Walker will take over for Vance at Liberty Hill
Liberty Hill has gone back to the future for its new football coach, deciding to hire former Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Walker.
On Thursday afternoon, Chuck Licata, whose company K-MAC Sports streams Liberty Hill athletic contests, said Walker will take over as the school’s football coach and the school district’s athletic director. Walker directed the Panthers’ offense during their run to backto-back Class 3A state championships from 2006 to 2007.
With Walker’s hiring, it’s likely Liberty Hill will continue to operate out of the slot-T offense, which became a trademark of Panthers teams led by coach Jerry Vance. In mid-January, Vance announced he was retiring after compiling a 155-46 record in 16 seasons at Liberty Hill.
The Liberty Hill school board had called a special meeting for Thursday night, when Walker’s hiring was expected to be approved.
Walker left Liberty Hill after the 2007 season to be head coach at Rogers. In six years at Rogers, he was 59-13 while implementing his version of a high-octane slot-T attack. Rogers outscored foes 734-237 in his final season.
By the time Walker left Rogers in 2014, the Eagles had played in three of the top-eight highest-scoring games in Texas high school football history: a 76-69 victory over Schulenburg in 2012, a 73-72 loss to Refugio in 2013 and an 84-58 win over Mart in 2012.
Walker has worked in the Liberty Hill school district for the past two years as a teacher, according to Licata. Walker’s younger brother Kent became head coach at Rogers before the 2016 season.
Elgin hires coach: Former Richmond George Ranch offensive coordinator Jens Anderson was hired as Elgin’s new coach last week. The Elgin Courier reported Anderson was named to replace Jim Garfield, who left Elgin after three seasons to be an assistant athletic director in the Lubbock school district.
Anderson, who has 15 years of coaching experience in Texas, had served as offensive coordinator at George Ranch since the school opened in 2010. The Longhorns won a Class 5A, Division I state title in 2015 and compiled a 47-8 record over the past four seasons.