SPORTS
SIDELINE CONFIDENTIAL: Delving into past Bowie coaches
With the high school football season fast approaching, I decided to take a trip down memory lane, track down a few former Bowie coaches, and see what they are up to.
Brad Keck arrived in Bowie July of 1999 after previous coaching stops in Springtown, Paradise and Nocona. Keck said he was familiar with Mark White, the Jackrabbits head coach at the time, which is how he ended up in town. Keck served as defensive coordinator under Mike Chaney until 2003, when he took over as head coach and athletic director.
“My expectations were the same then as they are now,” Keck said. “I expected to have a good turnout of hard working kids.”
Keck said the 2004 season was a very special year for him, as the Rabbits made the playoffs for the first time since the early 1980s. He also said the 2008 squad was “a great team to coach.” Bowie made the playoffs that season as well. Before the success however, Keck said one of his more memorable games was on the road against Sanger in 2003. The win was the team’s only one that season.
“A lot of those players were young, so we got them back the following year and had a real good program,” Keck said.
After he left Bowie in April of 2009, Keck returned to Nocona, his alma mater, to take the head coach/athletic director position. The coach said the offense he runs currently with the Indians originated from the offense he ran with the Rabbits in 2007 and 2008, with a few minor changes.
“Bowie was a good place for me,” Keck said. “I coached a lot of good kids. It was an enjoyable time for me and my family.” Read the complete column in the mid-week edition of The Bowie News.
Bowie News sports columnist Blake Wood. (Photo by Ryan Evans)
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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