With the leave of former head football coach, Weldon Nelms, who retired at the end of last semester, a new coach is in town. With this change in leadership, the future of Weatherford football will likely be subject to mystery and speculation but most importantly change. Present and future football players have already started brainstorming ideas about what the next head coach should be like and how the new coach will impact the football program.
“I think he should be more disciplinary toward setting goals [while] having a set tempo, that keeps those goals in mind. Even when a kid messes up, make sure that kid is going to get better even though he did something wrong. He’s all about the team, he loves the team, he’ll do anything for the team. He’ll love everyone and help everyone get better,” junior River Hall said.
The team is rather unanimous in their idea of what a good head coach should be made of: a strong leader who can support the team and help them reach new heights, while also maintaining a certain strictness.
“I think they should be really hard for us. They need to show a lot of leadership skills, and turn the program around,” sophomore Jake Spooner said.
While they are anticipatory of a new head coach, they do still mourn the loss of Coach Nelms’ due retirement. But even with the temporary absence of a leader, the team ultimately respects him in his future endeavors.
“He’s been a great coach to me. I haven’t been here long, but he taught me how to work hard, taught me integrity, and even if you lose, just keep going and keep pushing on, and get to that next game. I love him, he’s a great coach,” Hall said.
However, the fog of speculation has been lifted. In late January, the school district board members unanimously hired Aledo High School’s Defensive Coordinator, Billy Mathis, to fill the head coaching vacancy. With it, he brings three years of experience and skill, having worked with Aledo’s 2014 and 2016 state championship teams, as well as three seasons worth of varsity football for Aledo, before graduating himself in 1996.
“The program right now is very promising. The football athletes are working hard and I am proud to be their new coach,” Mathis said.
With this new position, Mathis plans to take a new direction on our football program, making some changes to help out the team, which could allow us to reach greater heights than we have before.
“[My] goals as a coach are to win a district championship and then a state championship,” Mathis said.