MAY – May ISD Superintendent Nick Heupel on Friday announced the hire of James Ball as new head football coach for the Tiger program, replacing Craig Steele who left after 20 years for the same position at Borden County.

“We were looking for the best person that we could get, and Coach Ball is a great man, a great coach and that’s what what we want for our kids,” Heupel said. “We took our time and tried to find the right guy for the job.”

Ball earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Howard Payne and made previous coaching stops at Panther Creek, Knox City, Gordon, and Blanket. More recently, Ball compiled a 15-9 record in two seasons at Springlake-Earth with a pair of playoff appearances. 

“He’s coming to us from Springlake-Earth where he’s been for the last two years,” Heupel said. “He also spent a big portion of his career coaching at Panther Creek, and he was also (May baseball coach and principal) Chad Dail’s coach when he went to school at Early.”

During Steele’s two-decade tenure, May won 175 games and appeared in four state championship games.