BREAKING Crosby hires HFC/AD Joe Willis

[Reagan]

2 hours ago, Cougtalk said:

For my people who like Records. I did not include his time as HC before Cedar Park largely because I couldn't figure out what years. 

		W	L	Playoffs
2012	Cedar Park	14	2	State Champs
2013	Cedar Park	11	2	Regionals
2014	Cedar Park	12	4	Finalist
2015	Colleyville Heritage	5	6	Bi-district
2016	Colleyville Heritage	10	4	Quarterfinals
2017	Colleyville Heritage	11	2	Regionals
2018	Colleyville Heritage	5	6	Bi-district
2019	Colleyville Heritage	9	5	Quarterfinals
2020	Tyler Legacy	6	7	Area
2021	Tyler Legacy	6	6	Area
2022	Tyler Legacy	2	8
		91	52

JOE WILLIS
14 years; 113-62-0; 12-6-1
2004  Iraan                                7-4-0 C
2005  Iraan                                8-2-0
2006  Iraan                                7-6-0 R
—staff, Cedar Park—
2012  Cedar Park                    14-2-0*
2013  Cedar Park                    11-2-0*
2014  Cedar Park                    12-4-0 C
2015  Colleyville Heritage-        5-5-0 F
2016  Colleyville Heritage-      10-4-0*
2017  Colleyville Heritage-      11-2-0*
2018  Colleyville Heritage-        5-6-0 F
2019  Colleyville Heritage-        9-5-0 T
2020  Tyler Legacy--                 6-6-0 F
2021  Tyler Legacy--                 6-6-0 F
2022  Tyler Legacy--                 2-8-0

[bullets13]

not much success over his last Reagan*.  

 

*A Reagan is a new unit of time measurement I've invented.  I don't think I need to tell you how long a Reagan is.

[oldschool2]

42 minutes ago, Reagan said:

JOE WILLIS
14 years; 113-62-0; 12-6-1
2004  Iraan                                7-4-0 C
2005  Iraan                                8-2-0
2006  Iraan                                7-6-0 R
—staff, Cedar Park—
2012  Cedar Park                    14-2-0*
2013  Cedar Park                    11-2-0*
2014  Cedar Park                    12-4-0 C
2015  Colleyville Heritage-        5-5-0 F
2016  Colleyville Heritage-      10-4-0*
2017  Colleyville Heritage-      11-2-0*
2018  Colleyville Heritage-        5-6-0 F
2019  Colleyville Heritage-        9-5-0 T
2020  Tyler Legacy--                 6-6-0 F
2021  Tyler Legacy--                 6-6-0 F
2022  Tyler Legacy--                 2-8-0

Elite?

[Reagan]

7 minutes ago, oldschool2 said:

Elite?

Good but not elite.  Gotta have 2 State Titles.  Maybe he can achieve that status at Crosby.  Would be good for them.

[Concerned Citizen]

8 hours ago, PNGFaithful said:

I’ve known Joe for a very long time. He’s a hell of a coach and mentor. One thing for sure Crosby will play defense and the best 11 players will be on the field. 

"One thing for sure Crosby will play defense and the best 11 players will be on the field." Best 11, now this is where things gonna go left. For the most part Crosby is still a small town (IJS). From what I been told the previous coach had that same mentality. Led them to the state game and still had parent(s) knocking on his door about "playing time". 

We shall see and I wish him success!

[PNGFaithful]

13 minutes ago, Concerned Citizen said:

"One thing for sure Crosby will play defense and the best 11 players will be on the field." Best 11, now this is where things gonna go left. For the most part Crosby is still a small town (IJS). From what I been told the previous coach had that same mentality. Led them to the state game and still had parent(s) knocking on his door about "playing time". 

Well shall see and I wish him success!

Trust me it’s that way here at PNG as well. The homers will eventually run Joseph off .  

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

3 minutes ago, PNGFaithful said:

Trust me it’s that way here at PNG as well. The homers will eventually run Joseph off .  

