Chisholm Trail head coach Marvin Nash talks to another coach on the sidelines during the first half of a UIL football game between Paschal and Chisholm Trail at Ranger Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, October. 03, 2025.
Bob Booth
Special to the Star-Telegram
At Ole Miss, skipping a workout could cost players money. At Fort Worth Chisholm Trail, it could cost them a spot on the team.
“If [players] miss a couple of workouts, then you no longer play football, and you’ll buy a ticket and go watch us play,” said Marvin Nash, the Rangers’ second-year head coach.
Nash, who has worked in player personnel and recruiting at Ole Miss and Rice, knows firsthand what next-level programs need.
Whether you’re in the SEC or District 3-5A Division I, to Nash it all boils down to holding players accountable, having reliable leadership and valuing hard work.
“If [Ole Miss players] missed a workout, they got fined,” Nash said. “Lane Kiffin said, ‘I’m going to fine you just like in the NFL because you’re getting paid now.’”
At the high school level, Nash can’t fine players like the former Ole Miss and current LSU coach did, but he can still hold them accountable. That’s a core value in program he calls the Trail of Toughness, which is built on a “blue-collar” mentality.
Nash, who said that work ethic fuels the team and allows him to hold his athletes to a college-level standard, hasn’t had to enforce his workout rules. If he had been coaching the Rangers a decade ago, he might’ve had to.
But in 2026, Chisholm Trail has much higher expectations and recent success.
After 12 straight losing seasons since the school opened, the Rangers had their first winning season in 2024 and another in 2025, Nash’s first year at the helm.
“[The kids] locked in,” Nash said. “They show up early. They stay late. … They’re inspired. They’re showing up, and they’re doing everything they need to do.”
Chisholm Trail’s turnaround has been fueled by getting back to the basics of making sure players are healthy, well-rested and strong in the weight room. A key factor was simply making sure players were sticking to optimal workout and recovery schedules.
That’s allowed Nash to build on the foundation former Chisholm Trail coach Ricklan Holmes set. Nash raved about Holmes, now an assistant athletic director in Arlington ISD, calling him a great coach who “knows how to turn around a program.”
“Changing the discipline part of the culture, having guys believe that they can win and then showing it in that season was great,” Nash said. “So, it felt like the Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop when I got there.”
Now, Nash and his squad are looking to finish that lob with a slam dunk. The Rangers have already proven that their success wasn’t a fluke.
There’s lots of football left to be played, but the next big goal for the Rangers is winning the school’s first playoff game.
“There’s no gold in the trophy case, and that’s something that I talked about when I first got here,” Nash said.
That type of challenge can be daunting, but it’s one the team embraces. With the way Chisholm Trail (3-2) has started the season, it’s certainly a possibility, and Nash is confident it’ll happen eventually if the Rangers put their heads down and keep climbing.
Nash called Chisholm Trail a “sleeping giant.” That potential helped draw Nash, a former assistant at Denton Guyer, Crosby, San Marcos and Frisco Wakeland, back to Texas high school football.
“Everything about the Friday night lights lore is what attracts you to the game,” Nash said. “I [coached in] college, and I was off the field, so I did a lot of film watching and a lot of scouting. But I wasn’t in the trenches. … I was itching to get back into the coaching aspect of it.”
The athletes driving Chisholm Trail
The 2026 Rangers are one of the most talented teams, if not the most talented, Chisholm Trail has had. They don’t have any five-star athletes, but do have promising recruits who have far exceeded expectations and a handful of young players building up experience.
The driving force is junior running back Xavier Rodriguez, who is averaging 168 yards per game. Nash said he “represents the Trail of Toughness with everything he does.”
“He is undersized in some people’s eyes, but his heart is bigger than anyone’s,” Nash said.
The Rangers have a well-rounded receiver room with senior Tavion Franklin and junior Montez Roberts, who have combined for 941 yards this season. That gives senior quarterback Keaton Rose plenty of options.
“Franklin is as smooth as they come,” Nash said. “He’s hard to tackle. He’s so quick. He’s a precise route runner, but he is football savvy. He has such a football IQ. He’s a guy that’s hard to guard one-on-one. And Franklin … can do a bunch of different things really, really well; plays offense and defense for us. He’s that Swiss Army knife that every team needs.”
One of the leaders of the defense is 2025 district defensive MVP Aidan Rivas, a senior whom Nash called an underrated recruit who can play anywhere on the defensive line.
“If he was an inch and a half taller, I would have offered him when I was at Ole Miss,” Nash said. “It’s really that simple. He is strong. He can run down screens. He can run down plays from behind. … He’s just a great football player and also great in the community. …
“He does everything the correct way and people follow him just by seeing what he can do.”
Another standout is junior linebacker Cameron House, who Nash says has an “unbelievable motor.” He said House’s recruiting stock should climb, too.
“He’s the nicest kid you’ll meet when he shakes your hand,” Nash said. “But then on the field, he’s a complete lunatic, which is why I love him because he reminds me of myself at a young age. … He’s a sideline-to-sideline guy who will run down anything. He’s unblockable, honestly. And even if you get hands on him, he’s strong, physical and fast.”
A battle for playoff positioning
When it comes to making that playoff-win dream come true, seeding could be the difference-maker. That makes Chisholm Trail’s 41-26 win over playoff contender Azle and an Oct. 9 game against Denton critical.
“We’ve almost put it together this season,” Nash said. “But seeing four full quarters of offense, defense and special teams being played at a high effort level and a high execution level – we’re so close. We score points. We get stops when we need to, but I want us to see it and see it all come together against a really well-coached team.”
The Rangers’ toughest test of the regular season comes Nov. 6 against Denton Ryan, the team that eliminated them, 59-7, in the 2025 bi-district round.
“They simply overpowered us,” Nash said. “They were the better team. They were stronger, more physical. I want to bridge that gap. To close that a little bit. I also want to let our kids know that any given day when we line up, there will be a competition. And we have an opportunity to win.”
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Charles Baggarly is a high school sports editor and reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. He graduated from TCU in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and served as TCU 360’s sports editor. Connect with Charles on Twitter or via email.