“It’s a brand-new school,” Boyd said of Goose Creek. “I’m the first person hired beside the principal. There’s no office yet and no gym. It’s all brand-new with new kids.”
Boyd was Ellison’s coach since 2001 and compiled a 29-46 record, including an 0-10 campaign in his first year. He led the Eagles to three consecutive playoff appearances after a six-season drought.
Ellison advanced to the third round of the Class 4A Division II playoffs in 2005, then lost to Leander in the first round of the 5A Division II playoffs each of the last two years.
“I’m happy about the last few years,” Boyd said. “But gosh, you know you wish you had done some things better. Coaches have egos, and we all want to go in and win right away. I wish had got it going sooner.”
But it’s that very thing that attracted him to Goose Creek.
“It’s kind of intriguing,” he said. “I get to go in and build this from the ground up. It’s something I’ve never done. My dad (Bob Boyd) has. He’s always told me it was the (most fun) he ever had. It was also the busiest, but was the (most fun).”
The Goose Creek job drew 81 applicants, including six assistants within Goose Creek ISD, which includes Lee and Sterling, more than two dozen current head coaches and several applicants coaching in the college ranks.
Boyd, who came to Ellison after a successful run at Harlingen, has ties in South Texas and sees the job as an opportunity to move closer to them.
“When we moved here a lot of it was because it was closer to my wife’s family in Waco,” he said. “Now we’ll be doing this one to be closer to my family.
“It’s definitely tough (to move). I’ve been here for seven years and we went from a bad team to being competitive. We’ve got a lot of relationships we’ve built here. We’ve got some great kids here and I wish I could load a bunch of them up.”
But Boyd will be able to build his own staff, so some of his current assistants have expressed interest and might also be departing.
Boyd will not officially begin work at Goose Creek - scheduled to open in August and play varsity football its first year - until Jan. 7, after Killeen ISD officially releases him from his contract.
That likely is just a formality - the district already has posted the opening. In the job posting Killeen seeks a candidate with a “minimum of 10 years coaching experience at the 3A level or higher; a minimum of two years previous experience as head football coach required.”
mhood@temple-telegram.com
