Corley made Carl Albert's dynasty even mightier
MIDWEST CITY — Gary Rose doesn't quite remember who recommended him to hire Mike Corley as an assistant coach.
Corley was a rising defensive assistant at Duncan, and Rose, the head coach at Carl Albert, was l ooking for someone to join his staff. Back i n 2003, Rose hired Corley, who would go on to take over the program following Rose's retirement in 2017.
Rose made many successful hires during his career, even him saying he never made a mistake there. Yet Corley was special.
“He was one of the best hir es I ever made,” Rose said.
Even after Rose had one of the most successful tenures of any hi gh s chool f ootball coach in state history, Corley went and created his
own legacy that will be difficult to pass up.
Corley announced his retirement as Carl Albert's head football coach and athletic director earlier this month. He led the Titan football program to a 52-2 record during that time, helping guide Carl Albert to a 40-game win streak, and he won four state titles.
Yet his demeanor from the time he was ass istant, to being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2006 and head coach a decade later, never changed. It' s the one thing his former boss, his assistants and players throughout the years maintain about Corley.
Rose, who was an offensive coach, never had to worry about Corley during the defensive portions of the practice because Rose knew Corley would get everything accomplished that needed to be.
That trust in assistants carried to Corley's tenure as head coach. Ben Harris, who was Corley's starting quarterback all four years and now is at OU, said when it was time for the offensive portions of practice, Corley would take a step back.
“He was always messing with the scout team guys when the offense was on the field trying to get them involved ,” Harris said. “But he always let his coaches coach and tried to keep his players loose.”
C or leyh ada serious side, too, but what football coach doesn't?
He did it the Carl Albert way from the beginning. It's part of the reason the program didn't dip when he took over. In fact, it only got better.
Carl Albert has been one of the most consistent and successful program since thee arly2000s, and Corley had a major impact in that.
He had big shoes to fill when Rose retired. Now, those shoes for Corley's replacement are arguably bigger.
“There' s no way to measure his impact on Carl Albert and the football program,” Mid-Del district athletic director Andy Collier said. “He somehow raised the bar even more than it was when he arrived.”
Reporter Cameron Jourdan covers high school sports across the Oklahoma City metro and state. Have a story idea for Cameron?
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