Weatherford football has the coach to build a winner

While new football coaches talk about re-building projects and putting their stamp on programs, new Weatherford coach Billy Mathis is talking about winning.

And not a few years from now, but this fall.

Mathis, the former defensive coordinator at Aledo, said there’s excitement within his program already and the pieces are in place for a quick turnaround as spring football wrapped up Monday.

“Really, we’re putting the throttle down on all the good things that Coach (Weldon) Nelms and his staff already had in place,” Mathis said. “We shook up the off-season program a bit and the kids really responded to participation in the power-lifting and track teams.

“We certainly need to get more physical up front and be a team that establishes the run first. But we also need to be a team that pushes up our numbers from last season in order to open up other things in our offense.”

Weatherford rushed for 596 yards last season, and averaged 2.37 yards a carry. Mathis said that has to change for immediate success.

“We have to be a team that’s getting that extra third or fourth yard every time,” he said. “We’re going to line up heavy in a three-point [stance] and come at you. ‘Scorched earth’ is what we call it.”

With offensive lineman Jared Ford and Chandler Jackson anchoring the front, the Kangaroos (2-8 in 2016) return a strong crew to build on.

Add in transferring Azle sophomore quarterback Ken Seals, and the transformation is already going forward.

Quarterback Corban Campbell returns for his senior season after passing for 837 yards and six touchdowns last year. He’ll also start at safety. Seals went for 1,414 yards and 10 touchdowns at Azle last season.

Both QBs had equal reps in the spring game. Mathis said both will likely play quarterback in some kind of capacity next season, but that decision will not be finalized until the first week of the season.

“The biggest thing that’s happened is getting my staff hired,” Mathis said. “We’ve been trying to keep the coaches here that wanted to stay, and then I’ve had to get out and recruit coaches to come and work here.”

Aledo quarterback coach Blake Christianson takes over as the offensive coordinator and Craig Wright, the secondary coach for the Bearcats, also came over.

Mark Zimmer, who worked with Mathis at Godley, will step in as defensive coordinator.

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Weatherford football has the coach to build a winner."