McDaniel decides to switch schools

Vista Ridge coach will be an assistant at Cedar Park.

Vista Ridge girls basketball coach Pecos McDaniel is switching schools and sports.

McDaniel confirmed to the American-Statesman on Wednesday he has stepped down at Vista Ridge and will join Cedar Park’s coaching staff as an assistant for boys basketball and football.

McDaniel’s youngest son, Drew, is a freshman at Cedar Park.

“Love everything about it (at Vista Ridge), except it’s not where my son is,” McDaniel, 49, said in an email.

McDaniel led Vista Ridge for the past three seasons, and the Lady Rangers finished 36-3 this past season.

The top-ranked team in Class 5A for much of the season, Vista Ridge dropped a 65-64 decision to Dallas Adams in the state semifinals.

McDaniel, who also led Dripping Springs to a state tournament berth in 2002, will not be leaving the cupboard bare at Vista Ridge.

Three-time All-Central Texas honoree Japreece Dean will soon graduate alongside West Virginia signee Katrina Pardee, but four of the five Vista Ridge starters in the 2015 state tournament game were underclassmen. All-Central Texas guard Mikayla Christian is expected to return for the Lady Rangers, along with her fellow TCU recruit Danielle Rainey.

In other coaching news at Cedar Park, longtime baseball coach Connie Cochran announced his retirement.

Cochran has spent the past nine years at Cedar Park, but the first stop on his eight-school coaching tour was Justin Northwest in 1980.

Cochran, who had a 581-355-8 record, picked up 169 wins with the Timberwolves and was named the 2014 All-Central Texas coach of the year. Cochran also was an assistant coach for the Cedar Park football team that won a Class 4A state championship in 2012.