New Caney boys basketball has had some Brenham flavor to it the past seven seasons already with its head coach.
The name in charge has changed, however.
Calvin King, a Brenham graduate and former assistant coach for the Cubs, is the new head coach for the Eagles.
He takes over for Matt Farmer, who also previously served as an assistant at Brenham prior to leading New Caney since 2016. Farmer moved into an assistant athletic director role with New Caney ISD last spring.
Both Farmer and King were staff members under the same coach while at Brenham. Bruce King, Calvin’s father, who totaled 708 wins in his decorated career.
“My dad was a basketball coach for 37 years,” Calvin King explained. “We kind moved around to a couple areas, but we settled down in Brenham”
Calvin King is a 2004 graduate of Brenham and has been involved in coaching basketball for over a decade. His foray into the role at New Caney is the highest level he has coached in Texas high school basketball.
“In 6A, it’s the top level,” King said. “We have a really tough district. Grand Oaks, The Woodlands, College Park, Conroe. These are teams that you’ve got to come to play every single game or they could make you look bad. For me personally, I think going into a situation like that, these teams that are hungry and ready are just going to make us better.”
King dabbled in many sports growing up. Football might be considered his strongest, and he reached the University Interscholastic League Class 4A (Div. II) title game against eventual champion Denton Ryan in 2002.
“My junior year – I played them all,” he said. “I played football, basketball, track and golf. I ended up playing for the state championship game my first year at Brenham in football and went on to go play (former NBA star) Kendrick Perkins in the third round of the regional quarterfinals. They were No. 2 in the nation over there at Beaumont Ozen.”
While King certainly looks up to his father when it comes to coaching, he also had a great one in Glen West in football. West was inducted in the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor earlier this month.
“He has always been extremely helpful,” King said of West, who won 226 games in his career and led the Cubs from 1998 through 2017. “I communicate with him to this day just about coaching aspects. Coach West has always been extremely helpful and somebody to look up to. His career speaks for itself. To learn under guys like Coach West, my dad…they have been extremely great tools to help me with my head coaching career.”
King went on to play college football at nearby Blinn, but a separated shoulder his freshman year derailed his athletic career. From there, it was all about academics. And then some coaching after that.
Beyond his father Bruce, coaching runs in the family. Calvin has has an uncle that coached football at Montana and Northern Colorado and a cousin that coached at Oklahoma when Adrian Peterson ran wild for the Sooners. He also has an uncle coaching football currently at Sam Rayburn High School.
“Coaching has kind of been a part of my family,” King said. “Having all those people you can talk to at the holidays and their experiences has been really helpful for me.”
King served as the junior varsity head coach at Brenham before four seasons before holding a clipboard for his father as an assistant on varsity. The Cubs reached the regional quarterfinals two of those years and the playoffs all but one.
“Just working with your dad…you always get to bounce things off each other,” King said. “Not only at school, but we would go back home and watch film together. He was able to answer any kind of question that I might have about our system and things we would see.”
His father eventually retired in 2018, but the two still bond over the game. Bruce makes it to many of the games Calvin is coaching.
“We talk basketball every day,” Calvin King said.
Calvin King got his first head coaching job at Wharton, about 60 miles southwest of Downtown Houston. In four seasons there, King led the Tigers to the playoffs each season and made two runs to the regional quarterfinals.
After a leadership change at Wharton in 2022, King left and was the head coach at Cameron Yoe High School this past season.
When Farmer stepped down at New Caney, the two friends connected.
“I was able to talk to Matt about this New Caney position and I felt like it was a real good spot to come into,” King said. “A lot of positive things coming into New Caney and I was kind of hoping to build off what’s been done in the past. Make a new mark for me and the New Caney basketball program.”
The two have always been in contact over the years and would often check up on each other and how their seasons were going.
“We talked every year,” King said. “We would see each other at coaching school and just knowing him and the places he’s been at, we’ve always talked about the years that he’s had and the years that I’ve had. Good friend relationship. It will be a little bit different with him this year as the assistant athletic director.”
King is excited to see what he can do with New Caney.
The Eagles missed the playoffs last winter in their first Class 6A season. They were 14-20 overall, 7-9 in league play. But their high point was beating the eventual district champs Grand Oaks in December.
New Caney made the playoffs its final two years in 5A. It won its first ever playoff game in 2021.
“I think there’s a lot of good things coming to New Caney,” King said. “The group of kids that I’ve met so far and work with over the summer are extremely hard working. I think there’s just a positive feel of what basketball can kind of be this year and moving forward.”
King is prepared for the challenge and ready to mold a winner.
“I’m highly competitive and I love being around kids and being able to help the younger generation,” King said.
