Published: October 03, 2008 12:01 am            

A Rivalry Continues

Huntsville, Brenham have been on different paths for past 10 years

Two teams headed in opposite directions met at Cub Stadium in Brenham on Sept. 18, 1998.

Beaten down after battling shorthanded in Class 5A for years, Huntsville was on its way to a 1-9 season. The Hornets blanked Brenham 10-0 on that steamy summer evening, but that was the last victory for Huntsville head coach Doug Smith, who was let go at the end of the year.

Over in Brenham, coach Glen West was kicking off his career with the Cubs. A second generation coach, West quickly found out he did not have a cupboard full of gifted players. He adjusted and finished his first season in Blue Bell country with a 5-5 record.

The Cubs went on a long tear starting the next fall. In the nine seasons that followed, Brenham posted eight winning seasons and made eight playoff appearances. The Cubs advanced to the state championship game in 2002 and the state semifinals three years later.

In 10-plus seasons, West has posted a 94-30 record in Brenham.

Over the same stretch, Huntsville has posted only one winning season, with one district championship and one playoff appearance. The Hornets accomplished all three in 2000, which is the last time they beat Brenham.

Since Smith was fired, the Hornets have hired four more head coaches. Current boss Mitchell Coey is in his fifth season with his old school. Slowly but surely, Coey has been rebuilding the Hornets’ once-proud football program.

The Hornets have not gotten back to their glory days, but Coey and his hard-working players believe that’s coming. A win over Brenham tonight may signal the worm turning a bit in a series that has been marked by long, dominant stretches.

The Cubs lead the all-time series with Huntsville 21-19-2, but the Hornets went on an 11-game run from 1974-98. After winning the contest in 2000, Huntsville has lost seven straight to the Cubs.

“Huntsville and Brenham have been rivals for a long time,” said Kooter Roberson, longtime radio voice of the Hornets, who is also the team’s unofficial record keeper and historian. “It’s one of those things where one team has the other team’s number for a long time. Brenham has had Huntsville’s number for quite a while now.

“It’s a healthier rivalry when one team wins only two or three games in a row, but that hasn’t been the case with Huntsville and Brenham.”



How has West won

in Brenham?

Prior to West’s arrival in Brenham, the Cubs suffered through two consecutive 2-8 seasons. A product of Gordon Wood’s famous Brownwood High program, West wasn’t going to put up with that.

“Things were kind of floundering a bit when coach West got here,” said Ed Pothul, the radio voice of the Cubs, who is covering Brenham football for the 20th season this fall. “He came in and brought a winning attitude with him. Having been a disciple of Gordon Wood, with his father coaching in Brownwood for many years, winning kind of rubbed off on him.”

A two-time all-state linebacker, West has hardly drifted from his humble Brownwood roots. According to those who have followed him closely in Brenham, he coaches the “right way” and expects his players to follow his lead.

“He brings in an old-school coaching philosophy and the kids love him,” said Richard Bray, sports editor of the Brenham Banner-Press. “He is one of the classiest guys in the business. If you look down on the sideline, he and his coaches are all dressed the same. They all have on ties, and you just don’t see that anymore.

“Sometimes in the press box, people ask me, ‘What’s with the ties?’ That’s old-school football. Coach West just believes there’s a right way to do things.”

Pothul said West has worked big magic while hiring the guys who do the Cubs’ grunt work. He has also been fortunate to have several terrifically talented classes of players come through the Cubs program since he arrived.

“He surrounded himself with some great assistant coaches like coach (Tim) Oehrlein and coach (Craig) Agnew,” Pothul said. “Coach West does a great job hiring assistants. He also does a good job motivating kids. I don’t know how he does it, but the kids really care about being part of a winning program.

“Coach West is not really a pom-pom, rah-rah, school spirit kind of guy, but he does make his players understand they are part of a winning program, and a program that is a perennial district championship team.”

West has had a lot to work with in the past 10 years. Players like Limas Sweed (University of Texas/Pittsburgh Steelers) and Roderick Green (Blinn/Central Missouri State/San Francisco 49ers) have gone from Brenham all the way to the NFL. Others like Jarrett Lee (currently at LSU), Ryan Roberson, Luke Poehlmann, Brandon Collins and Ahmard Howard (all four at Texas), Kyle Mangan (Texas A&M), Lester Ward and Shawn Sullivan (both at Nebraska) may have that kind of talent, too.

“Coach West will be the first to tell you that he’s been lucky to have a lot of very talented football players come through the program,” Pothul said.

Bray believes that kind of talent exists in most schools.

“I don’t know where people get the idea that Brenham is blessed with so much more athleticism,” Bray said. “Every school has kids who can leap small buildings, but some of them aren’t in athletics.”

Himself a graduate of Southlake Carroll, Bray says the Cubs head coach lures those potentially high-risk Supermen to his program, then he goes the extra mile to keep them involved.

“Coach West does a good job talking to kids and relating to kids. He’s like a father figure to them,” Bray said. “He’s got a list of hip-hop and rap bands hanging on his office wall. I asked him about that and he said he wanted to be able to relate to his players better. He ended up buying a bunch of those CDs, which is something you would never expect from a high school football coach. But he really wants to be there with his kids.”



Are the Hornets catching

up to the Cubs?

Coey has long used the Brenham program as a “measuring stick.” Like West does at Brenham, he wants Huntsville to win in all sports, especially football.

Having their longtime rivals in the same district for five of the last nine years has only helped the Hornets, who are trying like crazy to consistently compete with the Cubs from fall through spring.

“We have closed the gap in a lot of areas, in a lot of different sports, including football,” Coey said. “Last year we went toe-to-toe with them and had an opportunity to win the game. We didn’t get it done. Two years ago, they wore us out like a redheaded stepchild, but we got close last year.”

From his radio booth high above the field, Roberson has witnessed hundreds of Hornet games. Last year’s thriller at Cub Stadium, Roberson said, was a far cry from the ugly 10-0 contest in 1998 in which the teams combined for 10 fumbles, 14 punts and only seven completed passes.

“For so many seasons Huntsville was outnumbered and outsized. The kids forgot how to win,” Roberson said. “Now Huntsville is becoming successful in other sports. Football is improving, too. A win over Brenham would go a long way to convincing the players that they can win.”

Last fall, Roberson said he started to believe the talk he heard from Coey and the coaches who came before him. The Hornets really are creeping up on the Cubs.

“Brenham wasn’t any better than Huntsville last year,” Roberson said. “But number one, they were at home, and number two, those kids expect to win every time they get on the field.

“That’s the attitude the Hornets need to have. They’re learning how to win again. They’ve just got to expect to win every time out.”

        

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