Three other new head coaches in the city area are ready to get practice started on Monday.

Nino Williams was prepared for the move. He and his wife Dee scouted for places to live, looked into schools for their three kids and Williams even knew what class he would be teaching at his new school.

They were set to move to Mississippi.

“I was just ready to be a head coach and I felt like I was prepared to go anywhere to do that,” Williams said. “But then I got a call from Douglass and everything changed.”

Williams, 35, played receiver and defensive back at John Marshall from 1996 to 2000.

After graduating, Williams played two seasons at Tyler Junior College before landing at the University of Missouri where he was an All-Big 12 safety.

Williams coached around the Tulsa area after his playing days were over, including stops at Tulsa Central, Tulsa Washington and most recently as an assistant at Broken Arrow.

Williams said he wasn’t sure whether the job at Douglass would come open, which caused him to look out of state. When it did become available, he jumped at the chance to be the head man for the Trojans.

“The quality of winning and prestige at Douglass changed my mind,” he said. “We were very close to leaving, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.”

Though a move from Tulsa to Oklahoma City is undoubtedly easier than a move to another state, Williams said his transition has been hectic at times.

“Adjusting on the fly and learning how to be a first-year head coach isn’t easy,” he said. “I’ve been learning the ropes of fundraising and getting to know my players and getting my family moved. Thankfully, I’m blessed with a great support system.”

Williams has high expectations for his team, which went 9-3 in Class 3A last season. He’s predicting championships already.

“That’s the way I think,” Williams said. “If I believe they will follow. We will just build from there.”

Brad Hill, Moore

MOORE — Brad Hill feels more and more like he’s on the same path as his father.

Hill’s father, Bruce Hill, was a longtime football and baseball coach in the state. Now Brad is Moore’s new head football coach after a year away in Texas as a head baseball coach.

“I grew up always around the field house,” Hill said. “We played everything at Idabel. Little boys always look up to their dads, and that’s how my career has gone.”

Hill said he found the right fit with the Lions.

Athletic director Chad Mashburn played for Hill’s father at Idabel. As Norman North’s defensive coordinator two years ago, Brad also coached Mashburn’s nephews — Cade and Cole Mashburn.

“That was a good draw for me,” Hill said.

Now, Hill is back taking over a long downtrodden program coming off a 5-5 season that has lifted the spirits around the locker room.

So far, he has been impressed with the young talent.

“Coach (Paul) Hix and his staff had done a great job,” Hill said. “The mentality and the mindset here, there was a positive vibe coming in because of what they had created. So with that positive vibe and relationships with people that made it attractive for me to come here.

It’s been awesome.”

Trent Worley, Piedmont

When making a list of places to coach this season, Trent Worley had certain qualities he was looking for.

Great community, alumni support, sustained success and most importantly, a commitment to winning.

“Piedmont was there right at the top of our list,” Worley said. “In the end we picked it because it felt the most like home.”

Worley is no stranger to the Oklahoma coaching scene. He was the head man at Woodland, Fairfax, Foyil and Perry. He was an assistant coach at Stillwater before leaving the state last season to be an assistant at Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy, Arkansas.

“I tell people it was my year on the mission field,” Worley said. “We had taken from granted what we had at home and moved out of state and then realized how fortunate we really were.”

Worley, 40, grew up in Claremore before attending Foyil, where he graduated in 1995.

Now that he’s back in the state, he’s excited to take over at Piedmont.

“More than anything, I’m excited about casting the vision of a program and developing it into a program that I would want my own kids to go through,” Worley said. “Just being the one setting the vision, I feel very fortunate that I have outstanding men all over my program. I think we’ve got something special building here and we are riding the momentum.”