|
Post by Clemensbuff on Dec 4, 2021 7:11:08 GMT -6
It’s not that someone runs up the score, it’s how you run up the score. Some years back Herring would pull his starters in the 2nd because they were up 50-0 at half. He later said that it costed him deep in the playoffs because his team wasn’t as conditioned as it should have been. So he started leaving his starters in and winning games 75-0. I don’t have a problem with that at all. I personally think he did the right thing and he led his team to 3 State Titles. But when you’re up by 60 late in the 4th and you’re calling timeouts and throwing Hail Marys, that goes against sportsmanship. You have to be able to toggle winning, never quitting, and sportsmanship. I don’t know what great life lesson comes from picking on the weak. Dead on the $$$ JG!
|
|
|
Post by wfcoyote on Dec 4, 2021 7:58:34 GMT -6
Soooo you wish revenge to happen to Refugio players for something you disagree about when they were in Junior High.
|
|
|
Post by oldcatnewhornet on Dec 4, 2021 8:15:21 GMT -6
Soooo you wish revenge to happen to Refugio players for something you disagree about when they were in Junior High. True but it’s directed at the HC and other coaches In a case like this it’s never about the players it’s about the egos of opposing coaches
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 9:04:12 GMT -6
Two area coaches mentioned with the best coaches in the state Jason Herring of Refugio is top 10 in the state when it comes to total wins with 254 Posted: June 23, 2021 10:02 PM by Geno Perez Dave Campbell’s Texas Football wanted to find out who the best coach in Texas is and two local coaches were mentioned. Jason Herring of Refugio and Shiner’s Daniel Boedeker. Herring is top 10 in the state when it comes to total wins with 254 counting his time in Refugio, Sonora and Wall . Herring also made the top ten for most district titles in Texas with 14. When it comes to the most coveted prize in the state, the state title, Herring again makes the top 10 with four. Although Boedeker has only been in shiner for a couple of years, if you remove the minimum number of 50 games from the equation, Boedeker leads Texas coaches with the best winning percentage in the state at .963 with a record of 26-1 and a state title.
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 9:18:11 GMT -6
Refugio’s Jason Herring is one of the most polarizing coaches in Texas high school football. He’s won 216 games and three state championships as a head coach. At times, he’s been painted out to be a ruthless, win-at-all costs signal caller. He can be seen on Friday nights pacing up and down the sideline yelling with a high-level of intensity no matter the score. Those in Refugio love him – a few outside the football-crazed town comprised of just under 2,900 people don’t. Maybe both sides would be surprised if they knew his story a little better. While Herring has taken the Texas high school football world by storm, he spent the first 12 years of his life with a much different career path in mind. Herring wanted to be a dentist. It wasn’t until his seventh-grade year in the small town of Robert Lee, Texas that Herring decided he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Nelson Coulter, who was the Steers’ head coach and athletic director at the time. Herring made the decision to pursue coaching as a career a short time after experiencing life as an athlete under Coulter and never wavered through high school and college before embarking on what has turned out to be an extremely successful career. “I don’t know why a dentist, I guess I was thinking about the money,” Herring said. “But from the minute I got in my first seventh grade football practice, within two or three weeks I go home and tell my mom and dad I’m going to be a football coach just like Coach Coulter. No question. “I fell in love. I fell in love with athletics and I fell in love with my coaches to be honest.” Coulter developed Herring’s passion for kids and did much more than just guide him on the path into coaching. Like many athletes, Herring’s coaches – most notably Coulter and Ed Poehls – ended up spending more time with him during the day than his parents were able to. As a player, Coulter taught Herring the importance of the little things – and the lessons went beyond the football field.
“We would stop and eat a chicken fried steak or a hamburger after a game and it was way, way more important what the manager and the people in that restaurant said to Coach after we left than even how we did on the field that night,” Herring said. “They made you do all the little things right that would help you out in life and that is the reason we were so successful.” While he didn’t know it at the time, Coulter significantly influenced the way Herring modeled his own program down the road. Coulter and Herring formed a tight bond during their days together at Robert Lee High School and it was a bond that grew deeper as the two grew older. Coulter eventually served as best man and sang in Herring’s wedding. It was easy for the two to connect because they are so alike. Herring is competitive, passionate and energetic both on and off the field. As a student, he would go above and beyond in Coulter’s math class. He would outdo his classmates in physical fitness testing. A self-driven man, Herring never needed to be motivated – the desire to succeed was there from the start. “I look in the mirror and I see that staring back at me as well,” Coulter said. “I’m sure a lot of the connection between us lies along those lines.” Most importantly, Herring and Coulter love kids. They always have. Herring spends his weekends teaching Sunday school classes with his wife, Lisa, at First Baptist Church in Refugio. He said he often fills the role of father, counselor, preacher, dad, teacher and coach all at the time for some kids in a town where football is the only saving grace. “I definitely think that’s true,” Herring’s son Kobie Herring, a redshirt freshman football player at UTEP, said. “He’s been the same everywhere we’ve been and teats everyone the same even outside of football. He’s always loved kids and always wanted to be involved with kids. “It’s his passion and that’s his true calling.”