I don't see Joseph leaving until his Dad retires from Katy HS.

 

 

 

I think PNG and Crosby are in good hands currently. 

[Cougar14.2]

On 5/18/2023 at 4:53 PM, AledoAlumni said:

Almost happened last year with that coach you like. Aledo played against Coach Willis lead teams in '14-'15 (CP) & '16-'17 (CH). From my experience his teams play hard and don't quit. I think y'all got a good coach. 

Only difference is Crosby doesn't have the Hutchins Twins(Thomas Hutchins 5A player of the year), Myles Cheatum, an NFL caliber left tackle and average about 6'3" and 285lbs across the line of scrimmage. Other than that we're just like those Cedar Park teams. Aledo didn't blast Crosby because y'all were just unbelievable at the skill positions, it was because we couldn't compete at the line of scrimmage. We still have those issues. 

[Cougar14.2]

On 5/18/2023 at 12:48 PM, 89Falcon said:

I have no doubt the kids did not appreciate losing the other coach but they could care less about the age of the new coach. You drew a lot of conclusions that are not known by assuming the hiring parties logic. The "2-8 guy" is also a "State Champion guy".

The kids will make their assessment as the program gets implemented. If it goes well they forget that Prieto was ever there. If it goes poorly there will be second guessing. There is nothing wrong with the hire on paper. It is just not what "you" wanted.  

Spoken like someone who knows nothing about Crosby. The best that happened to Crosby was hiring Jeff Riordan. It was such a night and day difference between him and Flannigan. Young ~35 year old guy that elevated our participation rates made the game/practice fun for the kids instead of the old school way Flannigan went about it that turned kids off and had nothing but core kids coming out. Prieto was 36 when we hired him and he continue that trend. 

Most important thing is where they came from and what they won with though. Both offensive minded coaches which went hand in hand with your personnel that the Crosby community produces. Both coached in places where the talent was in the 65%-75% percentile and beat pretty much everyone they could when the talent gap wasn't too large. 

The hiring party's logic is that the community was incensed about losing the coach and the safe hire was someone that could mitigate questions on her intent getting rid of Coach P.  

[Cougar14.2]

On 5/18/2023 at 3:40 PM, Concerned Citizen said:

I agree with you that Eudy needs to the be the QB. But come on, you gotta have more faith in Crosby finishing over .500 (LOL). Seriously I already hear of some issues in the program. That GCM (original Crosby tho) kid you are talking about, I hear some on the staff are playing politics and might not give him the run he needs. Did the same to the older brother. This comes straight from the Dad's mouth, no second hand info. As a Sophomore he was the leading receiver at GCM, so he can definitely catch the ball and pretty decent on the Bball court too.  Well he better sick to football, cause he definitely aint gonna get love from that wanna be BBall coach (ain't worth saying the name). I guess the politic is remnants from the parents moving them 2 years ago, not a talent issue. Thus you have confirmed his abilities as a slot receiver.

Not since Kevin Flannigan left has a Crosby football coach played politics. Riordan wouldn't let some kids play defense but that wasn't politics, that was his coaching philosophy. The GCM receiver is going to start and might be asked to play both ways, he's literally been force fed the ball during 7 on 7 this offseason (games his dad and I watched together). The reason they left is more basketball related, they didn't feel Haggerty was enough of a team player and basketball was important to them so they went to GCM. The older brother isn't the level of athlete at the younger brother  

[Cougar14.2]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:31 PM, Reagan said:

If Crosby wins the District in 2 or 3 years and makes a run for the State Title in, say, the 5th year, NOBODY is going to care if he's 30 years old or 100 years old.  Winning solves A LOT of problems!  

Example:  Just like at PNG, the new coach took them to State.  Now everyone is saying -- Faircloth who?  Why, because the new coach was young?  NO -- because he won!!

