch the 4 o’clock game,,, many 4 o’clock game patrons stuck around for the 8 o’clock game. Nobody counted the people who left, so the announced attendances HAD to be estimates. None of this really matters except it bothered me when the attendance for the Allen-Lamar game was announced as 48,379. 48,379 is not an estimate, it implies the exact number is known. There was a lot of buzz around the stadium that the 50,000 mark would be broken and a new record for the history of Texas high school football would be set. There was audible disappointment when this number was given. If anyone can tell me any logical way the exact number could have been determined, I’d love to hear it.

Really isn’t important, whatever the crowd was, it was impressive and watching those six outstanding teams battle on the last day of the season was a great finale for my 5 months in Texas.

Happy New Year everybody!

I don’t know if it’s because this is the last game I’ll be writing about, because I had a 1600 mile drive to think about it or because I had seen so many of Cedar Hill’s games, but the 5A-DII game is a hard one to write about.  1^st off, I don’t think either team could say they played their best football. Understandable considering what was on the line and the crowd of over 42,000 at Cowboy Stadium. Anyone would have had an excuse for coming out a little tight.

That Cedar Hill could have been a little flat and still have led Katy in the 4^th quarter,  the first time anyone has been up on the Tigers all year, says something about the Longhorns. Not to take anything away from Katy, I’d been hearing about them all year and they didn’t disappoint. Katy running back Adam Taylor is an amazing football player, probably the best I’ve seen all year. The Oklahoma commit rushed for all 5 Katy touchdowns and 275 yards. The defensive front for Katy was outstanding as well. With all due respect to Allen, I think Katy proved they are the best team in the state.

Cedar Hill played well, but not great; the same can be said of Katy. The game turned out to be a battle between Tiger power and Longhorn speed and Saturday afternoon, power won. Speed could have won with great execution, but the Longhorns squandered too many chances, something you can’t do against a team as good as Katy.

The squandered chances began early, a touchdown pass dropped in the endzone, cost Cedar Hill 4 points, a field goal gave the ‘Horns a 3-0 lead.  Katy quickly responded with a score and led 7-3.

Cedar Hill gambled with 5 minutes to go in the half, trying for a first down on 4^th and 2 from their own 30. A broken play gave the ball to Katy on the 29.  The Tigers took advantage of the Longhorn mistake on a Taylor run a few plays later, giving the Tigers a 14-3 lead.

After narrowing the deficit to 14-10 late in the second quarter on a touchdown catch by Brandon Harris, the Longhorns had a great opportunity to take the lead going into the half when Katy failed to cover the kickoff. Despite great field position the Longhorns came away with nothing.

Katy extended their lead to 21-10 on a third TD run with 5:28 in the third, but Cedar Hill showing great poise, played their best football of the night during the next few minutes. The Longhorns narrowed the score with a touchdown run by quarterback Damion Hobbs on 4^th and 7 from the 24. A Katy three and out gave the ball back to the Longhorns. A screen to Laquvionte Gonzalez set up a second touchdown catch by Harris and suddenly the Longhorns had a 28-24 lead after a successful 2 point conversion.

A final 4^th down was the turning point of the game. Cedar Hill had the momentum, when the Tigers were faced with a 4^th and 2 from their 45 yard line and 6:46 to go. If the Longhorns make the stop, the game would be in their control. But the Tigers pitched the ball to Taylor who got the 1^st and much more, running 55 yards to retake the lead for the Tigers. After a Longhorn interception, the Tigers put the game  away on a 5^th touchdown run by Taylor, this time from 45 yards out.

The game was marked by gutsy play by both teams. Dealing with attrition is usually a factor in surviving 16 games and playing for a title. Katy’s quarterback played with a broken tibia suffered in the semifinal against Steele and the Tigers had two offensive linemen out with ACL injuries from that game as well. The Longhorns made their entire run after starting running back Jared Rayford was hurt in week two during the Allen game. Larry Hill played that position through the quarterfinal with Midway, hurting his knee on the last play of that game. The third running back Bobby Jackson was huge against Westlake, but couldn’t find a many holes against the Tiger front.

The game came down to two things.

1)      Katy’s defensive front taking away the inside run and not giving the ‘Horn QB time to set up. Cedar Hill usually has had a very balanced attack; they made some big plays but lack of a running game kept the Longhorns from being able to sustain drives as they had done throughout the playoffs.

2)       Katy’s running game eventually wore Cedar Hill’s defense down. The ‘Horns did a great job stalling drives and forcing punts, but Taylor couldn’t be stopped forever, and his two huge TD runs late in the game were too much to overcome.

Katy proved that they were the better team, but Cedar Hill earned respect as well. Other Metroplex teams; Allen, De Soto, Coppell, Southlake Carroll and Mesquite all put up great records. Cedar Hill’s 1-3 start (with losses to Allen, De Soto and a Florida state champion) made many forget about the Longhorns. Despite the loss, Cedar Hill showed themselves to be an elite program.

While this is the last game, I’ll be writing about, it is not the end of the blog. I’m home now and will get down to writing the book full time. Later this week I’ll blog about my impressions from championship weekend at Cowboy Stadium and about my overall thoughts of the 5 months I spent in Texas.

I want to thank Cedar Hill for allowing me access to their entire playoff run. Including the last week of the regular season, I had the privilege to be on their sideline for seven straight weeks. It was a great run and despite the finish, I think its something Longhorn players and coaches will be proud of in the years to come.

I hope everyone in Texas had a Merry Christmas. I enjoyed my time there but it’s great to be home.

My front yard this morning, something you don’t see in Texas

I just checked into a motel down the street from Cowboy Stadium, the last of 44 I’ve stayed in over my five months in Texas.  When I originally called this a ‘road trip’ it seemed like the proper way to describe it. Looking back at it now, calling this a roadtrip feels like calling Magellan’s round the world voyage a sailboat ride.  During the trip I’ve driven about 18,000 miles, eaten too much fast food and seen more of the state than most locals. I’ve watched the days shorten and the leaves fall off the trees. Thinking back on all I’ve seen since I came here in July, it’s hard to believe I’ll be sleeping in my own bed again in a few days.

Though I’m excited to get home, I’ll miss hanging with the coaches and the places I’ve been in Texas. I came here to see the unique qualities of high school football is in this state. I hoped to show how well run and supported it is and how it’s also a positive influence on the kids who play it and the communities who love it. I hope those sentiments have come across in this blog. I’ve gathered enough material to make my points in a more complete way in my upcoming book. I don’t know exactly how long it will take to write, having never done this before. I can say, however, I have great material, interesting angles and compelling stories about every stop on my trip. All eleven towns and schools offered a different piece of the picture. If I did anything right, I’m very proud of the programs I chose for this project. Now, I just have to figure out how to put it together into a book worthy of the programs that so generously allowed me inside. I’ll start working on it as soon as I get home and will keep this blog informed of my progress.

I have one more day before I find out how my Stamford chapter will end and two more before I know the end for Cedar Hill. I’ll, of course, write recounts of both championship games in the upcoming days. Whatever happens, it should be exciting.