Herring began his coaching career as a junior high assistant for one year under Sam Harrell at Big Lake Reagan County after graduating from Angelo State in 1992, but quickly moved on to work under Ross Rogers at A&M Consolidated. Working for Harrell and Rogers – two of the game’s brightest offensive minds – was a dream come true for Herring, who learned a great deal in the first few years of his career. Rogers, who groomed a number of successful head coaches including Lee Fedora, John Stillwell and Tim Buchanan, took note of Herring’s drive and determination and elevated him to the varsity level within three years. “Even though I started as a junior high coach and would scout on Friday, I would spend every Saturday and every Sunday right up there with the varsity coaches doing whatever they needed,” Herring said. “Mostly I just kept my mouth shut and was a sponge.” Herring’s offense at Refugio is based on a lot of the same innovative spread concepts A&M Consolidated used decades before they became popular. He credits Harrell and Rogers for helping him develop into a head coach and giving him the opportunity to jumpstart his career. “I couldn’t have picked two better guys,” Herring said. “We don’t call our offense exactly like they did but it’s the exact same stuff. You can watch us play and plug in a Consolidated game and dang sure know where I cut my teeth.”
After shining as an assistant for four years, Herring got his first shot as a head coach at Wall in 1996 – but things didn’t work out as expected. The Hawks struggled to a 6-14 record in two seasons under Herring and he was fired. The rookie head coach turned to Coulter for guidance. “He and I had a lot of conversations and consultation,” Coulter said. “I tried to help him exit that situation as gracefully as he possibly could. Those things are ugly – losing almost always presents some challenges you don’t relish.” Losing wasn’t something Herring accepted. After the brief stint at Wall, he landed on his feet as an assistant at Sonora and quickly found success with the Broncos. Herring was promoted to head coach in 2000 and went on to win his first state championship that same season. While Coulter had guided Herring through the struggles at Wall, the two fell out of touch over the next few years while Herring worked his way up the ladder at Sonora. But when the Broncos knocked off Blanco to win the state title, Herring didn’t wait long to give his mentor a call. “I got this phone call late on December night, just out of the blue,” Coulter said. “I hadn’t talked to him in a long, long time. He said, ‘Hey Coach, I just want you to know we finally won that championship.’ And I said, ‘Do what?’ He used the pronoun ‘we’ like I was involved somehow. “He said, ‘Coach, we just won a state football championship.’ All I could said was, ‘Wow.’” It was the beginning of a dominant run for Herring as the Broncos went on to win 63 games from 2000-2006. But even with as successful as he was in Sonora – and despite the bond he developed with the community – Herring admitted there were a lot of small town politics to overcome. He left West Texas for the first time in 2007 to take the job at Refugio, where his determination to win and competitive nature were welcomed by a title-thirsty town looking to put an end to a lengthy run of regional semifinal and state quarterfinal appearances.