I'm not sure I've heard a Crosby fan talking about winning the district in over a decade? Not that we don't want to but it's kind of the lowest form of accomplishment(to us) outside of finishing 4th in the district. Two of the last three times Crosby went to the semifinals we didn't even win the district outright. PNG is in a different situation than Crosby, it's a more ready made situation to win there. 

Crosby hired a guy based on what he did a decade ago at a school that's nothing like ours. You look at the last 8 years of his record and probably not too many people are excited about getting a guy that's 54-42. Winning does solve everything but why not hire a guy that's winning at a school similar to yours already? 

[Cougar14.2]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:38 PM, Matthew328 said:

Willis is barely over 50....I could tell when he originally retired that he wasn't done....he's got a lot of fire and energy left....he's well thought of by many in Tyler, it didnt work out there mainly because IMO of how the district operates athletics.....2023 is probably going to be tough, but I think it was likely going to be tough if Prieto stayed as well...

If Eudy plays QB and we found some trench guys Crosby had a chance to be extremely good this year. There are no holes in any of the offensive skill positions or on the back 7 of the defense.

Hiring a guy 4 days before school is over doesn't bode well for any success though. Coach P came late in '19 and it was six weeks into the season before we could even line up correctly in his offense, hence the .500 finish. I see a lot of the same in store. It's an even worse situation now since about 70% of the coaching staff has left/is leaving too. 

[89Falcon]

49 minutes ago, Cougar14.2 said:

Spoken like someone who knows nothing about Crosby. The best that happened to Crosby was hiring Jeff Riordan. It was such a night and day difference between him and Flannigan. Young ~35 year old guy that elevated our participation rates made the game/practice fun for the kids instead of the old school way Flannigan went about it that turned kids off and had nothing but core kids coming out. Prieto was 36 when we hired him and he continue that trend. 

Most important thing is where they came from and what they won with though. Both offensive minded coaches which went hand in hand with your personnel that the Crosby community produces. Both coached in places where the talent was in the 65%-75% percentile and beat pretty much everyone they could when the talent gap wasn't too large. 

The hiring party's logic is that the community was incensed about losing the coach and the safe hire was someone that could mitigate questions on her intent getting rid of Coach P.  

LOL. Didnt you say that Crosby hired a 60 year old coach? What is the specific age when coaches forget how to coach? Can they coach if they are 40? 45? Where is the cut? I am assuming that it is at least "50" since you found out the coach was not "60". 

 

[Cougar14.2]

20 minutes ago, 89Falcon said:

LOL. Didnt you say that Crosby hired a 60 year old coach? What is the specific age when coaches forget how to coach? Can they coach if they are 40? 45? Where is the cut? I am assuming that it is at least "50" since you found out the coach was not "60". 

 

I was being facetious when I said "60 years old", guess that's a little tough to pick up for the guys that used DOS? I'm sure Coach Hurts is about 50 and I think he would've been a great at Crosby. Reginald Samples is probably over 60 and just won his first state title, Willie Williams wasn't from off from that at La Vega when he won his first title. It's about the culture fit, which is a lot closer to Tyler than anything comparable to Cedar Park. 

[Matthew328]

Willis didn't have as much success at Tyler because of administrative issues...he was well loved by his players and much of the community there...its hard for anyone to be successful in Tyler ISD right now

[Cougar14.2]

Riordan and Prieto were loved by the players and community, yet both had to leave due to administrative issues. Sounds like Willis might be the right fit after all? I'm sure he'll be overjoyed when he walks out on the practice field and watch kids try to dodge sprained ankles while they karaoke before practice. Maybe he can finally get the new helmets Coach P was asking for or different jerseys than the ones we wore at state three years ago?

The supt. wouldn't even give Coach P money to fix the field house my dad worked out in in the 70's that the kids still use to this day. Crosby is a lot better job on the surface than it is once  you get below it. Nothing near the trajectory it was when Riordan took over for Flannigan. 

