Bryan Wood new Bulldogs football coach
Bryan Wood is the new Burnet High School head football coach. The Burnet Consolidated Independent School District board of trustees approved the hire during a special meeting May 27. Wood comes to Burnet from Shallowater High School, where he served as the athletics director and head football coach for the last four years.
He has a career record of 188-67.
“He’s a proven winner, and his record speaks for itself,” said BCISD Athletics Director Kurt Jones. “It’s of huge importance to us to find a person who’s about growing young men. He’s not only a proven winner, he’s about developing young men to be successful for the rest of their lives.”
At Class 3A Shallowater, Wood was 39-9 overall and led his team to the state quarterfinals in 2018. He also was the head football coach and athletic coordinator at Class 5A Randall High School in Amarillo, where he compiled a 64-23 record and reached the state quarterfinals four times.
At Burnet, Wood can concentrate solely on football.
“Being the football coach without the athletic director’s role was attractive to me,” he said. “(The AD position) requires a lot of time. Fifteen out of 20 days, I’m doing athletic director stuff. By being the head football coach only, I feel like it’s an advantage.”
He takes over for Jerod Rye, who stepped down earlier this spring to spend more time with his family.
Wood comes from the offensive side of the ball and will be the Bulldogs quarterbacks coach. He said his scheme is a spread-run game, and he’ll call the offensive plays and will have a coordinator who helps him game plan.
He noted he adjusts his scheme according to what his players do well.
“We have to look at these kids and fit our scheme to their abilities,” Wood said.
The Bulldogs have about 90 days before they begin the 2021 season in a road game against Leander Rouse at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27. Wood planned to give the team his playbook next week and honor the current 7-on-7 and strength-and-conditioning schedules.
“This isn’t a time to come in and throw it upside down,” he said.
The Burnet head football position drew 71 applicants. BCISD administrators interviewed 19 and followed up those with eight second interviews. Officials whittled those eight down to three and picked Wood.
Wood and his wife, Brandy, have three children: daughters Kinsey and Kami and son Koby. The couple will look for a church home in Burnet and plan to get involved in activities that give back, he said.
“It’s a package deal,” the coach said. “Brandy is a great math teacher and counselor. We’ve spent 28 years helping grow other people’s kids. We want to be productive in the community.”