The Bobcats, who in 2007 had advanced to at least the regional semifinals in six of the past eight seasons but hadn’t been to the state championship game since 1987, wanted nothing less than a return to the pinnacle of high school football. They ensured Herring knew that from the get-go. But Herring quickly found himself four seasons deep with the program without a championship. The Bobcats went to the state semifinals in 2009 and 2010 but he began to fear for his future with the program as the 2011 season rolled around. After reviewing his system from top to bottom, Herring developed a plan to get Refugio over the hump. The Bobcats were loaded in 2011 and boasted what was arguably one of the most talented teams in the program’s history. Guys like Lynx Hawthorne, Travis Quintanilla, Shiloh Whetsel and Draigon Silvas had the town buzzing and craving a December run to Arlington’s Cowboys’ Stadium. Competing in District 16-2A Division II for the second straight year, Refugio was coming off a season in which they outscored their district opponents by an average of more than 56 points per game. In fact, Refugio was a perfect 23-0 in district play through Herring’s first four seasons as the head coach. The dominance was a product of the UIL’s biennial realignment process consistently putting the Bobcats in a weak South Texas district featuring one of the widest talent disparities in the state. Herring was trapped. After playing by the unwritten rules for four seasons and pulling his star players at halftime of blowout games, Herring made the decision to leave his starters in through third quarter of every regular season game – regardless of the score. He knew the result would be brutal on some occasions. The Bobcats opened district play with a 48-0 win over Skidmore-Tynan before things began to escalate. 82-6 over Kaufer on Sept. 30. 91-6 against Freer on Oct. 7. 73-0 against Premont on Oct. 21 and 74-0 against Santa Gertrudis Academy on Oct. 28. The scores drew rising levels of backlash as ESPN’s Outside the Lines caught wind of the situation and sent a camera crew down to follow the Bobcats. Despite the unwanted attention, Herring’s plan was working. Refugio cruised through its first four playoff games in unprecedented fashion, finally securing a spot in the state title game with 63-33 drubbing of Lexington. OTL published its piece in an 8:21 video the same week the Bobcats were set to play Cisco in the state championship game. Herring received death threats. He was called Satan and “Halftime Hitler.” He referred to the season as one of the most difficult of his coaching career. “They were just choosing to look right then in the moment and not even take the time to understand the reason,” Herring said. “There were four years on record where I had already done what you’re ‘supposed to do’. I didn’t just all the sudden become Satan. I was to a point where I had to get over the hump.” The Bobcats did just that, knocking off Cisco 36-35 in the state final to finish the season a perfect 41-0 from the seventh grade to the varsity level. “Our ring that I’m looking at right now has 41 diamonds in it,” Herring said. “41 stones – one for every win in the program that year.” Not only did the win rejuvenate Refugio as a football town, but it also may have saved Herring’s job. Coulter, who was following the situation from afar and was at Cowboys Stadium for the championship game, was emotional when he saw the relief the victory brought Herring and his family. “The picture that is most clear in my mind,” Coulter recalled, “Was when the game was over and Lisa met him on the field. They captured his face as he and Lisa embraced. You could see the emotional release. “He needed to win that game. He needed to win that.”
Herring largely flew under the radar in the years after the OTL report despite winning the state championship that season and adding another ring in 2016. He returned to the national headlines in a much different way when disaster struck Refugio last fall. Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, crashed directly into Refugio in mid-August and caused damage to 75 percent of the county’s infrastructure. A town Herring described as downtrodden before the storm hit was devastated and the start of school was pushed back to Sept. 16. Refugio was littered with debris and was without both power and water for nearly a month. “I thought I was ready to come back because I had seen pictures,” Herring said. “But the moment I pulled in, tears just started running down my face. It broke my heart.” With football often serving as the lone uniting force in the town, Herring and the Bobcats were back on the field in time for their season opener against Goliad. Even so, Herring’s mind wasn’t 100 percent on football for the first time in his coaching career.
Herring spent much of his time as a relief coordinator, directing the delivery of supplies and went from house to house helping the cleanup process. He worked with the administration to set up a fundraising process and assisted in gathering more than $100,000 to support rebuilding efforts. “I think it goes to show how much he really cares about people,” Kobie Herring said. “He’s willing to take that extra step and go seek out help for anyone who needs it.” The tragic situation was compounded by the heartbreaking injury Refugio’s Casey Henderson suffered in the team’s Week 2 game against Edna. Henderson suffered a broken neck making a tackle and broke two vertebrae, requiring emergency surgery. The Bobcats dedicated their season to Henderson and watched as he miraculously regained the ability to walk after long rehabilitation process. But Herring went a step further, helping corral a contractor who volunteered to rebuild the Henderson’s home after it too was destroyed in the hurricane. Months later, Herring is still helping his players and their families restore their homes from the damage caused by Harvey. Herring finished the repairs on his own house in late March and continues to lend a hand as others attempt to do the same. Even with everything the town was going through last season, the Bobcats still managed to advance to the state championship game before falling to Mart. But Herring said the experience changed him for the better and has caused him to adjust his coaching philosophy moving forward. “It helped me realize there are things in life more important than football sometimes,” Herring said. “Football is important – I know it is. But we had kids scrambling for their lives. It will change me forever. “I learned to trust my assistants more and realized I don’t have to be in charge of everything.”
Herring may delegate more responsibilities to his staff in the coming season but it’s his ability to make those decision and control the program from top to bottom that adds to his legacy as a coach. The Bobcats’ success goes beyond the talented pool of athletes at Herring’s disposal. He has set up his program with eight coaches in charge of football from seventh grade all the way to the varsity level, ensuring there is consistency from the top down at each position group. It’s the same way Coulter ran things at Robert Lee – one of the many facets of Refugio’s program modeled after Herring’s mentors. “They ran the whole program from top to bottom and that’s exactly what I’ve emulated,” Herring said. “The seventh grade, eighth grade and JV are running the exact – I mean the exact – same thing as the varsity. We’re miles ahead of the game with that consistency.” Herring also credits the Refugio administration for fully backing his program. “There’s only one politic in Refugio,” Herring said. “Win baby win. That’s it. Win baby win.”
