New coaches for Hays, Lehman step up in Class
Goad (4A), Salmon (3A) earned approval from school board.
A pair of small-town football coaches have been hired to take over Class 6A programs at Hays and Lehman.
Les Goad, who has led Geronimo Navarro to nine 10-win seasons in his 11 years at the Class 4A school, will take over at Hays. He replaces Neal La Hue, who went 25-28 in five seasons with two playoff appearances before retiring at the end of last season.
Lehman’s new coach will be Bruce Salmon, who led Class 3A Marion since 2013. Marion was 31-25 in Salmon’s five seasons, posting an 8-3 mark in 2017.
The hirings of Goad and Salmon were approved Monday night by a unanimous vote of the Hays school board. School district officials said Goad was hired from a pool of 81 applicants, and Salmon was selected from among 94 applicants.
Navarro, which is a little more than 30 miles south of Hays High, advanced to the Class 4A, Division II state semifinals in 2016 before losing to West Orange-Stark, an eventual state champion. Last season, Navarro finished 11-2 after losing to district rival Wimberley in the third round of the playoffs. The Texans went on to reach the state semifinals in Class 4A, Division II.
“Hays is a school with high expectations in a school district that is committed to excellence,” wrote Goad, who set a school record for victories (107) at Navarro, in a cover letter to Hays school district officials. “My motives are simple; I want to compete
Twith the best and be a part of the top program in the state.”
Goad’s teams at Navarro relied on the run-heavy slot-T offense that he learned under Bruce Bush at Gregory-Portland. Before he took over at Navarro, Goad was the coach at Nazareth, Kenedy, San Antonio Southwest, New Braunfels and Lockhart. He has a 165-80-3 record over 22 seasons.
Like Goad, Salmon will leave a one high school district near Seguin for a new job. A defensive-minded coach who was the coach at Gonzales from 2002-06, Salmon saw his team at Marion run and pass for more than 200 yards per game last season.
Salmon also has worked as
EXAan assistant coach at Pflugerville, New Braunfels Canyon, San Antonio Churchill and Schertz Clemens, his most recent stop before Marion.
Salmon will replace Josh Kirkland, who left Lehman after one season to accept a position on the coaching staff at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. The Lobos finished 1-9 last season, and Lehman has posted only one winning season in 12 years of playing varsity football.
For at least the next two seasons, Hays and Lehman will compete in District 25-6A alongside Lake Travis, Westlake, Bowie, Akins, Anderson, Austin High and Del Valle.
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