Bowie made it official Thursday morning at a school board meeting. Among other important hires, the district agreed on Cory Mandrell to be the new athletic director/head football coach of the Bowie High School Jackrabbits.
Mandrell has spent the past three years at his alma mater Snyder in the same position. After a rough first two years, the Tigers went 8-3 and made the playoffs this past season.
Before that Mandrell was offensive coordinator at Denison High School for five years. His first stint at Snyder lasted seven years, the last six of which he was offensive coordinator. Mandrell’s first stop was coaching at Lubbock High School.
Mandrell was interested in moving closer to his sons, who go to school in Denison. He is married to his wife Morganne and has four boys and one girl.
“It was a good family move for us,” Mandrell said. “For my wife’s family and I have three boys that go to Denison. It gets us closer to them. That’s really what first caught our eye.”
After looking into the district and town, Mandrell said he saw no red flags or problems and went after the job. Superintendent Blake Enlow said his approach and vision for the program stood out.
“He is very positive,” Enlow said. “He has a detailed plan for his programs. He focuses on all sports and wants to support non-athletic programs as well. He is very focused on student-athletes being involved in the community. Those are just a few things that stood out.”
As a football coach, Mandrell comes from an offensive background after serving so many years as offensive coordinators. He is not married to one offensive philosophy or certain formations, looking to get the most out of the existing talent by focusing on what they are good at.
As an athletic director, Mandrell knows there is still more to learn about the job and looks forward to the challenge of trying to make teams excel.
“Being an athletic director, you realize all these other sports are important too,” Mandrell said. “Those coaches think their sport is the most important and that’s good. You have to find a way to balance that out and make sure all the sports are taken care of and feel equally important.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.