Football: Permian offensive coordinator leaving to become Port Neches-Groves head coach
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January 30, 2009 - 6:17 PM
BY JOEL A. ERICKSON
Maybe this was inevitable.
Permian's rise back to prominence over the course of the past three seasons has caught the attention of high school football observers around the state.
And at least one team is trying to replicate that success by going straight to the source.
Panthers offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brandon Faircloth has been offered the head coaching job at Port Neches-Groves, pending approval by the school board at a special meeting of the Port Neches-Groves ISD school board on Tuesday night.
Port Neches-Groves, a Class 4A school, has three state titles - including a win over Permian in the 1975 state final - and has reached the state championship game three more times.
"I don't expect there to be any problems with the school board," Port Neches-Groves superintendent Lani Randall said. "We had a particular profile we were looking for in our athletic director/head football coach position, and he appeared to be the strongest candidate."
Longtime Port Neches-Groves head coach Matt Burnett left the football program at the end of last season to become the outdoor athletic complex coordinator and attendance officer.
Burnett was not a part of the search committee that interviewed Faircloth.
Since joining the Permian coaching staff in 2006, Faircloth has presided over three consecutive seasons in which his quarterback has broken the Panthers' single-season passing record, a streak capped by the 2,682 yards Trevor Adams gained this season.
Faircloth also masterminded Sherard Ray's 2,224-yard rushing season this year, the second-best single-season rushing mark in Panthers school history.
Attempts to reach Faircloth for comment were not successful.
"We're going to miss him," Permian head coach Darren Allman said. "But that's what we want our assistant coaches to be able to do, and it's one of the reasons they come to Permian."
Allman said Permian's search to replace Faircloth already has begun.
And Faircloth's ascension to the head coaching ranks will definitely be a draw for his successor.
"That's going to be a selling point to get somebody to replace him," Allman said. "It's going to be a little different next year, but we'll have the ability to go out and get another great coach."