Herring embraces the expectation of winning on a daily basis. But in a town that eats, breathes and sleeps football, there isn’t much free time away from the field for the head football coach. When Herring does have time to himself in the off-season, he likes to spend it with his family. Otherwise, he enjoys fishing. Herring will go out on his boat with Refugio County Sheriff Raul “Pinky” Gonzales and spend an entire day tracking down trout and redfish with the same intensity seen on the sidelines. Of course, football is off the table as far as discussion goes when the two are on the water. “We get there and we’re there all stinkin’ day long and we catch our limit,” Herring said. “We’ll walk for miles in the heat and we fish and we fish and we fish. It’s not for the weary. It’s not no half day trip – if we’re fishing, we’re gonna fish. “That’s just the way I’m wired and the way he’s wired, and that’s why we’re fishing buddies.”
Reflecting on a coaching career spanning more than 20 years, Herring doesn’t shy away from crediting his four mentors – Coulter, Poehls, Harrell and Rodgers – for laying the foundation that has resulted in three state championships and an overall head coaching record of 216-50. While bigger programs call down to Refugio on an annual basis trying to gauge Herring’s interest in a potential new job, he said he’d be hard pressed to find a situation better than the one he has in Refugio. Though the effects of Hurricane Harvey are still felt in Refugio community to this day, Herring will continue to lead the recovery and rebuild while leaving a mark much deeper than football on the town. And to think – for a brief moment as a child, he wanted to be a dentist. “I’m certainly sure I wouldn’t want a dentist that’s wired as hot as Jason is sticking power tools in my mouth,” Coulter said with a laugh. “I’m not sure his bedside manner would be conducive to dentistry.”
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 9:22:09 GMT -6
SAN ANGELO – Jason Herring once told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that he was born to coach football. “I live for Friday nights. I absolutely love interacting with the kids, I love the pressure, I love the strategic part of matching wits with the other coach,” he explained to sportswriter George Vondracek back in 2009. “I went straight into college, graduated in three and a half years, went every day in the summer, I mean I knew. I never changed my major. I knew what I wanted to do.” One hundred and sixty four games into his head coaching career, the evidence proves he was right in choosing his profession. Herring, who graduated from Angelo State in 1992 with kinesiology and history degrees, boasts a 122-42 record at three schools. He was named the athletic director and head football coach at Refugio in 2007 and has led the Bobcats to four consecutive district championships and four straight undefeated regular seasons. A Class 2A state championship in 2000 at Sonora shows he reached the peak, while missing the playoffs only one time in the last 11 years shows his consistency. “I hope our teams are always identified by kids that are disciplined, hard hitting, and execute well,” said Herring, who is 53-4 at Refugio. “I think a trademark of our teams is the way we execute on offense. We try and keep it very simple so that we can execute perfectly.” Self-described as not being big or talented enough to play college football for the Rams, Herring instead worked three jobs while at ASU with his eye on the coaching profession after graduation. “I loved the family atmosphere of ASU,” he said. “The professors that were teaching me were the same men coaching the Rams on Saturdays. I really looked up to those guys.” Not having playing experience never hurt Herring in pursuing his goal of coaching, but he acknowledges that it can be a struggle sometimes for someone wanting to break into the profession. His advice is to not give up and take advantage of every opportunity. “It is definitely not a must to play college football, however it helps because of the contacts you make,” he said. “An aspiring coach needs to make as many contacts in the coaching profession as they can. It is not always what you know, but who you know. Be a sponge. Visit, volunteer, and get involved in any program that will allow you to learn.” Herring, a Robert Lee native, landed his first job at Big Lake coaching junior high and then his first head coach position at Wall. In 2000, Herring led Sonora to a 15-0 record and the Class 2A state championship in his first season at the school. The Broncos were also state semifinalists in 2001 and regional semifinalists in 2003. At Refugio, a town halfway between Corpus Christi and Victoria on Highway 77, Herring has built on a tradition of football dominance. The Bobcats have had 33 straight winning seasons and have made the playoffs 19 consecutive seasons. Refugio lost to Daingerfield in the state semifinals in 2009 and to Lexington last season in the semifinals. Without question one of the most intense and enthusiastic coaches you'll ever see on the sidelines, Herring is also known for making adjustments to his players. Two years ago he rotated quarterbacks routinely in an offensive approach he credits Texas Tech for teaching him as the Bobcats threw the football on most plays. Last season his team ran the ball. He used the skills of three different running backs to rush for 3,124 yards and 55 touchdowns. The Victoria Advocate named all three running backs its Players of the Year. “I thought the kids did a great job of being mature and handling it because at any point any one of the three could have gotten really frustrated,” Herring told sportswriter Mike Forman. “They could have played for anybody in the whole area and probably anybody in the state in 2A and be the feature back for any one of them. So to put those goals aside in an effort to do what's best for the team, in an effort to try and win it all, that says a lot for the kind of kids they are.” Refugio is primed for another strong season with the addition of quarterback, Lynx Hawthorne, who has signed to play at Baylor and key returners from a team that put up nearly 60 points a game last year. Herring said he misses the people of West Texas and the steakhouses, but that he is appreciative for all the success he and the communities he's coached in have experienced. “The good Lord has really blessed me in my career,” Herring said. “I have been extremely fortunate to be in places that really value athletics.” A family full of ASU graduates Jason Herring met his wife, Lisa, while in high school at Robert Lee but didn't start dating her until the two were at Angelo State. His brothers, Joel and Jim graduated from ASU in 1993 and 1995, respectively. The patriarch of the family, Jerry, is a 1971 graduate of Angelo State. Special thanks to Mike Forman of the Victoria Advocate, George Vondracek and www.lonestargridiron.com for their work which contributed to Jason Herring's story.
