BANGS – Bangs ISD on Monday announced the hire of Colton Buzzard as new head football coach and athletic director following nine years serving as an assistant under 37-year head coaching veteran Brent Davis.

Buzzard, a 2009 graduate of Coleman High School who went on to play baseball at Howard Payne, will be making his debut as a head football coach and athletic director, replacing Jason Cole who was reassigned after one season as he led the Dragons to a 2-8 mark in 2023.

“We did a pretty exhaustive search and talked to a bunch of people from all over the state,” Bangs Superintendent Dr. Josh Martin said Monday afternoon. “We were really either looking for someone that had either done it before really successfully, or someone who had been with someone who has.”

Buzzard has spent his entire coaching career under the tutelage of Davis, who after coaching 12 years at San Angelo Central brought Buzzard with him when he accepted the head coach job at Gregory-Portland in 2021 – the same season Davis eclipsed 200 career victories.

“Coach Davis hired him at Central and he was one of the coaches he took with him to Gregory-Portland, and Brent Davis has done it well for a long time with I believe 14 consecutive seasons with a trip to the playoffs,” Martin said. “Coach Davis raved about him, and Colton also grew up in a football family, his dad was an AD for a long time.”

Despite not having any previous head coaching experience, Martin feels confident Buzzard’s connections and support system from the past will help him navigate any potential bumpy terrain.

“He’s a from a good coaching tree and has people he can rely on,” Martin said. “He has people to lean on to help find coaches when he needs them, a network he can go to between his dad and Coach Davis. I talked to several other coaches he worked with that were willing to help him out in times like that.”

Martin also stated that with Buzzard growing up just down the road in Coleman, he hopes the new head coach will plant roots in Bangs.

“He’s a local kid and we were really hoping to find someone we can have here for the next 10 to 12 years,” Martin said. “All the great programs have coaches that stick around.”

As for other attributes that stood out about Buzzard during the interview process, Martin said, “He has a killer drive. He’s a worker, he’s excited, he’s got juice. You can tell he’s ready to prove us right. He’s big on the weight room, big on developing kids. He talked a lot about being around the younger kids and making sure development is happening at all levels, making sure we’re getting bigger, faster and stronger and not just at the high school level. He’s going to be around the entire program, and he talked a lot about the girls athletic program and making sure we’re doing everything for both sides. He’s just a tireless worker.”

The Dragons will be heading into the revamped District 5-2A Division I for the 2024-25 football campaigns, which is a smaller league with fewer powerhouses with which to contend than the previous two seasons. Bangs will battle Ballinger, Coleman, De Leon, Hamilton and Hico for one of four playoff spots as the Dragons seek a return to the postseason after a one-year hiatus. Bangs’ last outright district championship was captured in 2008.

Regarding the decision to replace Cole after one season, Martin said, “We’re really just focused on the future right now. We’re focused on Colton and what he’s going to bring to the table and the energy he’s going to bring to the program.”