AFM’s National and Regional High School Coaches of the Year

Hal Wasson             
Southlake Carroll

While celebrating on the field after his Carroll High School team, known to most around the country as Southlake Carroll, completed a 16-0 season with a 36-29 victory over Fort Bend Hightower in the Texas Class 5A- Division I state championship game, Hal Wasson thought about a fateful decision he made back in 2002.

After over 20 years as a successful head coach at multiple high schools around Texas, Wasson chose to become an assistant coach. The reason? To give his son Chase the opportunity to play quarterback for the storied Southlake Carroll program, where Hal became running backs coach.

“As a career move, it was a risk stepping down as a head coach and becoming an assistant, but my family had moved around for me, and I felt it was time for Chase to have the spotlight,” Wasson said. “In the end, it worked out well because Chase was part of a state championship winning team, he and my daughter Chelsie received a quality education and I learned first-hand about the commitment to excellence and the high expectations at the school.”

With the championship in 2011, his first since being named head coach in 2007, Wasson earned statewide and national prominence for the Carroll Dragons and also earned the title of AFM’s National High School Coach of the Year. The 2011 title validated his decision to join the Carroll staff and made up for some trying seasons in recent years.

After Chase graduated, Wasson returned to the sidelines as a head coach at Keller Fossil Ridge. Then, when Carroll Head Coach Todd Dodge accepted the head coaching position at the University of North Texas, Wasson was named his replacement. Under Dodge, the Dragons had posted three consecutive 16-0 seasons and three straight state titles. The school had a 79-1 record, and four state titles over the previous five seasons and was recognized as one of the premier programs in America..

“I knew it would be a daunting task to match a 79-1 stretch, especially in Texas, but I felt I would thrive at a school where expectations are so high,” said Wasson. “I was determined not to mess with the track record of success.”

In Wasson’s first three seasons, the Dragons won 30 games, but lost five and uncharacteristically failed to advance beyond the Texas 5A semi-finals. “Tradition is rich here, and with tradition comes expectations,” said Wasson. “This team (2011) was expected to win since we had 52 seniors,” Wasson added. “What we said from the beginning of the season is to just focus on what we can control. So many times as coaches we focus on what we don’t have and lose sight of what we can control. You can control attitude and enthusiasm. You can be resilient and show a respectable work ethic,” he added. “You are only as strong as the leadership on your team, and this team had a lot of leadership and maturity.”

That maturity proved critical throughout the season as Carroll rallied from behind in 10 of its 16 games. In the playoffs, the Dragons trailed during the second half in four of their six games. In the state championship game, they scored a fourth quarter touchdown to prevail. “Our goal is to win the next game and the last game,” Wasson said. “When you play 16 games and can honestly say that your last game was your best one, that is a testament to the greatness of this team.

“During the playoffs, when it mattered most, the defense needed to make a crucial stop and the offense needed to respond with a score, and they did. We chose to never surrender, even when it did not look good on the scoreboard,” he added. “When one guy went down, the next guy stepped up.”

Unranked to start the season, Southlake Carroll finished ranked No. 6 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings. The 16-0 season and state championship allowed Wasson to carve his own mark on the school’s rich football history. 

East
Bob Milloy
Good Counsel High School (MD)

Over 42 years, Bob Milloy has won eight state championships and has the most overall wins in Maryland high school history. Yet the 2011 season was special for Milloy, who guided Good Counsel High School to a 12-0 record and a third consecutive championship in the tradition-rich Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.

Good Counsel routed Gonzaga, 42-0, to capture the WCAC title. It marked the third consecutive season that Good Counsel not only won the WCAC, but also finished ahead of fellow national power DeMatha, which had previously beaten Good Counsel five straight years to win the WCAC.

With the 12-0 record and another WCAC title, Milloy completed his 11th year as head coach at Good Counsel. Good Counsel’s 12-0 mark is especially impressive considering their schedule that included victories over highly regarded Manatee High School in Bradenton, FL, Delaware’s Red Lion Academy, Valley Forge Military Academy (PA), and the Gilman School in Baltimore.

“It’s difficult enough making your way through the WCAC undefeated,” Milloy said. “Having a season when you accomplish that, plus beating some of the country’s best football programs, makes it extra special.”
 
Southeast
Sean Callahan
Armwood High School (FL)

Sean Callahan and his Armwood High School players agonizingly remember the 2010 Florida Class 6A state championship game when the Hawks were stunned, 17-14, by Tallahassee Lincoln. Instead of capturing back-to-back titles, Armwood watched Lincoln celebrate. That painful feeling fueled the team during the 2011 season, when Armwood claimed the state crown with a 40-31 victory over Miami Central. Armwood finished the season 15-0 and ranked third in the in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and RivalsHigh 100 national rankings.

Armwood’s offensive and defensive lines were fully composed of seniors. “Not one of them missed a game all season,” Callahan said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides, which is a key reason why we finished 15-0.”

Callahan has a career record of 193-62 and now has three state titles. He arrived at Armwood in 1984 as an assistant and was promoted to head coach in 1990. This season was special because of the squad’s senior leadership. Expectations are high at Armwood, where Callahan says players and coaches expect to contend for state championships and players strive to continue their careers at the next level. The Hawks are 29-1 over the last two seasons.

“This was the best team I’ve had at Armwood because of the talent and character of the players,” Callahan said. “I’ve never had so many senior starters. It was a mature group that was resilient and focused.”
 
Midwest
Kevin Wright
Carmel High School (IN)

A successful head coach at Warren Central (IN), where he won three consecutive Indiana 5A titles from 2003 to 2005, Kevin Wright took a step aside and then made a giant leap forward. The result - a 14-1 record and a 5A state title at Carmel High School (IN) this season. Wright became the fifth coach in state history to win state titles at two different schools.