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 9:25:22 GMT -6
I was seeing rush to judgement and hope you read Coach Herring side of the story,. Most of this I knew from friends in Refugio. He had a problem one year when the players felt like all they had to do was put on a Refugio uniform to win.
|
|
|
Post by Clemensbuff on Dec 4, 2021 10:45:27 GMT -6
Soooo you wish revenge to happen to Refugio players for something you disagree about when they were in Junior High. Hard to tell who you are talking to since you obviously find it difficult to hit quote on the post you are replying to. But if you were asking me.... No, I don't wish anything bad on their players at all. I wish their coach would get it rubbed into his face as bad as he has done to others! Is that hard to understand? East Bernard a few years ago and the Shiner coach last night showed a ton more class then Herring has in the past!
|
|
|
Post by Clemensbuff on Dec 4, 2021 10:46:06 GMT -6
Are you as in love with Herring as you are Gordon Wood??
lmao
|
|
|
Post by picodegallo on Dec 4, 2021 11:15:50 GMT -6
Are you as in love with Herring as you are Gordon Wood?? lmao Uh oh…… Wait until the books are published about Herring.
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 20:16:33 GMT -6
I love it. You can't make this stuff up. I posted Coach Jason Herring explanation of finding a way to win. He did nothing illegal. Here come the fake tough guys who's team has never won a state championship. My team the Wichita Falls Coyotes has won several. These fake tough guys hate a winner . I watched my great grand daughter play flag football this morning in the new Taft stadium. She makes diving grabs at the flag and hits the ground and sometimes she levels the ball carrier trying to get that flag. She scores as a receiver. This 6ft. 6th grader plays soft ball on Tues and Thur night. She is tougher than these fake tough guys on this blog. I recommend a Book for the fake tough guys. "Finding a way to win", Coach Bill Parcells. It is about The principals of Leadership, Teamwork & Motivation. Coach Bill Parcells was a close friend of Coach Gordon Wood. Coach Gordon Wood watched HS playoffs from Coach Bill Parcells Box. at Jerrys world. Well now my teams have all bombed out like your teams and now I am down to Shiner where my cousin is Assistant Coach and Lucas Lovejoy and Jaxson Lavender.
Another book I have in my well read library is "Vain Glory" by Jan Reid The first 102 Pages is a chapter about the Lavender brothers. Jay Lavender is Jaxson Lavenders grand father and Keith Lavender is Jaxson Lavenders Grand uncle and both became coaches as did Jaxson Lavenders Dad. Jay and Keith both give credit to my father who is in the story for their success. Jay and Keith were boxers on my dad's team. They came from a dysfunctional home. Coach Jay Lavender graduated from OK State that just lost to Baylor. Coach Keith Lavender graduated from Cameron University. My dad was instrumental in getting them a scolly.I have a letter written by Jay Lavenders wife Gloria about my dad. It starts "Good guys are a dime a dozen....an aggresvive leader is priceless".
at the bottom of page
A Tribute to Coach
Being the Best If you can't be a highway, be a trail. If you can't be the sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. But by being the best at whatever you are.
author unknown
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 20:22:29 GMT -6
Are you as in love with Herring as you are Gordon Wood??
