silentassasin Posted December 9, 2008 Report Posted December 9, 2008 Word from inside Ganderland is that someone who has been on staff in GCISD for a long time is the successor. If you had to choose would you go with someone who is already there or do you go with someone fresh? Both have good options to them.
KFDM COOP Posted December 10, 2008 Report Posted December 10, 2008 GCCISD opens search for Olin’s successor By Dave Rogers Published December 10, 2008 Still dealing with the surprise of Dick Olin’s departure as Robert E. Lee football coach, Goose Creek school officials were getting down to the business of seeking a replacement Tuesday. Olin would like to help them. Lewisville High School’s new coach wants his assistant head coach at Lee, Clint Riley, to succeed him at the helm of the Ganders’ program. “I’d hope that coach Riley is named interim (head coach), and then named head coach,†the second-winningest coach in Baytown history said by phone Tuesday as he traveled back to Baytown from the Metroplex, where he accepted the Lewisville head coaching job Monday night. “He’s been loyal to me,†Olin said of the former offensive line coach who has been a member of his Gander coaching staff all 17 years Olin has been in Baytown. “You couldn’t ask for a better coach or a better friend. I certainly hope they would give him the job.†Tom Ed Gooden, the school district athletic director, was surprised by last week’s news that Olin was a candidate for the Lewisville job and he said the feeling lingered. “There’s the initial surprise,†he said, “but at the same time, I understand, and having been a coach for 25 years, I understand coaches are always looking for new opportunities. “Sometimes change can be a shot in the arm, and in that respect, I understand and wish him well.†Gooden said district administrators would be meeting soon to determine the process they would use to pick a successor to Olin. “We’re circling the wagons,†he said. “As far as applicants and an interim, we need to get together and make definite plans before anything is announced.†Toby York, the district’s personnel chief, posted the head coach/campus coordinator job on several statewide job boards Tuesday. The posting seeks someone with a master’s degree and five years of head coaching experience. Riley, who played college football at Texas-El Paso and acknowledged Tuesday he plans to apply, has never been a head coach. One former Lee assistant with head coaching experience, Scott Joseph, has also expressed interest in the job. Joseph, who coached defense for Lee in 2007 and was an assistant at Katy Seven Lakes in 2008, was previously head coach at Houston Westbury. He applied and was among four finalists last winter for the head coaching job at Goose Creek Memorial that went to Bret Boyd. Both Gooden and York said they expect the Lee job will attract many attractive applicants. “I think that’s going to be a good job,†York said. “I see a lot of positives, the opportunity possibly to go into (Class) 4A the year after next, a $5 million renovation (of athletic facilities, including Sultis Stadium, Lee’s auxiliary field), plus we have true feeder patterns.†Declining enrollment that left Lee competing in Class 5A with 4A numbers this past fall has been a problem for the Ganders for a while, but York says having dedicated feeders should help. “We have two junior highs that feed that school,†he said. “That hasn’t been the case in the past, but rezoning last year established true feeder patterns, which Goose Creek had not had in the past.†Lee High School has had only five head football coaches in the past 69 years and three of them, Dan Stallworth, Olin and Ron Kramer, each coached for 17 years and won more than 100 games. “We want to get the best person for Lee High School and that program,†Gooden said. “We want someone that can take that program forward. “We want to make sure it’s a good fit.â€
Recommended Posts