New Keller head coach brings passion to the job

By Jarret Johnson

jmjohnson@star-telegram.com

KELLER -- The career choice was always simple for Carl Stralow -- he knew as a teenager that he was going to spend his professional life molding young minds as a high school football coach.

"Several players I played with in high school used to get on to me because I would always ask, 'Why are we doing this, what's he do, what's that guy supposed to do?' and they would tell me to shut up so we could get done with practice," Stralow recalls. "I wanted to know what everybody did because I knew I was going to do this for a living. I don't think there is any better living than making a solid paycheck and getting to watch kids' success until you are 55 years old and retired.

"I love it and could never see myself doing anything different."

Now after serving 24 years as an assistant at the high school level, Stralow has his first head coaching gig at Keller High School. He replaces Kevin Atkinson, who switched to Denton High following 10 years at Keller.

"Carl is very passionate. He's very honest and frank and has very, very good communication skills," Keller schools athletic director Bob DeJonge said. "He can speak the language of coach, of a classroom teacher. He's very comfortable with a principal or superintendent in the room and has the ability to relate to many different types of people. I think that's a skill that not all folks have, and to be honest, the coaches that we hire who aren't good communicators struggle the most."

Stralow, a Florida native, played high school ball for Art Witters at Godby High School in Tallahassee. Witters was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008 after a long career highlighted by a 22-game win streak and a pair of state titles.

"We won a state title my senior year, and then they won it all again the year after," Stralow said. "In 1988, at 19 years old, I started coaching at Godby High School because in Florida, all you had to have was 63 community college credits to be a stipend-only coach."

He would spend the next 12 years as an assistant at Godby and earned a degree in physical education at Florida State.

In 2000, Stralow decided that he needed to "broaden his horizon" by leaving his comfort zone and relocating to North Texas. Stralow joined Mike Fuller's staff as an assistant at Coppell in 2000 and followed Fuller to Colleyville Heritage in 2007.

Stralow started off at Coppell as head wrestling coach and on the freshman football staff but quickly moved up to varsity and eventually served as defensive coordinator at Coppell and Colleyville Heritage.

"I know he's going to do a great job at Keller. He's been deserving of a head coaching job for a long time," Fuller said. "Keller made the right choice. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do there, and I hope we don't have to play them."

Since accepting the job in March, Stralow has put together his new staff and set out to rebuild a Keller program that finished a combined 5-15 over the past two seasons after last making the playoffs in 2009. Stralow said he couldn't care less about the Indians' record last year and is busy getting to know his players and staff.

His energetic style has already made an impression on some of Keller's returning players.

"I feel like everybody's pretty fired up for the season and about having a fresh start," said safety Brandon Jones, a three-year letterman. "Coach is very hands-on and interactive with us."

The Indians will be tested early by a difficult nondistrict schedule that includes road games at Prosper and Mansfield before their home opener against Hurst L.D. Bell. Keller then will play its District 4-5A schedule highlighted by contests with defending 5A Division I state champ Southlake Carroll and crosstown rivals Fossil Ridge, Central and Timber Creek.

Of Keller's 10 opponents this fall, six qualified for the postseason in 2011.

"We have our hands full, but if we can improve each week, then I expect our group to be right up there in the district hunt up until the end," Stralow said. "We have a lot of work ahead of us but I couldn't be more excited about this group of kids and how they have reacted."

Jarret Johnson, 817-390-7760

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