Clem Kadiddlehopper, you left out Coach Matt Anastacio.
|
|
|
Post by Hounhound on Dec 4, 2021 20:34:58 GMT -6
Are you as in love with Herring as you are Gordon Wood?? Clem Kadiddlehopper, you left out Coach Matt Anastacio. Must have 3 hands for all the nuts you cling on to.
|
|
gp37
Varsity
Posts: 4,687
|
Post by gp37 on Dec 4, 2021 21:04:21 GMT -6
I keep a sack of peanuts near the front door for the squirrels. The could be kin to you Houndhound
|
|
|
Post by bluecat on Dec 5, 2021 6:08:20 GMT -6
Refugio’s Jason Herring is one of the most polarizing coaches in Texas high school football. He’s won 216 games and three state championships as a head coach. At times, he’s been painted out to be a ruthless, win-at-all costs signal caller. He can be seen on Friday nights pacing up and down the sideline yelling with a high-level of intensity no matter the score. Those in Refugio love him – a few outside the football-crazed town comprised of just under 2,900 people don’t. Maybe both sides would be surprised if they knew his story a little better. While Herring has taken the Texas high school football world by storm, he spent the first 12 years of his life with a much different career path in mind. Herring wanted to be a dentist. It wasn’t until his seventh-grade year in the small town of Robert Lee, Texas that Herring decided he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Nelson Coulter, who was the Steers’ head coach and athletic director at the time. Herring made the decision to pursue coaching as a career a short time after experiencing life as an athlete under Coulter and never wavered through high school and college before embarking on what has turned out to be an extremely successful career. “I don’t know why a dentist, I guess I was thinking about the money,” Herring said. “But from the minute I got in my first seventh grade football practice, within two or three weeks I go home and tell my mom and dad I’m going to be a football coach just like Coach Coulter. No question. “I fell in love. I fell in love with athletics and I fell in love with my coaches to be honest.” Coulter developed Herring’s passion for kids and did much more than just guide him on the path into coaching. Like many athletes, Herring’s coaches – most notably Coulter and Ed Poehls – ended up spending more time with him during the day than his parents were able to. As a player, Coulter taught Herring the importance of the little things – and the lessons went beyond the football field.
“We would stop and eat a chicken fried steak or a hamburger after a game and it was way, way more important what the manager and the people in that restaurant said to Coach after we left than even how we did on the field that night,” Herring said. “They made you do all the little things right that would help you out in life and that is the reason we were so successful.” While he didn’t know it at the time, Coulter significantly influenced the way Herring modeled his own program down the road. Coulter and Herring formed a tight bond during their days together at Robert Lee High School and it was a bond that grew deeper as the two grew older. Coulter eventually served as best man and sang in Herring’s wedding. It was easy for the two to connect because they are so alike. Herring is competitive, passionate and energetic both on and off the field. As a student, he would go above and beyond in Coulter’s math class. He would outdo his classmates in physical fitness testing. A self-driven man, Herring never needed to be motivated – the desire to succeed was there from the start. “I look in the mirror and I see that staring back at me as well,” Coulter said. “I’m sure a lot of the connection between us lies along those lines.” Most importantly, Herring and Coulter love kids. They always have. Herring spends his weekends teaching Sunday school classes with his wife, Lisa, at First Baptist Church in Refugio. He said he often fills the role of father, counselor, preacher, dad, teacher and coach all at the time for some kids in a town where football is the only saving grace. “I definitely think that’s true,” Herring’s son Kobie Herring, a redshirt freshman football player at UTEP, said. “He’s been the same everywhere we’ve been and teats everyone the same even outside of football. He’s always loved kids and always wanted to be involved with kids. “It’s his passion and that’s his true calling.”
Herring began his coaching career as a junior high assistant for one year under Sam Harrell at Big Lake Reagan County after graduating from Angelo State in 1992, but quickly moved on to work under Ross Rogers at A&M Consolidated. Working for Harrell and Rogers – two of the game’s brightest offensive minds – was a dream come true for Herring, who learned a great deal in the first few years of his career. Rogers, who groomed a number of successful head coaches including Lee Fedora, John Stillwell and Tim Buchanan, took note of Herring’s drive and determination and elevated him to the varsity level within three years. “Even though I started as a junior high coach and would scout on Friday, I would spend every Saturday and every Sunday right up there with the varsity coaches doing whatever they needed,” Herring said. “Mostly I just kept my mouth shut and was a sponge.” Herring’s offense at Refugio is based on a lot of the same innovative spread concepts A&M Consolidated used decades before they became popular. He credits Harrell and Rogers for helping him develop into a head coach and giving him the opportunity to jumpstart his career. “I couldn’t have picked two better guys,” Herring said. “We don’t call our offense exactly like they did but it’s the exact same stuff. You can watch us play and plug in a Consolidated game and dang sure know where I cut my teeth.”
