Assistant football coach now in top spot at Faith Academy
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Faith Academy of Marble Falls assistant athletic director Randy Denton has accepted the position of head football coach.
Athletic director Jessie Crow made the announcement Feb. 5.
“He was one of our leading candidates,” Crow said. “We think he can be a good long-term answer.”
Denton, who was the girls basketball coach under Jerry English for a year, has been the boys head basketball coach for three years, guiding the Flames to the playoffs each year. This season, Faith is 14-4 overall and 8-0 in District 4-3A of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
“He’s done a great job there,” Crow said. “We think he can do the same thing in football.”
When Denton was hired as the assistant athletic director and an assistant football coach at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, Faith administrators had wanted him to be the head coach after serving as an assistant for a handful of years. But then Russ Roberts was removed as head football coach in December, opening up the position.
“Our intention when we hired him full time was (for him) to gain experience,” Crow said. “It came quicker than we thought.”
Crow said several quality candidates interviewed for the position, but Denton’s track record as a coach, his character, philosophy and other factors ultimately made him the right fit for the Flames, the athletic director said.
Roberts also was the boys head track coach but is now the Faith junior high head football and track coach. So girls head track-and-field coach Steve McCannon volunteered take over the boys team as well in the spring.
Denton also is the head baseball coach, a program that is restarting in March after several years of not having the sport at the academy.
Crow said while it’s not unusual for TAPPS schools to have one person be the head coach of multiple sports, the athletic director and Denton will sit down to determine for which sports he will serve as an assistant.
And administrators believe Denton will have the same success in football that the basketball team is experiencing now, Crow said.
“That’s a pretty good compliment to him,” he said. “We’re excited and wanted to be able to announce it and celebrate it.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com