BY ADAM ZUVANICH azuvanich@oaoa.com
Justin Carrigan arrived in the Permian Basin a day early, before his Wednesday job interview on the UTPB campus in Odessa, and reached out to the area’s most prominent high school football coaches.
On Tuesday he introduced himself to Permian coach Blake Feldt, Odessa High coach Ron King and Midland High coach Craig Yenzer, visiting each one personally. Then, before heading back to his home in Stephenville on Thursday, Carrigan met with Midland Lee coach James Morton.
He might not have realized it at the time, but that seemingly small gesture is one of the reasons Carrigan was introduced Friday as the first football coach in UTPB history. It certainly made an impression on former Permian coach John Wilkins, who UTPB sought out to be a lead member of its search committee, because Wilkins said it was “critical” for the Falcons to find a coach who knows how to recruit and build relationships with the high school coaches in the region.
“He was just doing his due diligence and getting to know us, because obviously we’re the head coaches in this area,” Feldt said. “And my hat goes off to him for doing that, because that’s of the utmost importance. That’s how college athletics exists is off high schools and high school players.”
All four Ector County ISD and Midland ISD head coaches, and Wilkins, attended Carrigan’s introductory news conference at the Falcon Dome. Wilkins stood near the podium, along with UTPB athletics director Steve Aicinena and president David Watts, and Carrigan mentioned each of the four head coaches by name during his address to the assembled crowd.
That crowd also included the head football coaches at Andrews (Ralph Mason), Crane (Naldo Esparza), Greenwood (Shad Hanna), Monahans (Mickey Owens), Pecos (Chris Henson) and Stanton (John Peterson). All of them posed for a group picture with Carrigan before returning to their respective campuses.
“Very impressed,” Morton said. “Even more impressed after today and the way he conducted himself. He’s got a plan, and I know that knowledge-wise he’s solid.”
Aicinena and Watts both said his recruiting ties in Texas were a major selling point for Carrigan, a 35-year-old Carrollton native who played safety at Angelo State in San Angelo and worked as an assistant coach at UTEP in El Paso, Midwestern State in Wichita Falls and Tarleton State in Stephenville. Angelo State, Midwestern State and Tarleton State compete in the Lone Star Conference, of which UTPB plans to be a member for football beginning with its inaugural season in 2016.
The other finalists for the UTPB job were Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) head coach Chris Oliver and former Valparaiso (Ind.) head coach Dale Carlson. Both have experience starting college programs, but neither has worked in Texas.
Wilkins said one of Carrigan’s recommendations came from Joe Martin, a former Dallas-area high school coach who now is the assistant executive director for the Texas High School Coaches Association.
“I think he’ll fit right in,” Owens said of Carrigan, “He’s a Texas guy, so I think he’ll be a good one.”
Owens, along with Feldt, Hanna, Henson and Morton, said the UTPB football program in general will be good for the Permian Basin. It’s another team to root for in a region with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for football, and the high school coaches said it figures to provide more opportunities for their players to continue their careers.
And while there aren’t a shortage of college programs in West Texas — with teams in Abilene, Alpine, Canyon, Lubbock and San Angelo — never has a team been so close to home for those in the Midland-Odessa area.
“This is something, in my opinion, that we’ve needed for many years,” said Henson, an Odessa High graduate who played college football at Sul Ross State in Alpine. “The opportunities that this is going to give our kids in the area, to compete at the next level, it’s just great.”
Carrigan, who will try to put together an inaugural recruiting class before the national signing period begins Feb. 4, said Texas has the best high school football players in the world and he’d be foolish not to scour the entire state for talent. But he said his recruiting efforts will start in West Texas.
That’s why Carrigan reached out to the Midland and Odessa coaches earlier this week. He said he knew it would make for a good first step if he ended up landing the UTPB job, and even if he didn’t, he said the experience would have made him a better recruiter anyway.
It also helped to re-familiarize himself with the area. Carrigan said his only other stint in Odessa came in 2004, when he tried to play for the former Odessa Roughnecks indoor football team but couldn’t quite cut it.
So Carrigan knows football in the Permian Basin, and knows its history and its traditions and how much it means to the community. He wants to add to that legacy while also building something new and unique that he can call his own.
“One thing that I think is a challenge, and something that I want to embrace, is UTPB’s not Friday Night Lights,” Carrigan said. “It’s not Odessa Permian, and it needs its own identity. I’m excited about that. I look forward to the challenge and I’m ready for it, to build an identity here at UTPB.”
By identifying with the high school coaches in the area, he’s off to a good start.
Contact Adam Zuvanich on twitter @OAzuvanich, on Facebook at OA Adam Zuvanich or call 432-333-7649.
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