#BREAKING: Alan Metzel has been named the head football coach and athletic director at Gilmer (first reported by @kytxcbs19's radio partner @Harlentsg). #bEASTTexas #TXHSFB #903Football #GoBux https://t.co/NwuAfN3Nqt— Reagan Roy-Young (@reaganroy) January 24, 2020
Im so proud of my Dad for receiving the Head coach position at Gilmer, he deserves it more than anybody. Congratulations coach! pic.twitter.com/WePuYuILvX— Luke Metzel (@LukeMetzel) January 25, 2020
By Elwyn Henderson
Alan Metzel, the offensive coordinator for the Gilmer Buckeyes for the last five seasons, was named the new head coach and athletic director of the Buckeyes last Friday morning to replace retiring Coach Matt Turner. He has been on the Gilmer coaching staff for over 17 years and has moved up through the ranks and definitely earned the opportunity to be the next Buckeye mentor.
Alan grew up in Upshur County and graduated from Harmony High School in 1987 and received a B.A. in Education from the University of North Florida. His dad was a Methodist minister and served the Harmony United Methodist church, among others. He is a pastor also.
We visited with Coach Metzel last Friday evening to get his thoughts about taking over the reins of the Buckeye Dynasty that has seen three State Championships since 2004.
We began our visit by congratulating him on becoming a head coach for the first time in his career.
“Oh, I couldn’t be happier”, he said. “I love the city of Gilmer, I love the school system, I love the kids that I get to work with every day, and I am just so excited. I am going to give all my energy and attach to this community even more and get to where we need to get as a program. Gilmer is a neat place. We’ve got a winning tradition, and I’m grateful that Jeff (Traylor) offered me a job back in 2001. Ever since I came it’s just been a special place for us, and I’m just so excited to continue that.”
Coach Metzel departed Gilmer for Pine Tree after three seasons and actually missed out on getting a Championship ring in 2004. He indicated that even though he missed out on the first State Championship in Buckeye history, his time at Pine Tree helped him in his career.
“That choice had nothing to do with not wanting to be in Gilmer. It honestly grew me a lot. It was an opportunity when I was working with (Harmony Head Coach) Tim (Russell) to broaden my skillset. In Gilmer you had such a strong coaching staff that I was working quarterbacks all the way through, but that pretty much was it. I did work pass skills and such, but my role was somewhat limited, and so by going over there it allowed me to have to coach special teams and it had me to work on vertically aligning your offense with the JV, with the ninth grade, with the seventh grade and eighth grade, etc., so it really grew me as a coach and when I came back I was much better because of those experiences. Even though yes, it was tough not being part of the ’04 team, in the long run it was good for my career.”
“With each season we’d always look at okay, what’s an area to continue to grow in? I’ve spent time in my tenure as coach of deep snappers, or working with holders, you know so different segments of the seventeen plus years I’ve been there, I’ve gotten to do a whole lot of different things. Those are the things that broaden you to prepare you to be a head coach. That (offensive coordinator under Coach Turner) was just another step in the progression and I’m very grateful for that.”
We asked Coach Metzel what changes fans could expect in the Buckeyes when the 2020 season begins in August.
“Obviously, the things that we’ve done that past 5 years are things that we’ve done pretty much for the past 20 years. You start obviously with your core values: the P R I D E…Positive, Respect, Intensity, Discipline, Every play or do it again. All those things carry over into your offseason, the weight room, which carries over into the practice field, and so forth. The core values are going to be the same, but honestly, each year there’s tweaks all through the years. There’ll be those for this team. Then you also have to factor in that every head coach is going to put his own stamp on things, and so similar, yes. Will there be some differences, sure, just because you’re talking about having a different lens with the different personality of a person. There’ll be some slight changes, yes, but it will be the core values that stay the same.”
As most Buckeye fans know, 20-season Defensive Coordinator Coach Todd Barr announced his retirement shortly after Coach Turner announced his, so Coach Metzel will have to name a new Defensive Coordinator and a new Offensive Coordinator, among a couple of other additions he will need to make. We asked when he expected those announcements to come out.
“Well, we’re working on that right now. There are people that we’re talking to. There’s people within our staff that obviously have been a part of things for a lot of years as well, and so I hate to get into too many details right now because we’re still working on accumulating individuals, but it shouldn’t be too far in the near future that we’ll be at least knowing some of the top positions. I’ll say that.”
We asked Coach Metzel what he wanted to say to the Buckeye fans who were wondering what to expect of their new head coach.
“That’s a great question. Here’s something that I want to make an emphasis. We want to make sure that we get connected to our fans. You know, our fans are so rabid, and I say that with every bit of compliment. Rabid fans, you know they’re the Buckeye Army and they want the best, and honestly, that’s all you would want. You don’t want to tone that down. What I want to make a concentrated effort on is helping the fans get to know our guys better, see what we’re doing in preparation, get it out there where they can see some of our training methods, where they can get excited about, ‘oh, ok. We see what’s going on here and we’re excited about our guys, we’re excited about the young men they’re becoming.’ Also, where they know their names, where they’re excited about seeing so in so play, etc. To me, between now and when we play at the end of August, that’ going to be a real concentrated focus for our program, is to make it us against the world again. I think that the people want that and I know the team wants that. There’s going to be a lot of energy spent there.”
We concluded our visit by asking Coach Metzel if there was anything else he wanted to say to the fans.
“I think you’ve covered it, you know. For me right now, I’m so grateful and humbled for the opportunity, I’m grateful for the school board and Mr. Albritton having the faith in me to go do this thing, and now that it’s done, it’s just about doing it. You talk about things and ideas and all that, but it’s all about doing it, so we’ve got to put our feet on the ground and go get at it. That’s where it will be done, you know, not in philosophy or theory. It’ll be in that day in and day out grind. I promise you we’re going to go get after it like never before.”
If you see Coach Metzel in the coming days, be sure to congratulate him and let him know the Army of Buckeyes is alive and well and waiting with great anticipation for the 2020 season and seeing the Buckeye Dynasty continue! We can’t wait for next season, Coach Metzel!
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