VYPE’s “Fresh Faces” series introduces new Head Football Coaches in the Austin area…
The McNeil Mavericks have a new head coach. Nothing unusual about that – but the same can’t be said about the unfortunate and convoluted chain of events that led to Jerry Gardner taking over the Mavs’ reins.
Jonathan Cruz had been hired in late March to take over from Scott Hermes at McNeil when Hermes moved to Leander Glenn. But, in a sad and shocking twist, Cruz was arrested in early May on a warrant for injury to a child and placed on administrative leave. While most programs were gearing up for spring ball and setting guidelines for summer workouts, McNeil was once again looking for a head coach.
Enter Jerry Gardner, who’s been about as calming, measured and reassuring as could be expected under such tumultuous circumstances. And he’s strictly eyes-forward.
“I try not to go back into the different coaches and what may have transpired,” he stated diplomatically. “I know that Coach Hermes did a great job here and the other things, I don’t get into. That’s not my responsibility.
“What I do is I come in here and I build relationships, build culture, expectations, a standard and then what that excellence means and then we move forward with the understanding that there’s been a lot of change and a lot of moving around for these athletes. So, trying to give them stability; get them to understand what we’re about and build those relationships and let them know that we care about them and start a standard.”
That’s how you calm troubled waters.
A 48-year-old native of Ardmore, Oklahoma who played for Lone Grove High School, the University of Central Oklahoma, and some semi-pro ball, Gardner brings extensive playing experience to the Mavericks. Plus, there’s that whole Broncos/Mavericks horse-thing going on…
““I had a great experience (at Central Oklahoma) playing for the Broncos,” Gardner recalled. “And then I went and played semi-pro but had some injuries and you know how those things go.”
With his playing days over, Gardner found his calling in coaching. After early assistant stints at Plano East and Plano West High Schools, he became the head coach and assistant AD at Glenpool High School in Oklahoma. His most recent stop was as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wylie East where he helped lead the Raiders to consecutive 10-win seasons.
Following the graduation of his younger son, Kyler, and with his older son, Kaden (24), already out of the house, Gardner and his wife, Anitra, jumped at the unexpected opportunity at McNeil; an opportunity for which Gardner seems perfectly suited.
“(It’s an) opportunity to come to a program that I think has an opportunity to build, to be successful, and sustainability,” he offered. “I think it’s one of my purposes is to be a coach and how to mentor and build leadership and help our athletes to reach their full potential and I think that’s a spot; I know it’s a spot that you can have a large impact.
“(McNeil is) very faithful; very family oriented and very competitive and I think this is a spot if you can build and do those things, like we have at previous places that I’ve been at, that we can build something very special here.”
Aside from restoring stability to the program after a turbulent spring and summer, his task on the field is capitalizing on the playoff mindset that Hermes had restored to the program. And for Gardner, it’s first things first.
“Well, the very first thing that we want to do is we want to better ourselves,” he declared. “Are we developing our athletes? Are we giving them the tools necessary to have success? I don’t go on wins or losses. What we do want to do is we want to do a great job of setting up that when we come on the field, they’re gonna know that we’re ready to play and that they’re gonna get our best effort. We’re gonna be really disciplined; we’re gonna be technique-firm, we’re gonna go get after them. Our players are gonna be ready to go and we’re gonna show great sportsmanship.
“So, that’s what our expectations are. If we do those things, those things will lead to positives.”
After the off-season uncertainties endured by the McNeil faithful, Mavericks fans will gladly take any positive outcomes that Coach Jerry Gardner can deliver.