“People harp on a lot of the negatives, but I’m telling you what, there are way more positives from these students” - Doug Warren
WIMBERLEY — Doug Warren initially fought hard to follow the same path as his father, but the universe had other plans. Now, newly-retired, he couldn’t have imagined his life any other way.
“Sports [were] always such a vital part of our family growing up. My dad coached and so, well, I was always around it — always around the field house, always around practices, whether that be football practice, whether that be basketball, whether that be going to track meets. So, that was just our way of life,” recalled Warren, the former Wimberley High School athletic director and head football coach.
His father coached for years until his retirement, which had an impact on Warren, though he tried to create his own path. According to the now retired coach, he originally majored in business administration in his first year at Angelo State University, but immediately regretted it: “After about three days in my class, [I was] like, ‘This is awful. This is so boring. I can’t do this.’” It was during his first Christmas back at his parents that he shared this news only to be met with laughter, as he announced that he was changing his major to physical education to be a coach. He claimed that his parents shared that they knew he was going to be a coach all along, but they were waiting for him to figure it out.
Warren’s career began in Littlefield, near Lubbock, where he worked for 11 years, followed by his transfer to Glen Rose. After six years, he and his wife, who was also an educator, made the decision to leave Glen Rose in search of new opportunities when the two landed on Wimberley.
WISD’s former head coach Weldon Nelms had played for Warren’s father when he was younger and tried to hire Warren over the years, but the timing was never right until 2006, when he was brought on as a coach.
It wasn’t until Nelms left the position in 2013 that Warren was hired as Wimberley High School’s head football coach and athletic director.
“As I started getting older in my career, you start [thinking], ‘Maybe I’m not going to be a head coach,’ because … I wasn’t chasing those jobs out there, [ but I] also realized that if I didn’t ever become a head coach, that was going to be fine, too. That was not what was going to define my career,” Warren emphasized. “What I wanted to define my career was the impact that [I] made on kids and you can do that no matter what your title is.”
According to Warren, Nelms had big shoes to fill, since he was a “legend,” so he wanted to come in and just do the best job he could, while continuing to keep the football program competing at a high level. In addition to this, he wanted to grow and bring the other sports to the same standards.
Being an athletic director was an opportunity that Warren accepted with open arms, he said, as there is “not much schooling” for the position and it is instead learned from experience: “It’s very challenging, but it’s also very rewarding.”
Over the years, there have been many memories that made an impact for the coach, so many that he could spend hours talking about them, he explained, but some that stick out are winning various championships, including the football state championship in 2011, the boys track state championship in 2022 and the girls volleyball state championship in 2024.
DOUG WARREN
The 2024-25 school year was Warren’s last, as he retired from this position of 19 years, though he didn’t realize that this would be the end at the beginning of the fall semester. He explained that he wasn’t planning on retiring until the spark that was always present began to dim.
“This job takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. It never stops; it’s 24/7. You’re getting calls from kids or parents or coaches and there's always issues that arise,” Warren explained. “This year, when I came back, I just didn’t have that energy. I didn’t have that drive that propels you to continue on. So, I would set little goals: ‘Okay, I’m going to get to spring break and then, I’m going to recharge and it’s going to come back.’ It just never [did]. At that time, I knew, ‘Hey, it’s time.’” The decision was difficult, but he explained that his family has been extremely supportive over the years and it’s now time for him to get back to those he loves, such as his father, who lives out in West Texas, and his daughters, whom he hopes to visit more.
Although excited to enter an era of retirement, he explained that leaving the students and coaches that have become family to him will be challenging.
“Being around the kids, getting a bunch of kids to buy into your program and being selfless and coming together as a team and doing things maybe that they didn’t think they could do, that’s pretty awesome,” said Warren. “The connection and the camaraderie with the coaches that you spend a great deal of time with is irreplaceable. That part is going to be definitely missed because there’s some great men and women that I've coached with over the last 36 years.”
“For the community, [I] can’t appreciate enough the support that they gave us throughout my tenure here. This community is special,” said Warren. “The drive and expectations that are set forth, not just by us in this athletic program, but it carries over into the school and it carries over into this town … I just can’t say enough good things about the support we’ve had from our community here.”
