Cedar Park coach going to Colleyville Heritage,
Timberwolves coach moving on to 6A Colleyville Heritage.
In search of a new challenge, Joe Willis has decided to leave Cedar Park.
Willis confirmed to the American-Statesman on Thursday that, pending approval by the Grapevine-Colleyville school board, he will become the new football coach at Colleyville Heritage. The Class 6A school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is coming off a 5-6 season under Darren Allman, who was lured away from Westlake in April 2014.
Allman recently accepted an administrative job with the Southlake school district.
“First thing you’ve got to consider is that coaches don’t like to stay in comfort zones and that’s kind of the case here,” said Willis, 46, who was 59-20 in six years as a head coach at Cedar Park and Iraan. “There is nothing in the world harder than making the decision about leaving (a place like Cedar Park). But that’s what coaches do — they look for new challenges.”
Cedar Park’s defensive coordinator from 200811, Willis quickly found success with the Timberwolves after his promotion to head coach in 2012. Cedar Park won the Class 4A, Division II championship that season, and Willis was 37-8 over the past three seasons.
Cedar Park finished 12-4 in 2014, and Willis’ last game with the Timberwolves ended up being a 38-35 loss to Ennis in the Class 5A, Division II final in December. Ennis scored the champi- onship-clinching touchdown with 21 seconds to play at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
“I believe in the we concept. I think together we did some great things,” Willis said. “It’s such a unique place. You have a lot of hands that were willing to go to work. It’s been a great ride.”
Cedar Park, whose spring game will be run on Friday under the guidance of coordinators Carl Abseck and Michael Quintero, becomes the 10th Austin-area school to have a coaching vacancy this offseason.