The son of Larry “Bud” Wright, who is the winningest coach in Indiana high school football history, Wright led defensive-oriented Warren Central to those three consecutive titles. After spending a season at Tulsa Union High School, he joined his college alma mater at Western Kentucky as the offensive coordinator.

Wright resigned from the Hilltoppers after the 2008 season before spending a year as an assistant coach and assistant principal at Heritage Christian High School and then accepting the Carmel High School head coaching job. He replaced Mo Moriarity, who joined the Indiana University coaching staff.

For Wright, it was a homecoming of sorts since he and his wife are natives of Hamilton County, where Carmel is located. The journey was worthwhile, Wright believes. “I learned quite a bit as the offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky,” Wright said. “You have so much time at the college level to study your offense and opposing defenses that it makes you better as a head coach at the high school level because you develop a better understanding of the overall game.”

Carmel has won seven state championships, but this year’s achievement was just the second since 1989. The school has reached the state championship game five out of the last six years, and won the title in 2007. Carmel was 9-2 and lost in the playoffs in 2010, Wright’s first season there.

In the playoffs, Carmel was down to Warren Central 20-0 and rallied for a 34-30 victory when they converted a fourth and six play for a first down and moments later scored the game-winning touchdown. Then, in the state championship game, Carmel pummeled Penn, 54-0.

The rout was a welcome change for Carmel, which rallied from behind in three post-season games and defeated Perry Merdian, No. 10 Lawrence Central, No. 1 Warren Central, No. 5 Indianapolis Ben Davis and rival Center Grove to reach the final. “This team showed tenacity and character by refusing to give up when they were done in big games,” Wright said. “It’s a testament to why this team was so special.”

Southwest
Scott Samsel
Olive Branch High School (MS)

A day after his 50th birthday, Scott Samsel made what could be the gutsiest call he will ever make as a head coach that led to his first state title in 26 years and Olive Branch’s first state championship since 1926.

Samsel – who played football and baseball at Olive Branch – graduated in 1979 and has spent the last 11 seasons as head coach at his alma mater. He found his team down 19-7 at halftime in the MHSAA Class 6A state football championship game against Petal.

Olive Branch rallied from behind and scored a touchdown with a little more than a minute left to trim the deficit to 34-33. Instead of kicking the extra point, Samsel decided to attempt a two-point conversion, a decision he says was made before the touchdown was scored.

“Both teams were moving the ball on each other, and we had a touchdown called back in the first half and then what we thought was a touchdown catch ruled incomplete,” said Samsel, who has a 181-78 career record in 21 seasons as a high school head coach. “Since we had given up a chunk of yardage to their offense, missed a field goal in the red zone, saw another drive stall inside the red zone and then have what should have been two touchdowns nullified, I thought we were fortunate to still have an opportunity to win. We ran a zone play with our quarterback and two lead blockers,” Samsel added. “I was confident in our offensive line. I felt better about getting three yards there than going into overtime with all the possible scenarios.” Olive Branch claimed a 35-34 lead, and then Samsel, his staff and his players held their collective breathes as a Petal field goal attempt sailed wide left as time expired.

In his fourth season as a head coach, Samsel led Independence High School to a runner-up finish in Class 3A. He figured there would be more opportunities at a state title, and later coached at Aberdeen and Lafayette high schools in Mississippi, and in Tennessee, before taking over at Olive Branch.

“Over the course of my career, I have coached in two different states and three different classifications with some really good teams to get close,” said Samsel, whose Olive Branch team finished 15-0 this season. “I’ve been in a lot of quarterfinals and semifinals, and I’ve been part of some really talented teams, but I never imagined it would take this long to get back to the state championship game.

West
Tony Sanchez
Bishop Gorman High School (NV)

In three seasons at Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School, Tony Sanchez has guided the Gaels to a 43-3 record, two consecutive top-25 national rankings and three state championships. Bishop Gorman finished the 2011 season with a 72-28 lambasting of Reed High School in the Nevada 4A championship game. Sanchez, the former all-state defensive back in high school who played college ball at New Mexico State, attributes that success to the demanding schedule his team plays.

Bishop Gorman opened the season with a 42-21 victory over Chaparral (AZ) which was No. 10 in the nation. Six days later, the Gaels lost to perennial powerhouse Armwood (FL), which was ranked No. 2 nationally, 20-17, when a last-second field goal was missed. Five weeks later, Bishop Gorman defeated another formidable non-conference foe, 13th ranked Servite (CA), 31-28.

“We created a schedule that tests our kids every week and gives them a chance to play against competition that is every bit as talented as they are,” Sanchez said. “We are prepared for the playoffs because of the competition we face in the regular season.”

Bishop Gorman finished the season ranked No. 5 by the USA Today. It was the loss to Armwood that fueled the Gaels the rest of the way, Sanchez believes. “It was tough to lose that game against Armwood, but it showed our kids that we can play with anyone in the country,” Sanchez. “On exceptionally talented teams, kids with average skills become above average and players with already strong abilities rise to an even higher level. That is what defined our team this season.”

Bishop Gorman registered another prolific offensive season, leading the nation in points scored for the second consecutive year with 838 while surrendering just 185 and posting five shutouts in 16 games. Gorman gained 7,693 total yards while rushing for more than 4,000 and passing for more than 3,000.

“We have that same philosophy here at Bishop Gorman as one season ends and we start preparing for the next one,” he added. “You have to approach it that way when your ultimate goal is to contend for a state title every season.”