KFDM COOP Posted June 26, 2008 Report Posted June 26, 2008 Ex-Eagle coach is sold on Lamar By Dave Rogers Published June 26, 2008 If he has his way, a former Barbers Hill football coach could become a regular presence in the Baytown area once again. Craig McGallion, the Eagles’ head coach between from 1995-97, is the newest assistant football coach at Lamar University and he expects to be recruiting for the Cardinals as soon as this fall. “We’re going to hit Houston, we’re going to hit Baytown hard,†he said. “We know guys from that area and we’re going to pull from that area. “We’re limited in our scholarships, but we’re going to work on our walk-on program, too, and we’re going to pull from that area.†Never mind that Lamar’s next football game won’t come until the fall of 2010. The Beaumont university dropped its Division I-AA football program after the 1989 season, citing heavy financial losses. But some big-pocket donors and the school’s students have pledged to support a new program that will return to a renovated Cardinal Stadium to compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) by 2010. To get the ball rolling, the school hired Navarro College head coach Ray Woodard to be its head coach and Woodard hired McGallion and Will Richard as his first two assistants. They will soon be joined by other assistant coaches who will go to work this fall laying the groundwork for the program’s return. “We’re going to bring our first recruiting class in this year,†McGallion said, “and those kids are going to redshirt and work out in ’09. Then we’ll recruit again and play.†Championship Subdivision programs can award as many as 30 scholarships a year, but can only have 63 players at a time on scholarship, so deciding to divide those scholarships is a primary concern. “We’re able to split scholarships in the Championship Subdivision, so we’re in the process of deciding how many JC (junior college) kids we’re going to put on scholarships, how many partials were going to offer and how many full scholarships,†McGallion said. “It’s going to be a baby steps process the first two or three years.†Putting together a successful walk-on program will be a key, he said. “At Navarro, they had 170 kids in their walk-on program and we’re trying to do something like that. In that group that was in the kinesiology classes they created, they took 30 or 40 of those and brought them out on the field.†McGallion comes from a coaching family in Silsbee with deep ties to the University of Houston. His late father, Raymond “Stud†McGallion was head coach and/or athletic director at Silsbee for more than three decades. Craig McGallion, like his older brothers Deryl Ray and Bobby, played for Bill Yeoman at UH. After helping Silsbee High to the state semifinals in 1977, McGallion played in the 1979 coaches’ all-star game in Fort Worth. One of his teammates, Sealy’s Eric Dickerson, helped the South team to a 7-6 win. Another all-star teammate was Bret Boyd, the new head coach at Goose Creek Memorial. Boyd’s dad, Bob Boyd, hired McGallion for his first coaching job at Fort Bend Clements. That was after McGallion completed a playing career at UH that saw him start two years at nose guard and play in the Cotton, Sun and Garden State Bowls. McGallion also coached as a graduate assistant at UH and Texas A&M, as well as an assistant at Silsbee, Cy-Creek and Cy-Fair. He was head coach at Woodville for two years before he moved to Barbers Hill. He has spent the past 10 years as his brother Bobby’s defensive coordinator at Silsbee, but has special memories from Barbers Hill. “Probably the most impressive thing at Barbers Hill was the tremendous work ethic the kids had,†McGallion said. “They were a bunch of hard-nosed kids that played hard and when the lights came on, they were ready to play.†McGallion followed Kenneth Skidmore and inherited a staff of assistants that included current Eagles coach Don Price. He said he got a lot of support, too, from coach-administrators Al Dennis and Richard Bethel, who had moved to Barbers Hill from Baytown Sterling. “They were super people and great administrators,†McGallion said. “The staff I had there, they were top notch. A good staff and good kids, it made for a great three years.†And McGallion can’t wait to come calling for his new team.
TexasTerror Posted June 26, 2008 Report Posted June 26, 2008 Link? Just an FYI -- any links posted here with LU or SLC football articles, I send up to this web site that gets several thousand hits a day from FCS football enthusiasts. You guys got to help me out some!
Guest coachacola Posted June 26, 2008 Report Posted June 26, 2008 Found the link, it's from the Baytown Sun: http://baytownsun.com/story.lasso?ewcd=2e1e251f234ce828
Guest abovetherim Posted June 28, 2008 Report Posted June 28, 2008 Dave Rodgers is a former writer for the PA News. I enjoy reading his stuff. I got some valuable information from the article. I did not know FCS level football programs can give out partial scholarships. That will be HUGE here at Lamar as everyone knows SE Texas is a blue collar area and a lot of kids will be eligible for grants and other financial aid, then give the young man a partial scholarship and he'd basically have a full ride.
TexasTerror Posted June 28, 2008 Report Posted June 28, 2008 I got some valuable information from the article. I did not know FCS level football programs can give out partial scholarships. That will be HUGE here at Lamar as everyone knows SE Texas is a blue collar area and a lot of kids will be eligible for grants and other financial aid, then give the young man a partial scholarship and he'd basically have a full ride. Still a limit though. I believe 63 scholarships spread out over 80-something kids.
Guest abovetherim Posted June 28, 2008 Report Posted June 28, 2008 Thanks for the clarification but I still think there are at least 20 young men out of a student population of 10,000 who could make a FCS roster. For example, Skyler Williams was a standout QB from Georgia who had Duke, Troy, Georgia Tech and South Florida recruiting him for football out of HS. He is one example, but I know of guys for one reason or another who did not take the opportunity offered them earlier. Hopefully, they will not let this second opportunity pass. http://texastech.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=38513
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