Gerry Stanford will be the next Texas High head football coach and director of athletics if the Texarkana Independent School District board approves him at a meeting Monday, according to Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell's Texas Football.

Stanford, currently the head coach at Class 6A program Flower Mound Marcus, served as White Oak's leader between 2011 and 2013. He posted 27-10 record during his first stint in East Texas and guided the Roughnecks to the Class 2A Division I state semifinals his final season.

As athletics director, Stanford oversaw two White Oak boys basketball state championships and a tennis doubles state championship. The White Oak volleyball team made two trips to the state tournament in the same span.

Marcus is 20-12 under Stanford through three seasons. The 2016 team posted a 5-5 record as did the 2014 squad, but the 2015 roster went 10-2 and reached the area round of the 6A Division II state playoffs.

Marcus had not won more than four games in the two seasons prior to Stanford's arrival.

Stanford obtained large-school experience earlier in his career as a positional coach at Grapevine and Hurst L.D. Bell.

Texas High lost head coach Barry Norton after 17 seasons last month to crosstown rival Texarkana (Ark.) Arkansas High. Norton posted a 156-52-1 record with the Tigers and won the 2002 Class 4A Division I state championship.

Stanford, if confirmed, will inherit at least one NCAA Division I recruit from a Texas High team that went undefeated through the regular season only to get eliminated in the first round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs. Junior receiver Tevailance Hunt holds offers from Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Central Arkansas and Louisiana Tech.

However, the new coach will have to spend a significant amount of time retooling Texas High's offense as a whole. Three-year starting quarterback Cade Pearson is already enrolled at North Texas, receiver Quan Hampton departs for Kansas in May and lead running back Devuntay Walker will join the Midwestern State program this summer.

Texas High will face Norton and Arkansas High on the road in its second game of the 2017 season.

 

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