KFDM COOP Posted July 25, 2009 Report Posted July 25, 2009 Lee grid staff gets to business By Dave Rogers Published July 25, 2009 Robert E. Lee’s 2009 football coaching staff has a definite air of familiarity to it. Neither new head coach Marvin Sedberry, Jr., nor longtime Gander fans will have to look too far to feel at home as this year’s staff of 12 assistants will be comprised equally of holdovers from past Lee staffs and newcomers brought to town by Sedberry, a product of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Longtime assistants David Hackney, Paci Cantu and Jeff Adams are back, as are more recent hires Milford Stephenson, Jason Austin and Aaron Pohl. The 31-year-old Sedberry, who is only the Ganders’ sixth head coach since 1940, followed through on the pledge he made when hired in February to bring along longtime coaching friends Dustin Blann from Fort Worth Poly and Brandon Carder from Dallas Lake Highlands. Other newcomers include Brad Shea, Corey Sims and Gene Gonzales. Sedberry will have each coach work with the varsity, then double up with a subvarsity team. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that the new Gander Commander has had most of his assistants together in the Lee High School Fieldhouse. And with a few of the new coaches still trying to move their families and one still to be hired, they’ve all been working at a breakneck pace since their return from a trip to coaching school in Austin to get things ready for the 2009 season, the practices for which begin Aug. 3. The good news is all five of the newcomers hired by Sedberry are already on the same page and the new head coach has had four months to work with those left from the staff of former Lee coach Dick Olin. “Even though some of the coaches have just arrived, the benefit of our staff is that for the most part, they know each other,†Sedberry said. “They have experience working together or being in the same type of program.†Sims attended college with Sedberry at Texas A&M-Commerce and comes here from a coaching job in Paris, Texas. Shea, a college teammate of Carder, comes from Richardson Pearce and his dad was assistant principal at the school where Sedberry began his coaching career, Lake Highlands. Gonzales and Sedberry coached together at Fort Worth Poly. Blann, 33, was receivers coach at Lake Highlands when Sedberry was the offensive coordinator there and followed Sedberry to Poly, where Sedberry had his first head coaching job, in 2007 and 2008. He will be Sedberry’s assistant head coach and tutor quarterbacks. “I had coached for two years before coach Sedberry and I arrived at Lake Highlands at the same time,†said Blann, a Waco native and Baylor grad who was Poly’s offensive coordinator the past two years. “Sedberry’s a hardworking guy and extremely loyal. Ever since I met him, I’ve been with him. I think a lot of him. Everything Sedberry needs me to do, that’s what I’ll do.†Carder and Sedberry met as junior high school coaches in the Richardson school district and worked together at Lake Highlands. He comes to Baytown after being defensive backfield and head track coach at Lake Highlands and will be Sedberry’s defensive coordinator. “Some people are in this just for a job, but I want to be a head coach, also,†Carder, 37, said. “And now I’m here with my boys.†Sedberry named 32-year-old Stephenson, an Alief Hastings grad who played offensive line for Kansas State and the San Francisco 49ers, his offensive coordinator. This is his third year at Lee and he will continue to work with the offensive line. “This is a collaboration,†Sedberry said of his offensive scheming. “Everybody is working toward a common goal: we’re trying to win. “We’re all on the same page. Coach Blann learned the system with me and it’s easy to merge Milford in, because he’s on board. He has the knowledge and experience to jell very well.†Sedberry won’t be hemmed in to define his offensive and defensive philosophies by narrow terms and his assistants back him up. “It doesn’t matter what defense you run,†Carder said. “You’ve got to line up and stop the other guy. You might be a 3-4 guy, but when the other guy’s got a tight end, you’re going to end up with four or five guys on the line.†Stephenson said he didn’t switch his thinking on anyone’s account. “I’ve heard this since I was little,†he said. “’There’s always two ways to skin a cat, but at the end of the day you’re trying to do one thing and that’s win.’â€
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