After shining as an assistant for four years, Herring got his first shot as a head coach at Wall in 1996 – but things didn’t work out as expected. The Hawks struggled to a 6-14 record in two seasons under Herring and he was fired. The rookie head coach turned to Coulter for guidance. “He and I had a lot of conversations and consultation,” Coulter said. “I tried to help him exit that situation as gracefully as he possibly could. Those things are ugly – losing almost always presents some challenges you don’t relish.” Losing wasn’t something Herring accepted. After the brief stint at Wall, he landed on his feet as an assistant at Sonora and quickly found success with the Broncos. Herring was promoted to head coach in 2000 and went on to win his first state championship that same season. While Coulter had guided Herring through the struggles at Wall, the two fell out of touch over the next few years while Herring worked his way up the ladder at Sonora. But when the Broncos knocked off Blanco to win the state title, Herring didn’t wait long to give his mentor a call. “I got this phone call late on December night, just out of the blue,” Coulter said. “I hadn’t talked to him in a long, long time. He said, ‘Hey Coach, I just want you to know we finally won that championship.’ And I said, ‘Do what?’ He used the pronoun ‘we’ like I was involved somehow. “He said, ‘Coach, we just won a state football championship.’ All I could said was, ‘Wow.’” It was the beginning of a dominant run for Herring as the Broncos went on to win 63 games from 2000-2006. But even with as successful as he was in Sonora – and despite the bond he developed with the community – Herring admitted there were a lot of small town politics to overcome. He left West Texas for the first time in 2007 to take the job at Refugio, where his determination to win and competitive nature were welcomed by a title-thirsty town looking to put an end to a lengthy run of regional semifinal and state quarterfinal appearances.
The Bobcats, who in 2007 had advanced to at least the regional semifinals in six of the past eight seasons but hadn’t been to the state championship game since 1987, wanted nothing less than a return to the pinnacle of high school football. They ensured Herring knew that from the get-go. But Herring quickly found himself four seasons deep with the program without a championship. The Bobcats went to the state semifinals in 2009 and 2010 but he began to fear for his future with the program as the 2011 season rolled around. After reviewing his system from top to bottom, Herring developed a plan to get Refugio over the hump. The Bobcats were loaded in 2011 and boasted what was arguably one of the most talented teams in the program’s history. Guys like Lynx Hawthorne, Travis Quintanilla, Shiloh Whetsel and Draigon Silvas had the town buzzing and craving a December run to Arlington’s Cowboys’ Stadium. Competing in District 16-2A Division II for the second straight year, Refugio was coming off a season in which they outscored their district opponents by an average of more than 56 points per game. In fact, Refugio was a perfect 23-0 in district play through Herring’s first four seasons as the head coach. The dominance was a product of the UIL’s biennial realignment process consistently putting the Bobcats in a weak South Texas district featuring one of the widest talent disparities in the state. Herring was trapped. After playing by the unwritten rules for four seasons and pulling his star players at halftime of blowout games, Herring made the decision to leave his starters in through third quarter of every regular season game – regardless of the score. He knew the result would be brutal on some occasions. The Bobcats opened district play with a 48-0 win over Skidmore-Tynan before things began to escalate. 82-6 over Kaufer on Sept. 30. 91-6 against Freer on Oct. 7. 73-0 against Premont on Oct. 21 and 74-0 against Santa Gertrudis Academy on Oct. 28. The scores drew rising levels of backlash as ESPN’s Outside the Lines caught wind of the situation and sent a camera crew down to follow the Bobcats. Despite the unwanted attention, Herring’s plan was working. Refugio cruised through its first four playoff games in unprecedented fashion, finally securing a spot in the state title game with 63-33 drubbing of Lexington. OTL published its piece in an 8:21 video the same week the Bobcats were set to play Cisco in the state championship game. Herring received death threats. He was called Satan and “Halftime Hitler.” He referred to the season as one of the most difficult of his coaching career. “They were just choosing to look right then in the moment and not even take the time to understand the reason,” Herring said. “There were four years on record where I had already done what you’re ‘supposed to do’. I didn’t just all the sudden become Satan. I was to a point where I had to get over the hump.” The Bobcats did just that, knocking off Cisco 36-35 in the state final to finish the season a perfect 41-0 from the seventh grade to the varsity level. “Our ring that I’m looking at right now has 41 diamonds in it,” Herring said. “41 stones – one for every win in the program that year.” Not only did the win rejuvenate Refugio as a football town, but it also may have saved Herring’s job. Coulter, who was following the situation from afar and was at Cowboys Stadium for the championship game, was emotional when he saw the relief the victory brought Herring and his family. “The picture that is most clear in my mind,” Coulter recalled, “Was when the game was over and Lisa met him on the field. They captured his face as he and Lisa embraced. You could see the emotional release. “He needed to win that game. He needed to win that.”
