Mansfield versus Midway: A unique coaching connection

The Mansfield football program owes a lot to former coach Jeff Hulme. Now, it needs to beat him.

It was 2008 — Hulme’s first year as head coach — when Mansfield High won its first playoff game. The Tigers have since become regulars in the UIL postseason, but if they’re going to add to that win total this season it must come at the expense of the architect of the program, who currently has Waco Midway at 12-0.

Mansfield (11-1) travels to Waco for a Class 6A Division II regional game Friday against Midway at Baylor’s McLane Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Hulme was lured away from Mansfield following the 2015 season, when he guided the Tigers to the 6A Division II state semifinals.

Several weeks after Hulme’s departure, Mansfield offensive coordinator Daniel Maberry was promoted to head coach.

“It’s definitely weird,” said Maberry, an assistant during Hulme’s entire tenure at Mansfield. “You work for a guy for eight or nine years and have a lot of fond memories, and just the things I learned from him.

“It’s definitely a different feeling, but at the same time we’re just going to prepare our kids to win and realize it’s just another playoff game.”

Only a pair of current Tigers — wide receiver Jackson Gleeson and defensive back Corbin Frederick — played under Hulme on the varsity squad as sophomores.

“We’re not really thinking too much about it,” said Gleeson, a Baylor pledge. “I’ll be trying to focus on the game, but if I come across him I’ll probably say hi and chat him up for a second, but then get back and refocused on the game.”

Hulme added: “If I see them in pregame, I’ll absolutely say hi to them. I’ll probably try to give them a hug if they’ll let me.”

For the coaches, though, there’s an inescapable internal conflict.

“The bad part of it is, because we’re friends, somebody is going to lose,” said Hulme, who has faced former assistants before such as Jerry Edwards at Killeen Harker Heights. “It pains me to beat them sometimes because I want him to do well. It’s a good and bad thing.

“It’s hard to understand it unless you’re in that position. It’s like beating a family member. You want to beat them, but I don’t know how much joy you get from it.”

So who has the advantage in a mentor vs. apprentice matchup? Neither feels there’s a substantial benefit to either side.

“It’s hard to tell,” Hulme said. “I think, like most games, it will come down to the players on the field and turnovers and mistakes. I think both coaches will have the teams prepared.”

Maberry believes if there’s any advantage, it’s perhaps in the changes that Hulme has made to the offense at Midway and how it differs from what he left behind — and is still largely used — at Mansfield.

“He knows us pretty well,” Maberry said. “So he’s probably a little more familiar with us than we are with him. But we have two different coordinators than when he was here, so we’re a little different as well.

Maberry and Hulme still talk every couple of weeks, discussing their teams and seasons. Even as this matchup started to look likely, they maintained regular communication.

“He was a mentor to me and I learned a lot from him,” Maberry said. “He still gives me guidance, just not necessarily this week.”

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Mansfield versus Midway: A unique coaching connection."