It was a couple of weeks ago, putting together my notes for our Friday night show Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Tonight (live at 7:30 p.m. Friday nights on TexanLive.com!) that I got to thinking about Wimberley coach Doug Warren. That happens to me from time to time, it’s the way my brain is wired.

Warren’s Texans were getting ready to match up with Austin LBJ in a blockbuster showdown in the capital city, and a thought struck me: we don’t talk enough about Doug Warren.

It’s true — the Wimberley head coach is quietly one of the most outstanding leaders in Texas high school football, but may not get the ballyhoo and headlines as other coaches in his caliber.

Then I had another thought: who are the other coaches we don’t talk about enough?

So I did what I usually do in scenario like that — I put pen to paper and made a list. While there are literally hundreds of outstanding Texas high school football coaches (I maintain the difference between this sport in this state against others is the depth of quality coaching), I tried to be discerning in figuring out who doesn’t get talked about enough relative to their quality.

(If your favorite coach doesn’t make this list, please don’t yell at me, I promise I think they’re great, too.)

Here are my 10 most underrated Texas high school football coaches:

Elzie Barnett, Wilmer-Hutchins
Coaching in inner-city school districts can be like playing an already-tough game on the hardest difficulty setting. That challenge is a big reason why there was such universal astonishment at South Oak Cliff’s back-to-back state championships. But while SOC’s Jason Todd and his staff have rightfully received their flowers, there are others in Dallas ISD that maybe haven’t. Such is the case for Barnett, now in his 17th season as a head coach and 14th at Wilmer-Hutchins. After starting his career guiding Dallas A. Maceo Smith to just its fifth playoff appearance in 20 years (and subsequently its last, as the program folded in 2011 to become a magnet school), Barnett went to Hutchins, where he re-opened the program after a six-year closure. Since then, he’s taken them to 12 playoff appearances in 13 seasons.

Scott Brooks, Canutillo
West of El Paso (yes, there are Texas places west of the Sun City!), it’s easy to get distracted by the blue turf at Canutillo’s Eagle Stadium. But don’t let that admittedly striking landmark distract you from the program that Brooks has built into one of the state’s most consistent powers. Brooks has spent more than a quarter-century at the helm of the Eagles, and in that span, they’ve been nothing short of excellent — nine district titles, 18 playoff appearances, 10 seasons of 9+ wins, and an historic run to the 2014 state semifinals. Brooks has built an identity based around lights-out defense, and in turn, he’s built the flagship program of El Paso.

Stephen Dixon, Houston Heights
There are a few different ways to measure a coach, some of which don’t show up in numbers — coaches will tell you, for example, that their main role is to help young men grow. That is true, and Stephen Dixon has certainly done that in his now-17 years at Houston Heights (formerly Reagan). But also, sometimes the numbers do tell the story. Consider: in the 48 seasons prior to Dixon’s arrival — from 1960 to 2007 — the Bulldogs averaged 2.6 wins per season, made the playoffs twice and won zero playoff games; in the 16 seasons that Dixon has led the way, the Bulldogs average 5.8 wins per season, made the playoffs in each of the last 13 seasons, and won five playoff games.

Manny Gomez, Harlingen
Entering the 2024 season, there had been 13,467 all-time head football coaches in UIL 11-man Texas high school football history — with the coaching changes of the offseason, let’s round that number to an even 13,500. Of those 13,500 coaches, just 348 have won at least 150 games — about 2.5 percent. Harlingen’s Manny Gomez might be the most under-the-radar member of that 2.5 percent, re-establishing the Cardinals as one of the Rio Grande Valley’s true powerhouses. He’s made the playoffs in 16 of his 17 seasons in charge, won 10-or-more games in seven of those seasons, captured 11 district titles and won 17 playoff games.

