Godley ISD announced the hiring of Clyde athletic director head football coach Danny Dudgeon as the next head football coach at Godley High on Friday morning.

He replaces Curtis Lowery, who stepped down in late April to take over as head coach at Class 1A Throckmorton.

Dudgeon has spent the past three seasons at Clyde where he turned the Bulldogs from a team that posted a 1-9 record in 2021 to a squad in 2023 that posted an 11-2 mark, Clyde’s best season since 2008 when it posted an 11-2 mark.

Dudgeon, who graduated from Abilene High and attended college at Howard Payne, began his coaching career at Breckenridge before moving on to Abilene Cooper where he worked his way up to offensive coordinator before being named Clyde’s head coach in March 2021.

After going 1-9 in year one, Dudgeon’s squad improved to 4-6 in 2022 before rattling off an impressive 11-2 season and advancing to the Class 3A-Division I regional semifinals in 2023.

Dudgeon takes over a Godley program that could be on the cusp of developing into a DFW small school power with significant growth coming and impressive facility upgrades, including the opening of a remodeled stadium in 2023.

“Godley is in a great location and area," he said. "I’ve gone against them early in my career and we hadn’t been back in a few years, and I was so impressed with facilities and the growth potential was extremely attractive, along with district administration and staff being a great fit for our family."

Dudgeon says leaving Clyde was a tough decision. 

“Clyde is irreplaceable for us," he said. "The friends we’ve made are forever and we’ll be forever grateful. Clyde believed in a young coach and stuck with me after a tough first year. It’s hard to leave, but I know Clyde’s in good hands and they’ll continue to grow on what we built and they are going to be really good the next few yea."

Dudgeon says he will start at Godley on Tuesday.

“I’ve got to get there and get feet on the ground, get to know the staff, and I need to get in front of the kids," he said. "This summer is going to be big. It’s going to be tough to install everything and we’ll be busy. UIL giving us the skill time in the summer will be huge. I’ve never used it much in the past, but this summer it’ll be beneficial for us.”