Dallas Cowboys legend Jason Witten excited to coach Texas high school football team
Jason Witten got a win on Friday night as the rookie head football coach at Argyle Liberty Christian.
It was the team’s blue vs. white scrimmage. The former Dallas Cowboys tight end laughed when he said, “I made sure the media came out tonight to see me get a win.”
Witten, a certain future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, was hired at Liberty Christian in February following an NFL career that lasted 17 seasons, 16 of which were with the Cowboys.
“A lot of people thought I was crazy to turn down NFL and college jobs ... to go into high school and they really couldn’t be more off base I guess I would say because I have loved every minute of it,” Witten said during a press conference Friday night.
“It’s been a lot of fun for me to get involved in this community. Wonderful people with the same beliefs as me as a family. Coaching is coaching and I’ve learned a lot of things along the way. I’m real excited to be the head football coach and excited for our football team.”
Witten, who has the fourth-most receptions in NFL history, caught more passes for more yards than any player in Cowboys history and he was named to the Pro Bowl 11 times. He played the first 16 seasons of his career with the Cowboys, spent last season with the Las Vegas Raiders and then signed a one-day contract in March to officially retire as a Dallas Cowboy.
When it came time to find a new calling, Witten knew it would be coaching. And he knewLiberty Christian was the right spot.
Witten’s four children go to Liberty Christian, which has students from preschool to 12th grade. One of Witten’s sons, CJ, is a freshman this season. He’s listed as a middle linebacker and, of course, tight end.
“He has to earn his stripes, but it’s been fun. The car rides to and from school, a lot of things any dad will appreciate,” Witten said. “Big thing was family and this school and community do a great job at welcoming that.”
Added athletic director Johnny Isom,”We have a lot of new coaches every year so we get a chance to hire a lot of good people and the Lord has blessed us with good people, and [Jason] is another person ... the timing of it was God’s timing. We had to make a move at that position anyways and it timed out where he was available, and the cool thing with Jason being here is that I’ve known him for so long ... so we were familiar when this process started.”
Witten had 1,228 receptions, over 13,000 yards and 74 touchdowns during his NFL career.
But now, he’s just coach Witten to the players.
“At first we had jitters,” said senior Elijah Williams. “Like Jason Witten is our head coach, but we got used to it though. After the first week, he was just Coach Witten.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 10:11 PM.
