Back to School

Over 13,000 coaches flooded Houston this week for the annual Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School conference.

The event is put on each year by the THSCA in order to give coaches a chance to network, trade ideas and listen to high-profile speakers. This year, all 12 head coaches of Texas FBS college football teams were in attendance and spoke on a panel.

Also in attendance was Granbury head football coach Chad Zschiesche and his coaching staff. Zschiesche said in the 18 years he’s been coaching, he’s only missed THSCA once or twice.

“That’s our professional organization,” Zschiesche said. “They do a lot of work behind the scenes to keep athletics as a whole the way we know it in Texas.”

High school coaches attend clinics throughout the year, Zschiesche stressed, so this isn’t the only time they have the chance to hear from college coaches and swap ideas with colleagues. But this year did feature some concepts relevant to Granbury.

Shawn Slocum, the current special teams coach for Arizona State University and the son of former Texas A&M head coach R.C. Slocum, spoke on special teams concepts that Zschiesche said were “very detailed.” Dana Holgorsen, the new head coach at Houston and previous head coach at West Virginia, “spoke on some stuff that fits our program,” Zschiesche said.

HOTBED OF IDEAS

College coaches weren’t the only ones bringing fresh ideas to the event.

“It’s fun to sit down with high school coaches and pick each other’s brain,” Zschiesche said. “See what you can get from different programs and instill in your program.”

Coaching school also offers an opportunity to rekindle friendships.

“You go down there to network and catch up with guys that you’re unable to see throughout the year,” Zschiesche said. “Just keeps those avenues open, and those friendships.”

Texas has long been a breeding ground for new football concepts, especially on offense. The free-flow of ideas extends both ways from high school to college.

“They’ll pick our brains too,” Zschiesche said of college coaches.

“If you grew up (in Texas), and you’ve only been here, you could easily take it for granted. Outside of this state, it looks different. When you consistently have D1 coaches tell you that your state does it like no other, that’s true. There’s other states out there that will argue they do it like Texas, but I’m certainly biased, and I’m certainly going to stand that there’s no other high school football like Texas high school football.”

SIGNALING A NEW START

Coaching school being so late in the summer also makes it an unofficial start to the new football season.

“It’s almost like the school bell just went off,” Zschiesche said. “When you go to coaching school, and it ends, it’s go time. We’re excited and the kids are excited.”

The coaching staff bonded during the trip down to Houston as well, Zschiesche said.

Football season is right around the corner, and after two days off earlier this week for the UIL mandated dead period, Granbury’s strength and conditioning program is back up and running.

Freshman will start practice on Aug. 5, while the rest of the team begins practice on Aug. 12.

Granbury will take pictures on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 7 a.m., with an intra-squad scrimmage following.

grant@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066 ext. 254