Fort Worth Arlington Heights promotes longtime assistant to head football coach
Fort Worth Arlington Heights defensive coordinator Curtis James has been promoted to head coach, Arlington Heights football announced on Twitter.
“I’m super excited,” James said. “More than pumped. I’m excited about everything we do anyways, so this just pours more gas on my fire.”
Phil Young, head coach of the Yellowjackets for 10 years, informed the players he was leaving the program on June 27. Now, James has been selected as the coach to lead them into the future.
“He has, for 11 years, been the heartbeat of our program,” Young said. “He is a phenomenal football coach.”
Senior quarterback Eric Orozco said he can “go on and on” when it comes to talking about James.
“He’s a great man and a great role model,” Orozco said. “He’s a leader. He’s determined in everything he does in life. He loves his kids, including us. He loves us like his own.”
Young recommended James to be the next head coach. After 20 days, the school made the move to promote him.
In 2022, the Yellowjackets had one of the best seasons in the school’s history, finishing 10-2 and 6-1 in District 4-5A D2. Arlington Heights returns 14 starters, seven on defense and seven on offense.
“I feel like we’ll have a better season than we did last year,” Orozco said. “We have a lot of guys still. There’s a lot of seniors this year. I have a lot of hope in our team this year. And I suspect we’ll do great things.”
Young’s impact
With James taking over, Arlington Heights Football is entering a new era. Under Young, the school had a 63-44 overall record.
James said Young taught him that every day, high school coaches are producing young men that will go out into society.
“I’m going to produce way more great young men than I am college prospects,” James said. “The prospects are great. They’ll help you win games easier, but if I can get a kid to come back and say ‘coach James, I am very successful in life’ then I feel like I’ve given that kid a great start. That’s what we believe as a coaching staff.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2023 at 11:57 AM.
.jpg)