Southlake Carroll’s football coach is a case of successful nepotism
Broadcaster Joe Buck calls it the School of Nepotism, which is ironic because this eternally discouraging class is not offered in any high school or college.
Turn on NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecasts, and there are Chris Simms and Jac Collinsworth in jobs that young broadcasters work so hard to land and have no chance of getting because they do not have a name.
From the corporate boardroom to Hollywood to the broadcast booth down to the sidelines, nepotism remains the unwritten problem with no plausible solution.
When the Southlake Carroll school district introduced its new football coach in March 2018, then-school board president Sheri Mills told those in attendance of Riley Dodge, “It was you, not your last name.”
A well-meaning statement, and an unintentional kick to the face for all of the coaches in Texas who aspired for at least an interview to one of the most celebrated high school football programs in the country.
Riley Dodge had never been a head coach before, and he was not yet 30. The primary reason he landed that interview was because his father is former Southlake Carroll coach Todd Dodge.
Under Daddy Dodge, from 2000 to 2006, Carroll won four 5A titles, including with Riley as his quarterback in ‘06 when the Dragons defeated Westlake.
Stuck in an embarrassing dysfunctional situation of adult leadership in Carroll athletics, Southlake had to get this one right, and while Riley Dodge’s hiring was a case of nepotism, it was also the right decision.
The Dragons will play Daddy Dodge’s Austin Westlake Chaparrals on Saturday night in the 6A Division 1 state championship at JerryWorld. This “Dodge Bowl” was scheduled for the regular season in August, but ... you know.
There are just some candidates whose hiring may not be “fair,” and that’s also not wrong.
After Hal Wasson left in the spring of 2018, the following reached out to Carroll officials to lobby for Riley to get the job: then Houston coach Major Applewhite, former Texas Longhorns coaches Mack Brown and Charlie Strong, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley and then Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
How does a head coach of a 5A school named Billy Johnson compete with that?
Last year, I was interviewing former Carroll quarterback and NFL veteran Chase Daniel about the decision to give Riley this job.
Daniel played for Riley’s dad, and although Chase no longer lives in Southlake, he remains loyal to the area, and the high school he led to multiple state titles.
“Maybe when Riley got hired, maybe some people doubted him because they thought maybe he was too young to lead a program like Southlake,” Daniel told me. “He had a better first year there than Todd. I’m excited to see what’s next.
“It’s cool to see Riley, who was as tall as my thigh when I was playing there, is now the coach. He was such a gym rat. Southlake has so much tradition but I can’t see anyone other than Riley running it.”
The job Riley accepted was not the same one his father help build into a real life Texas football Dragon. Keeping Carroll at the top today is harder than when Todd was winning state titles in Southlake every other week.
Since Todd left Carroll in 2006, the population in Southlake has changed like the rest of the world; neighboring suburbs are attractive with their new homes, neighborhoods and high schools that heavily invest in athletics.
There are more programs from Houston to Austin and throughout DFW that dump cash into football.
There were a handful of other worthy candidates who could have been successful at Southlake, but maybe only Riley who fully understand the particulars of this particular job.
The School of Nepotism can be deflating for aspiring young professionals, but it can yield the best hire for that particular situation.
Riley Dodge included.
