by JASON GORDON
Blake Feldt will be coaching where the Friday night lights are brightest of all next season.
Feldt, who was the head football coach and athletic coordinator for two seasons at Hays High, accepted the same position at Odessa Permian High School. He will start at Permian on Jan. 22.
Last week, Ector County ISD athletic director Todd Vesely offered Feldt the job and he jumped at the opportunity to lead the Permian Panthers, who were made famous by H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 book “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream,” which chronicled the Panthers’ 1988 state semifinal season.
Since opening in 1959, Permian has captured six state football championships, 24 district championships and has been voted the national high school champions twice. The school’s last state title came in 1991.
“I was just ecstatic when Coach Vesely offered me the job. I told him I’m ready to go to work,” Feldt said. “I wouldn’t have accepted the job if I didn’t think we couldn’t get Permian back to its rightful place as the king of Texas football. The great thing about the job is they are going to give us everything we need to succeed.”
Feldt will receive a two-year contract at Permian with a salary of $110,399 per year plus a $7,200 car allownce.
At Hays, Feldt had an 18-6 overall record during his two seasons at the school and led the Rebels to consecutive district titles for the first time in history. Still, he only had a one-year contract and was making an annual salary of $90,000. The Rebels made the playoffs in every team sport both years Feldt was at Hays.
“It’s great to have a multi-year contract,” Feldt said. “I’m going to miss the Hays community though. It was honestly the best two years I’ve had in coaching so far because of the kids and parents I’ve dealt with. They are second to none. It breaks my heart I’m leaving after just two years because of the relationships I’ve built.”
Feldt has always had West Texas in his blood.
He played at Midland High and Texas Tech University. Feldt was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech and was a head coach at Breckenridge and Pilot Point high schools. He led Pilot Point to the 2009 Class 2A Division I state title. He also was an assistant coach at Appalachian State University, Southern Methodist University and Midland High.
Permian plays its home football games at Ratliff Stadium, which has a capacity of 17,906. Last year the Panthers averaged approximately 15,000 fans per game. Hays’ Shelton Stadium has a capacity of just over 8,000.
“It feels like I’m home again,” Feldt said about the job. “This is the district I played my high school football in, and these are the games my dad took me to since before I could walk. It’s such an exciting time for myself, my wife Kathy and our entire family. It’s a dream come true to be the head football coach at Permian – everyone knows the Permian Panthers.”
It will be the third time Feldt has taken over for a coaching legend.
At Pilot Point, he replaced G.A. Moore, the state’s all-time winningest coach. At Hays, he took over for Bob Shelton, who is eighth in all-time wins in Texas, and now he replaces Gary Gaines at Permian.
Gaines was the Panthers’ head coach during the “Friday Night Lights” season and led the team to the 1989 state and national championships. During his second stint as head coach at Permian, Gaines had a 23-21 record from 2009-2012.
“The community and the city are hungry for the Panthers to be back on top,” Feldt said. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of hard work from the kids and the coaching staff but we’re going to roll up our sleeves and go to work. We’re going to be 100 percent dedicated to that goal.”
Feldt said he plans to hit the ground running at Permian.
“I’m excited about this new challenge,” Feldt said. “We’re ready to win like Permian is supposed to win. This is the job I’ve always dreamed about and it’s incredible it’s become a reality.”
Hays officials have yet to set a timetable on hiring Feldt’s replacement but Dr. Kim Pool, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction said the plan is to have a new athletic coordinator for the Rebels soon.
“Hopefully it will be accelerated because spring football starts pretty soon,” Pool said. “We’re getting pretty good at this. We’ve had to hire two different athletic coordinators each of the past two years.”
Pool said the hiring process will mirror the one that brought Feldt to Hays in 2011 and Todd Raymond to Lehman last year.
“We will meet with the booster club and teachers and create criteria and a for profile who we’re looking for,” Pool said. “We will then have a group who will go through the applicants and narrow them to people we want to interview for the job. Hopefully we will find our next Hays High athletic coordinator and head football coach out of that group of applicants.”
Pool said administrators Carolyn Hitt, assistant superintendent for human resources, Betsy Russell, director of student programs, and Hays High principal David Pierce will be on either the committee to select the finalists for interviews or on the actual interview and selection committee.
In addition, parents who have children in extra curricular activities, coaches, teachers and other administrators will be on the different committees.
“Since whoever we hire will be the athletic coordinator as well as the head football coach, we obviously want to have parents who have students playing sports other than football on the committees,” Pool said.
Pool said she appreciates what Feldt did for Hays but understands his desire to land the Permian job.
Senior quarterback Caleb Kimbro, who set every single passing and scoring record at Hays, agrees.
“I think I speak for the entire team when I say we were blessed to have had coach Feldt for the past two years,” Kimbro said. “He allowed us to accomplish many great things. I know he will do very well at Permian and I wish him the best.”