Jeremy Holt, Whitharral
Six-man football coaches are kind of destined to be underrated — Class 1A is inherently comprised of very small towns often in very rural areas, and that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to widespread acclaim. But even among six-man aficionados, it feels like Holt doesn’t get the credit he deserves. The Silverton alum got his start with his alma mater, leading the Owls to a 17-17 record in three seasons before moving to the 11-man game and serving as an assistant at Shallowater and Seminole. But Holt got the itch to get back into six-man, and Whitharral is awfully glad he did, guiding the Panthers to a 22-4 mark in his first two seasons in Hockley County. Whitharral currently sits seventh in DCTF’s 1A DII rankings, and it’s safe to say the arrow for both the Panthers and their head coach is pointing way, way up.

Darby House, Nacogdoches
For a guy named House, the Nacogdoches coach sure loves a fixer-upper. Getting his start as an assistant at Beeville Jones under Jimmie Mitchell, House got his first head coaching job at long-suffering Somerville in 2017…and immediately took the Yeguas to their first playoff berth in 11 years, and just their third in 33 seasons. He was quickly plucked by Poteet, and steadily grew the Aggies from winless in his first season to 10-2 district champions in his fourth year in 2021 — just the second 10-win season for Poteet in their 100-year history. Last year, he took over at Nacogdoches, themselves mired in a bit of a program slump, and the Dragons immediately went from 1-9 to 3-7 in his first year. Wouldn’t you know it? They’re 2-1 to start the 2024 season.

James Reyes, Palestine
The guy with the shortest head coaching résumé on this list, Reyes is a classic example of a methodical riser in the Texas high school ranks. An offensive-minded guy, Reyes bounced around at a variety of different schools — McKinney North, Midlothian, Nacogdoches — before really making his mark as the offensive coordinator at Center. From there, he earned his first head-coaching job at Lumberton, overhauled the offense by transitioning it to the spread, and…well, he rewrote the Lumberton record books. In three seasons, he became the second-winningest coach in Raiders program history, going 25-11 and winning the first two outright district titles in program history. At 37.7 points per game, he’s the highest-scoring coach in program history. He took the job at Palestine in the offseason, and if history is any guide, he’ll get the Wildcats turned around in a hurry.

Eddie Salas, San Antonio Harlan
One of the most underrated coaches in Texas started his career with 20 consecutive losses. A product of the Alamo City (specifically San Antonio Jefferson), Salas was plucked off the Boerne Champion staff to take over at long-struggling San Antonio Holmes in 2013. And the struggles continued in his first two seasons, going 0-20 in 2013 and 2014. But the program soon turned around, going 5-5 in 2016 — their best season in a decade and a half — and Salas was tapped for a new challenge: to launch the football program at Northside ISD’s newest school, John Marshall Harlan High School. And “launch” is the appropriate term here, because Salas sparked the Hawks’ meteoric rise: a 55-19 overall record, including two district championships and three regional semifinal berths in just 6+ seasons of varsity play. How good has Salas been? He started his career 0-20, and is now 13 games over .500.

Chris Softley, Lubbock Christian
I have a confession to make: even I — someone who is literally paid to follow Texas high school football — get overwhelmed by the private school ranks sometimes. There are so many leagues to keep up with (there were 17 private school state champions crowned in 2023, compared to 12 in the UIL) that it’s easy to get lost. But regardless of classification, I’m pretty sure I can spot a Ball-Coachin’ Dude, and so I say with some confidence: Softley is a Ball-Coachin’ Dude. After bouncing around as an assistant, most notably under John Settle at Sunnyvale, Softley got the call to head to the South Plains. All he’s done since then: a 79-19 record, a TAPPS Division IV state championship and two other title game berths. Perhaps most remarkable of all: he calls the plays on both sides of the ball on Friday night. Like I said: Ball Coachin’ Dude.

Doug Warren, Wimberley
Which brings us back to where we started, with the Wizard of Wimberley. It’s important to remember that when offensive coordinator Doug Warren was promoted to the big chair for the Texans in 2013, he had massive shoes to fill, following two-time state champion Weldon Nelms. But now it’s hard to imagine anyone else in that role — 109 wins in 11+ seasons, four district championships, 11 consecutive playoff berths, five regional championships and two title game appearances. Beyond that, Warren has established the Texans as a rock-solid, fundamentally sound, team-you-don’t-want-to-see program.