Top Left: Leander Strength Coach Jim Ward
Top Right: Leander Lions Head Coach Steve Gideon, with 2009 team leaders from left to right: WR Tucker Hancock, DE Jarron Harris, and C Travis Sugar.
Bottom Left: Coach Garza and Leander Assistant AD Mark Weaver.
Bottom Right: Coach garza with Leander Athletic Director Jim Bridges.
This past Thursday, Coach Garza and Myself visited the offices of Leander ISD Athletic Director Jim Bridges, Assistant AD Mark Weaver and then took a ride over to watch Leander HS and Coach Steve Gideon's Lions practice and prepare for their Friday Night Lights v. Round Rock Westwood HS.
There is nothing quite like Texas High School Football. It starts at darn near infancy where thousands upon thousands of parents dream of their "Little Johnny" running the ball and making tackles, to their "Little Suzie" cheering and tumbling for the young heroes of the gridiron. Football in many ways has displaced baseball as our National Pastime. Baseball has died for the most part in our inner cities as kids everywhere from 1A country towns to the 5A schools choose to chase the oblong ball.
Texas has without question the most football talent at the Division 1 level with over 800 players from the Lone Star State receiving scholarships each year. California and Florida are a distant second. There is no question it's ingrained in us culturally, however it's cemented by the amount of investment parents make in their players, that communities invest in their teams and ultimately the amount of money spent by school districts on the sport. If you're not convinced, then try to buy a hamburger in small town Texas on a Friday night. Sorry, closed for "The Game" is the sign that will likely greet you.
We decided to spotlight Leander ISD in our football kickoff because of Coach Garza's relationship with many of the football folks in this district. Athletic Director Jim Bridges welcomed us with open arms to talk about the evolution of LISD both academically, and athletically. Coach Bridges left Plano, TX in the early 90's after guiding the Wildcats to State in basketball where they lost to eventual champion, Houston Kashmere.
Coach Bridges is one of those guys with a twinkle in his eye that obviously loves what he does. He left Plano on a whim and came to Leander, which was seen as a "country job" at the time. Coach explained to me though that he had a vision. He loved the location northwest of Austin and with it's size encompassing 200 square miles he envisioned the growth that has now come to fruition in the area. The "country" district has grown and he now oversees a multimillion dollar budget that includes Leander HS, Cedar Park HS, Vista Ridge HS, Rouse HS, and next year's latest addition Vandergriff HS.
The facilities are now some of the best on the State. Leander's Bible Stadium will undergo a several million dollar rehab this winter, including installation of the most updated artificial turf. Each school also now sports an all weather practice turf on their fields. This enables game preparation to continue in most any conditions while also keeping the players safer. Each school now has a 7000 square foot weight room (one of which is pictured above).
Coach Bridges is a very folksy, humble guy but he was very proud of the fact that Leander has now reached the level of excellence that they're able to compete at the State level in most every sport. They've had recent State Champions/Finalists in track, volleyball and soccer. Football has recently advanced as far as the 4th round of the playoffs. There have been over 10 four year scholarship football players come out of the Leander District in the last couple of years, along with countless JuCo players. The timing couldn't be better to mention this as true freshman Blake Gideon of Leander HS led his Texas Longhorns to victory yesterday over nemesis Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.
We then poked our nose into Assistant AD Mark Weaver's office where he reminisced about his early days when he was Head Football Coach at Cedar Park HS. Back in those days the weight room was HALF of a portable as opposed to today's 7000 square foot behemoths on all Leander ISD high school campuses. Both Coach Weaver and Coach Bridges were quick to point out that they are a team, with Weaver handling much of the day to day detail, allowing Coach Bridges to be involved in much of the planning and political decisions. In the bigger picture of the individual Athletic Coordinator's/Football Coach's the success has been directly related to the fact that now Leander pays as well as anyone in the State, thus attracting the highest quality coaches for each sport.
We headed over to Bible Stadium where they were going through final preparation for Friday night's game v. Round Rock Westwood which Leander subsequently won. Coach Steve Gideon was accommodating, but all business as we watched the kids go through their paces in a crisp fashion. I quickly learned this man is all about character, demanding that the kids do the right thing. Two of the more talented kids had been dismissed fom his team because of behavioral issues. How many coaches would do that? When we asked Coach for a few of his key guys to showcase, he made it clear that he wanted us to focus on the quality players who were also quality people. Hence, we discuss the three kids pictured above.
Coach Gideon has a daughter, Quincee who is at Texas A&M, and his aforementioned son Blake who is starting at safety for Texas as a true freshman. There's a lot more to the story though. In fact, it's remarkable that only a couple of seasons ago Blake broke 4 vertebrae in his back! You could see the pain in Coach Gideon's face as he talked of the concern at the time, not only of Blake's broken football career, but even to the fact that his son could be potentially confined to a life in a wheelchair. God has blessed them though and the bones fused back together. The rest is history, as the younger Gideon made a key pass break up late in the 4th quarter to effectively turn the tide against the Sooners. He made countless tackles, and my sources say that the Texas staff has so much confidence in him, that he is also calling defensive adjustments on the field. This speaks to his football IQ and is almost unheard of for a freshman to have this responsibility.
Yes Leander, you've come a long way.
At the moment Leander HS hs only one D1 commitment in the Class of 2009. WR 5'7" 160 lb Tucker Hancock has committed to the Air Force Academy. He has a solid 4.6 time in the 40. He's quick and has good hands.
6'3" 215lb DE Jarron Harris is garnering interest from Texas State and Angelo State but has yet to receive a firm offer. He's got a nice frame, and looks like he could pack on another 30 lbs easily as he matures.
6'0" 245lb C Travis Sugar is one tough son of a gun according to Coach Gideon. Coach said he's gone up against all the higher profile kids in the area and more than held his own. Any college taking a chance on this kid will get themselves a winner.
Coach Max Ivany
No comments:
Post a Comment