[Concerned Citizen]

21 minutes ago, Cougar14.2 said:

Riordan and Prieto were loved by the players and community, yet both had to leave due to administrative issues. Sounds like Willis might be the right fit after all? I'm sure he'll be overjoyed when he walks out on the practice field and watch kids try to dodge sprained ankles while they karaoke before practice. Maybe he can finally get the new helmets Coach P was asking for or different jerseys than the ones we wore at state three years ago?

The supt. wouldn't even give Coach P money to fix the field house my dad worked out in in the 70's that the kids still use to this day. Crosby is a lot better job on the surface than it is once  you get below it. Nothing near the trajectory it was when Riordan took over for Flannigan. 

Whoa, where are my tax dollars going then? I might have to do a public information request to the district. You are right there were kids that refused to play FB under Flannagan and those same kids thrived under Riordan. All ADs request additional funding from Admin, so we will see how that goes.

[MrFleet23]

1 hour ago, Cougar14.2 said:

Riordan and Prieto were loved by the players and community, yet both had to leave due to administrative issues. Sounds like Willis might be the right fit after all? I'm sure he'll be overjoyed when he walks out on the practice field and watch kids try to dodge sprained ankles while they karaoke before practice. Maybe he can finally get the new helmets Coach P was asking for or different jerseys than the ones we wore at state three years ago?

The supt. wouldn't even give Coach P money to fix the field house my dad worked out in in the 70's that the kids still use to this day. Crosby is a lot better job on the surface than it is once  you get below it. Nothing near the trajectory it was when Riordan took over for Flannigan. 

Rio had an open check book 😂 those days are probably over. At least fix the damn practice f and game field. From what I understand she plans to do that. Rio practices were high energy. Practiced on the game field with music playing. Probably why they had so many false starts. Lol

[Cougar14.2]

50 minutes ago, MrFleet23 said:

Rio had an open check book 😂 those days are probably over. At least fix the damn practice f and game field. From what I understand she plans to do that. Rio practices were high energy. Practiced on the game field with music playing. Probably why they had so many false starts. Lol

I heard the same thing this weekend but why did we have to get to this point before she decided to give in to a basic ask that any decent coach is going to have for his kids? You can tell she's feeling the pressure because she made sure the practice fields and game field information got out to the "correct" people. 

[Concerned Citizen]

4 hours ago, Cougar14.2 said:

If Eudy plays QB and we found some trench guys Crosby had a chance to be extremely good this year. There are no holes in any of the offensive skill positions or on the back 7 of the defense.

Hiring a guy 4 days before school is over doesn't bode well for any success though. Coach P came late in '19 and it was six weeks into the season before we could even line up correctly in his offense, hence the .500 finish. I see a lot of the same in store. It's an even worse situation now since about 70% of the coaching staff has left/is leaving too. 

70% damn, isn't Crosby (not alone) short as an aggregate on teachers? Crosby need to shore up the move-ins (i.e. Branch and Dunn...). Sure there is plenty of home grown talent, but that 21 class was full of move-ins. This is where a hire like Mr. Hurts would have been vital, coached in all the areas surrounding Crosby (Baytown and CV). Another aspect that many don't speak on, Riordan was a good communicator/recruiter and kids wanted to play for him. He felt comfortable going anywhere and sitting in many livings rooms/kitchen tables.

[Cougar14.2]

36 minutes ago, Concerned Citizen said:

70% damn, isn't Crosby (not alone) short as an aggregate on teachers? Crosby need to shore up the move-ins (i.e. Branch and Dunn...). Sure there is plenty of home grown talent, but that 21 class was full of move-ins. This is where a hire like Mr. Hurts would have been vital, coached in all the areas surrounding Crosby (Baytown and CV). Another aspect that many don't speak on, Riordan was a good communicator/recruiter and kids wanted to play for him. He felt comfortable going anywhere and sitting in many livings rooms/kitchen tables.

