There’s been a lot more turnover in D-FW this off-season compared to previous, particularly changes at high-profile jobs like Southlake Carroll, North Crowley and spots like Denton Ryan.
If you want to include Duncanville head coach Reginald Samples and Highland Park head coach Randy Allen being closer to the end of their coaching careers than the beginning, Texas high school football in North Texas is seemingly entering a new era over the next few years with new coaching names becoming the mainstays in the area.
With that being said, who are the names that will likely define this generation of coaches? You have the obvious ones like South Oak Cliff’s Jason Todd and Frisco Lone Star’s Jeff Rayburn, who have state championships, or at least state championship appearances, but what about the ones who may not have had the traditional “breakout” season yet?
The phrase “next up” gets tossed around a lot in sports.
If an injury happens or when graduations cause shifts to a program’s roster, new names emerge to take their place. It’s the natural cycle of sport. So applying that phrase to coaching, who are the next names people should get used to seeing around the D-FW area over the next few years?
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Carroll ISD School Board President Cameron Bryan, left, greets Lee Munn, his wife and daughters during a regular meeting. Mann was later named the new head football coach for Southlake Carroll to the delight of an overflow crowd of supportive players, coaches and fans. The Carroll ISD held a regular meeting of the School Board at the Carroll ISD Administration Center, 2400 N. Carroll Avenue in Southlake on February 2, 2026.
Steve Hamm
The obvious ones are those who took over major programs with state championship pedigree: Lee Munn (Southlake Carroll), DeMarcus Harris (North Crowley) and Shane Tolleson (Denton Ryan). The common factor here is that this is a collection of former coordinators under the previous head coaches. It’s no surprise that those programs chose to try and continue what was already a sustained run of success by hiring and/or promoting coaches with ties to the program.
But let’s expand that further: What about the non-traditional powerhouses elsewhere around D-FW? What you’ll find unsurprising is that the coaching tree of Samples has gained more prominence over the last few years. Names like Stephen Jackson Jr. (Lancaster) and John Towels III (Hebron) are former coordinators under Samples at Duncanville who have gone on to establish themselves as respected head coaches at multiple stops, with Jackson Jr. most recently being hired at Lancaster after finding instant success at Seagoville and West Mesquite. Jackson also served under Allen Wilson at Dallas Carter. Towels was previously at Clear Brook in the Houston area before taking over at Hebron.
Creekview head coach Dusty Ortiz gets ready to face W.T. White in a District 6-5A Division I high school football game played on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, at Standridge Stadium in Carrollton. (Steve Nurenberg/Special Contributor)
There’s someone like Carrollton Creekview head coach Dusty Ortiz, who had previous coaching ties to D-FW early in his career, serving as an assistant at Keller Central and Timber Creek, but had to leave the area for his first head coaching gig, becoming head coach at Odessa.
“It’s so competitive when a job opens in this area, you’re going to get people from all over, not just the state,” Ortiz said. “I think there’s people from [all across] the United States that apply for jobs in D-FW, just because it’s a great area to raise a family. It’s a great area to live in.”
Ortiz has led Creekview to its best-ever two-year run with 17 combined wins since returning to the area in 2024.
“I was in a lot of different final rounds in the D-FW area before I got my first head coaching job,” Ortiz said. “They always went with the guy that had head coaching experience, so I couldn’t check that box if I didn’t have it or if I didn’t go get it somewhere.”
Richardson Berkner’s Trey Bryant took his program to seven wins this past fall, the most since 2011, after being McKinney’s defensive coordinator under North Forney head coach Marcus Shavers. Under Bryant, Berkner’s been .500 or better since 2023, the first time that’s happened over a three-season stretch since 2004-2006. Shavers matched North Forney’s best-ever win total in 2025 with 10 wins.
Richardson head coach Kendrick Holloway talks to his team after falling to Jesuit in a District 7-6A high school football game on Friday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Richardson.
Mike Stone / Special Contributor
Staying in Richardson ISD, Kendrick Holloway, was hired under Bryant and served as offensive coordinator at Berkner before being hired by Richardson High School in 2023. After going 11-11 in his first two seasons, the program won nine games this past fall, its most since 1973.
But not every coach has come in with previous ties to D-FW. Mansfield Timberview head coach Jacody Coleman is from the Golden Triangle and, before getting the Dallas Skyline job, was a prominent assistant in the Houston area at Humble Atascocita. He credits being the defensive coordinator for the Atascocita team that ended Allen’s historic 84-game home win streak in 2021 as helping raise his profile in the area. He took over Skyline in 2022 and just completed his first stint at Timberview, where the team went 7-4.
“I had been a finalist for three head coaching jobs in the south, in Houston, and surrounding areas, but I didn’t get them,” Coleman said. “So when they called me about the one in Dallas ISD, I said I needed to take a chance.”
A newer name that doesn’t have many ties to D-FW is newly hired Denton Braswell head coach Justen Evans. Evans spent nearly a decade in the Coastal Bend where he eventually led Corpus Christi Miller to its best run since the 1960s.
Three other names to watch out for are out of Mesquite ISD. Newly hired West Mesquite head coach Jeremy Williams, a Dallas Carter graduate, should be able to keep the program high after Jackson Jr.’s departure. Post-realignment, Mesquite head coach Rafael Thomas could see instant success in his second season after leading Houston Yates to a 21-12 record in three seasons.
Twitter/X: @IshmaelRJohnson
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