Marble Falls coach, AD Matt Green gets 3-year contract extension
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls Independent School District board of trustees unanimously approved a three-year contract extension for athletic director and head football coach Matt Green during its regular meeting June 15.
The new contract takes effect the 2015-16 school year.
School board president Rick Edwards said Superintendent Rob O’Connor made the recommendation to the board, adding Green’s character and how he builds relationships with co-workers, students and the community haven’t gone unnoticed by board members.
“He provides us with stability and surrounds himself with great coaches and with his recent hires,” Edwards said.
“I’m excited and very honored and appreciative from our board and administrators,” Green said. “It shows a commitment, that they like what they see and things are going in the right direction. I’m very excited that our district is committed to that.”
Edwards said board members grasp it’s unusual for school districts to extend multi-year contracts to athletic directors.
“In Marble Falls, we’re different,” he said. “We want to have stability.”
The president added the board realizes Green will still have the option of leaving if he feels he has a better career opportunity.
“It gives him assurances,” he said. “There’s no guarantees in life. We want him to be around for a long time. We think he’ll make this his home.”
While Edwards declined to say if he knew Green had opportunities to go elsewhere, he did say nothing would surprise him because of the coach’s reputation in the community. In short, the president said, if Green is liked by those living here, there’s no reason to believe the coach isn’t liked by administrators in other programs across the state.
“(Look at) the caliber of guy he is as an offensive coordinator or head coach,” Edwards said. “People see his skills, his gifts and what he does with the talent he has.”
In other business, the board approved the hires of:
• Kayleigh Gibson, who will be an assistant girls soccer and cross-country coach.
• Brenda Gonzalez as a Marble Falls Middle School girls athletics and physical education coach. She has a strong background in basketball and was a collegiate track-and-field athlete. She was an assistant coach at the University of Texas-Pan American.
• Corey Kenyon, who will be a Marble Falls Middle School coach. He is from Stephenville, where he played under former coach Art Briles’ system as a seventh-grader and completed an internship at the school district, Green said.
• Christ Arldt, who will be a Marble Falls Middle School coach.
Longtime middle school girls coach Kelly Clark accepted the promotion of middle school girls athletic coordinator. Former coordinator Karen Naumann recently retired.
Daniel Sanchez was approved for hire weeks ago as the new outside linebackers coach at the high school.
Robbie Coplin is the new Marble Falls High School head boys track-and-field coach, while Anthony Torns is the new head girls track-and-field coach.
“(Coplin and Torns) have a very good relationship,” the athletic director said. “Both have strong track backgrounds.”
Torns was a 400-meter runner at Grambling State University and has been an assistant track-and-field coach here for several years. He will remain the head cross-country coach.
Coplin, who completed his first year here as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, was a middle schools coordinator at Crowley Independent School District and has coached several state meet qualifiers.
“I worked under some guys that strongly emphasized track as part of building our football program from scratch,” Coplin said. “We had a lot of success there in track, and we were blessed with a ton of kids who enjoyed competing in track.”
Both take over track-and-field duties after the retirement of head coach Kyle Futrell.
“You can’t replace coach Futrell,” Green said. “Those two guys coming in are going to do a great job.”
Whitney Holbrook officially resigned as an assistant girls basketball and softball coach.
The school board called for a special meeting June 22, when other hires will be made if members are given recommendations from department heads.
Former Marble Falls High School girls head basketball coach and girls athletic coordinator Chris Jost is the new girls head basketball coach at Goliad. The Lady Tigers finished 24-11 overall in 2014-15 and were the District 27-3A co-championship with an 11-1 record. They beat Palacios 57-45 for a bi-district title but lost to Cole 55-34 in the second round.
jfierro@thepicayune.com