THE WOODLANDS — Things are different around the College Park football program these days.
“The energy is way better,” senior tight end Cole Snodgrass said. “No one’s dragging. No sloppiness. The vibe is just way better.”
“It’s definitely different, but in a good way,” senior receiver Conner Dunphy said. “It’s a lot more positive energy. Football is fun again.”
“We’ve always talked about toughness but never really truly embraced it,” senior linebacker Emiliano Molinar said. “And as far as discipline, I felt like a lot of us, including myself, really needed more of it. And effort … running to the ball, full speed, no stopping. It’s really changed us.”
To say the honeymoon stage for first-year head coach Kyle Coats and College Park is going well would be an understatement. Things get real this week, though, when the Cavaliers open the season Friday against Cinco Ranch in Katy.
Coats, 35, arrived with initiative and a glowing résumé: A season as the co-defensive coordinator at DeSoto last year, where he helped the Eagles to a state championship; two seasons as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Round Rock Westwood High; a defensive assistant coach for the University of Texas from 2017-19; and college coaching experience at East Texas Baptist, Hardin-Simmons and Trinity, his alma mater where he also played safety and linebacker.
Coats takes over a College Park program that has made the playoffs seven times in 17 seasons, with one district championship (2020) and one playoff win (2021).
“Sometimes it’s hard, because those guys who were freshmen or sophomores those years they had a lot of success weren’t necessarily a part of it,” Coats said. “They saw it, might have tasted it, but they weren’t in it. So, we’re trying to get them to paint a picture in their head that they can be that, we just have to get there. It takes work.”
When Coats asked area coaches what they knew of College Park, he was told those 2020 and 2021 Cavalier teams had toughness. They didn’t quit.
“It’s the mentality I always had,” Coats said. “I’m not the biggest guy, strongest guy or fastest guy, but I’ll throw my body at you with everything I’ve got. I’m going to keep coming because I don’t know anything different.”
As a sophomore in high school, Coats, who grew up in Georgetown, watched former NFL standout Danny Amendola and The Woodlands in a playoff game against La Marque in Round Rock. La Marque went up by two touchdowns, but Amendola and heralded running back Samson Taylor ignited a spirited Highlanders comeback win.
“I just remember those guys don’t quit,” Coats said. “And there were so many guys on the sideline. It’s that culture of, even if I’m not a guy getting all the reps or a lot of game time, I’m still part of it. That culture is something you want to be a part of, and I want to build something like that here at College Park.”
Players have aligned with Coats’ core values of toughness, discipline and effort.
“It’s putting others before me, especially the young guys because we’re going to be a very young team,” Dunphy said. “Trying to put as much as I know into them so that it’s just working from the ground up.”
Coats is introducing more of a spread look to the Cavaliers’ offense. That will be a boon for Dunphy, a four-year starter, and Snodgrass, a 6-foot-4 TCU commit.
Defensively, Coats is changing things up from a 3-4 to a 3-3-5 base.
“It’s more different looks of blitzes,” Molinar said.
There is talent to work with, aside from the aforementioned usual suspects.
On offense, junior quarterback Kam Montgomery has grown three inches and put on 25 pounds of muscle. Junior running back Eugene Barnett is a sparkplug. Senior receiver Carter Deering and senior running back Brayden Lee-Denton figure heavily into plans.
Defensively, junior safety Tim Thomas is a speedster. Senior defensive end Miles Fort has stellar bloodlines; his dad, Neal, played offensive tackle in the NFL. Junior nose guard Rema Nwosu is a run-stopper. Junior Brian Ingram is a playmaker at cornerback.
But before anything can change on the field, Coats needs his players all-in. He wants connection.
So far, so good. But it has not come without turnover.
Coats said during the first three or four weeks after he arrived, seven freshmen quit the program.
“I asked if it was too tough or what, and they said, ‘I don’t think I love football the way you love football,’” Coats said.
So how does he go about making kids love football?
“First, you have to make it fun,” Coats said. “From a cultural standpoint, practice isn’t fun. It’s not supposed to be. But the fun part is you turn the scoreboard off on Friday night and you’re the team that won and you’re celebrating with teammates. Two, let kids know you care. When I chew a kid out, I always tell them I love them afterward. It’s the last thing they hear. Third, have a lot of enthusiasm as coaches. Kids follow you. You are the example.”
For his first head coaching job, Coats is taking something from everybody he’s learned from. That includes Anthony Wood at Westwood, Claude Mathis at DeSoto, Jesse Burleson at Hardin-Simmons. He admired how each poured so much of themselves into kids’ lives outside of football.
It’s why when a player leaves the program, Coats demands to know what’s next for them. He wants to ensure they not only have direction, but the right one, like a job or focusing on another sport. Anything productive, so that they don’t attract others who don’t have a path.
Impacting lives on a greater scale has been Coats’ primary takeaway his first five months on the job.
“It’s been a cool experience,” Coats said. “There’s just so many more ways you can pour into kids than you can ever imagine.”
