What college football teams see in high school coaches

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY Sports

Corrections/clarifications: A previous version of this story included an incorrect name for the coach of Allen (Texas) High.:

If other signs point favorably in his direction, history is not on UNLV coach Tony Sanchez's side.

In December, Sanchez became the fourth coach to make the leap from the high school ranks to the top of college football's highest level. He'd built a legacy at Bishop Gorman High School, a power located in UNLV's own backyard, winning six state championships in a row and, according to his new employer, setting a standard of success that was impossible to ignore.

"Seems to me that I had accomplished all that I possibly could," Sanchez said. "At this point it really felt like the right time."

Yet his three predecessors fail to inspire confidence: Bob Commings, Gerry Faust and Todd Dodge won just over a third of their games at Iowa, Notre Dame and North Texas, respectively, potentially scaring off Football Bowl Subdivision programs drawn to the unconventional hire.

"There's going to be a learning curve for me," said Sanchez. "I don't care how good and talented I am at what I do. There's going to be a learning curve and I recognize that."

But with Sanchez as the leading evidence, and with a healthy assist from the successful turns of active FBS head coaches with similar backgrounds, major-college programs are rolling the dice more than ever with coaches fresh off the high school ranks — far more often than not as a valued assistant, both on the field and off.

"High school coaches have to adapt each season to the personnel they have," said SMU coach Chad Morris, once a highly successful high school coach in Texas. "Each year presents new challenges. But perhaps most importantly of all, they understand that it is more about relationships than Xs & Os."

Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell backs up Morris' point. "It used to be high school coaches rarely went on to college," Farrell said. "Now that colleges have additional bodies in their recruiting offices, it makes sense.

"A lot of these guys, especially at the private school levels are recruiting players at the sixth and seventh grade levels. Everyone in recruiting is going younger, all the way to relationships with Pop Warner coaches. It's all about relationships. Winning is still the No. 1 thing with recruiting, but relationships are second. It's not like these are unqualified guys."

At least eight colleges brought in high school coaches during the offseason, led by UNLV, which hired not only Sanchez but his former quarterbacks coach at Bishop Gorman, Ron O'Dell, to the same position.

Michigan, SMU and Texas Tech filled crucial off-field recruiting roles with former high school coaches, hoping to gain an edge in battleground states — New Jersey for Michigan, Texas for the latter pair — over their conference rivals.

It's in recruiting that these new hires pay immediate dividends. Hiring Sanchez, for example, gives UNLV unique credibility within its home state. Likewise with former Gilmer (Texas) High School coach Jeff Traylor, the new tight ends coach at Texas, and former Stephenville (Texas) High School coach Joseph Gillespie, the new linebackers coach at Tulsa, who will broaden each program's reach within one of the nation's deepest talent pools.

"I know all these guys, I've been in the trenches with them as a Texas high school football coach," Gillespie said. "We're all very well aware of each other. To be able to go in there and visit with those coaches certainly give us a leg in there. There aren't too many places that I couldn't go into. That's going to bode well for us."

There are advantages to coming fresh off the high school level, just as there is a high level of scrutiny levied on hires from an untraditional background. Tempering this scrutiny are several active FBS coaches with high school roots: Morris, Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Mississippi's Hugh Freeze, Baylor's Art Briles and South Alabama's Joey Jones, to name a few. That Malzahn, Freeze and Briles didn't miss a beat — and even exceeded expectations — in the leap up a level has helped open a lane for others to take a similar step.

"It's a huge trend," said Tom Westerberg, coach at powerhouse Allen High north of Dallas. "If you can coach in this area (the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex) and have your team ready to play every Friday night, along with the relationships you develop to come back into this area and recruit, college are starting to look at that.

"These programs are picking up Texas high school coaches who can recruit but also can coach at a high level. Who knows what my options will be at some point in time? It's exciting to see."

Corby Meekins, who recently left Houston's Westfield High to join the University of Houston staff as a tight ends and fullbacks coach, said he feels a responsibility to perform and keep open the doors between high school and college coaching the way Malzahn, Freeze and others have.

Even as opportunities increase, however, high school coaches must acclimate themselves not just to the culture change but the change in overall role: Moving to a higher level means ceding control of your own program — and, as Gillespie admits, "all coaches are control freaks."

That may be the lone negative amid a slew of positives: Even as high school coaches cite their experience as beneficial in their new jobs — it allows you to see a bigger picture, Gillespie said — it can be hard to go from being the face of the program to a face in the crowd.

"You don't sit there and say, hey, that doesn't play a factor," he said. "Of course it does, to a degree. But from a professional standpoint and who I get to coach with, it was a wonderful opportunity."

The opportunity trumps all, with the positives far outweighing the negatives inherent to the sudden climb to a higher level of coaching competition.

"For a lot of reasons it was a no-brainer," Sanchez said. "It's a challenge, but that's the exciting part."

Contributing: Josh Barnett

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