Yeah, the few that are still left are meeting with him individually this week and finding out their fates. IDK if it's to let the kids have camp time or because he wanted more time to build his staff but Summer workouts aren't even starting until June 12th this year instead of the Monday after school like normal. Seems like you would want the kids out there ASAP considering you'll only have 3.5 days on the job before he kids are out for the Summer.

I think the four day week got the teacher shortage taken care of. The pay scale is also getting closer to where it should be for a town with Crosby's tax base.  

[Cougtalk]

I don't want to see Cougar14.2 claiming he liked this hire in three years. 

Here's the truth about Crosby's challenges. 

1) The Admin post Rio has been a revolving door/temp service until the newest Super arrived. She is extremely well liked in the community from everything I've read, people I've talked to. The football/athletics aren't getting as much special treatment as they used to and academics are clearly the Supers focus. 

2) The HS hasn't had a principal last more than a year or two for a while. What are we on 4 Principals in 5 years at start of next year? 

3) Parents are entitled as heck in the district and think their little Johnny is the greatest thing since sliced bread even tho they would simply be toast if let on the field. This district has a huge problem with parents blaming staff for everything and not taking accountability for their kids. 

4) You aren't the biggest, highest paying, most talented or most stable job in the immediate area. 

 

This being said when we hired Coach P we were more unstable, less successful, had a super that clearly was there just to be the axeman and had major financial issues.  No one can say that's not a positive trajectory it's just not a linear increase. 

 

 

[Vini vidi]

Not a fan of high school coaches recruiting kids in. Know it’s done a lot especially east Houston and beyond but something about winning with what you have is appealing. 

[Cougar14.2]

3 hours ago, Cougtalk said:

I don't want to see Cougar14.2 claiming he liked this hire in three years. 

Here's the truth about Crosby's challenges. 

1) The Admin post Rio has been a revolving door/temp service until the newest Super arrived. She is extremely well liked in the community from everything I've read, people I've talked to. The football/athletics aren't getting as much special treatment as they used to and academics are clearly the Supers focus. 

2) The HS hasn't had a principal last more than a year or two for a while. What are we on 4 Principals in 5 years at start of next year? 

3) Parents are entitled as heck in the district and think their little Johnny is the greatest thing since sliced bread even tho they would simply be toast if let on the field. This district has a huge problem with parents blaming staff for everything and not taking accountability for their kids. 

4) You aren't the biggest, highest paying, most talented or most stable job in the immediate area. 

 

This being said when we hired Coach P we were more unstable, less successful, had a super that clearly was there just to be the axeman and had major financial issues.  No one can say that's not a positive trajectory it's just not a linear increase. 

 

 

You won't. After Levi graduates I doubt I even care about Crosby athletics anymore. I'll take my classmate's advice, who's the assistant AD in Galena Park ISD, and probably move my other sons to North Shore where there's a lot more stability and opportunity. I was asked during his sophomore year at the powerlifting meet to bring him to Channelview. I let him make the choice and he wanted to stay and now his recruiting has been killed because of it. My next son to play varsity is who I refer to as my "prize steer", I won't be allowing the trash that goes on at Crosby to cause detriment to any of his future chances. Willis will probably be gone in three years anyway, I think he was just searching for a place little Johnny could play without much blowback from the community. It's so bad right now I bet he could probably go 12-18 in that three year stretch and still keep his job. Supt will say "but look what he did in 2012!" 

[Cougar14.2]

3 hours ago, Vini vidi said:

Not a fan of high school coaches recruiting kids in. Know it’s done a lot especially east Houston and beyond but something about winning with what you have is appealing. 

There is something to that. What sucks is when you have a bunch of homegrown kids and lose to one of those teams though. Almost everybody you play deep in the 5A and 6A playoffs have free agents though. It's just like the transfer portal in college now, if you want to be/stay competitive you get with the game. CE King looks like they're trying to become a Desoto to North Shore's Duncanville and one that they all have in common is open enrollment. The only way to combat playing some of those all-start teams is to get into the talent acquisition business yourself