Herring largely flew under the radar in the years after the OTL report despite winning the state championship that season and adding another ring in 2016. He returned to the national headlines in a much different way when disaster struck Refugio last fall. Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, crashed directly into Refugio in mid-August and caused damage to 75 percent of the county’s infrastructure. A town Herring described as downtrodden before the storm hit was devastated and the start of school was pushed back to Sept. 16. Refugio was littered with debris and was without both power and water for nearly a month. “I thought I was ready to come back because I had seen pictures,” Herring said. “But the moment I pulled in, tears just started running down my face. It broke my heart.” With football often serving as the lone uniting force in the town, Herring and the Bobcats were back on the field in time for their season opener against Goliad. Even so, Herring’s mind wasn’t 100 percent on football for the first time in his coaching career.
Herring spent much of his time as a relief coordinator, directing the delivery of supplies and went from house to house helping the cleanup process. He worked with the administration to set up a fundraising process and assisted in gathering more than $100,000 to support rebuilding efforts. “I think it goes to show how much he really cares about people,” Kobie Herring said. “He’s willing to take that extra step and go seek out help for anyone who needs it.” The tragic situation was compounded by the heartbreaking injury Refugio’s Casey Henderson suffered in the team’s Week 2 game against Edna. Henderson suffered a broken neck making a tackle and broke two vertebrae, requiring emergency surgery. The Bobcats dedicated their season to Henderson and watched as he miraculously regained the ability to walk after long rehabilitation process. But Herring went a step further, helping corral a contractor who volunteered to rebuild the Henderson’s home after it too was destroyed in the hurricane. Months later, Herring is still helping his players and their families restore their homes from the damage caused by Harvey. Herring finished the repairs on his own house in late March and continues to lend a hand as others attempt to do the same. Even with everything the town was going through last season, the Bobcats still managed to advance to the state championship game before falling to Mart. But Herring said the experience changed him for the better and has caused him to adjust his coaching philosophy moving forward. “It helped me realize there are things in life more important than football sometimes,” Herring said. “Football is important – I know it is. But we had kids scrambling for their lives. It will change me forever. “I learned to trust my assistants more and realized I don’t have to be in charge of everything.”
Herring may delegate more responsibilities to his staff in the coming season but it’s his ability to make those decision and control the program from top to bottom that adds to his legacy as a coach. The Bobcats’ success goes beyond the talented pool of athletes at Herring’s disposal. He has set up his program with eight coaches in charge of football from seventh grade all the way to the varsity level, ensuring there is consistency from the top down at each position group. It’s the same way Coulter ran things at Robert Lee – one of the many facets of Refugio’s program modeled after Herring’s mentors. “They ran the whole program from top to bottom and that’s exactly what I’ve emulated,” Herring said. “The seventh grade, eighth grade and JV are running the exact – I mean the exact – same thing as the varsity. We’re miles ahead of the game with that consistency.” Herring also credits the Refugio administration for fully backing his program. “There’s only one politic in Refugio,” Herring said. “Win baby win. That’s it. Win baby win.”
Herring embraces the expectation of winning on a daily basis. But in a town that eats, breathes and sleeps football, there isn’t much free time away from the field for the head football coach. When Herring does have time to himself in the off-season, he likes to spend it with his family. Otherwise, he enjoys fishing. Herring will go out on his boat with Refugio County Sheriff Raul “Pinky” Gonzales and spend an entire day tracking down trout and redfish with the same intensity seen on the sidelines. Of course, football is off the table as far as discussion goes when the two are on the water. “We get there and we’re there all stinkin’ day long and we catch our limit,” Herring said. “We’ll walk for miles in the heat and we fish and we fish and we fish. It’s not for the weary. It’s not no half day trip – if we’re fishing, we’re gonna fish. “That’s just the way I’m wired and the way he’s wired, and that’s why we’re fishing buddies.”
Reflecting on a coaching career spanning more than 20 years, Herring doesn’t shy away from crediting his four mentors – Coulter, Poehls, Harrell and Rodgers – for laying the foundation that has resulted in three state championships and an overall head coaching record of 216-50. While bigger programs call down to Refugio on an annual basis trying to gauge Herring’s interest in a potential new job, he said he’d be hard pressed to find a situation better than the one he has in Refugio. Though the effects of Hurricane Harvey are still felt in Refugio community to this day, Herring will continue to lead the recovery and rebuild while leaving a mark much deeper than football on the town. And to think – for a brief moment as a child, he wanted to be a dentist. “I’m certainly sure I wouldn’t want a dentist that’s wired as hot as Jason is sticking power tools in my mouth,” Coulter said with a laugh. “I’m not sure his bedside manner would be conducive to dentistry.”I think I pulled a eye hammy reading that!😩
|
|