Klein Collins head coach Drew Svoboda, Texans Ambassador/Pro Football Hall of Famer Kenny Houston, and Pearland Dawson head coach Eric Wells pose for a photo at the Texans Coach of the Year banquet.
Thursday night in Houston, 20 area high school football coaches were honored by the Houston Texans, and two of those honorees were named Coach of the Year.
Drew Svoboda of Klein Collins was the 5A recipient, while Eric Wells of Pearland Dawson won in the 4A-under division.
At the Westin Galleria, the two were honored not only for their teams' success, but also for teaching young men how to become leaders both on and off the field. The Texans High School Coach of the Week program is a fully-integrated, grassroots effort designed to aid and promote high school football throughout the Houston area.
During the regular season, Svoboda and Wells won the Coach of the Week award. Those two along with the 18 other winners attended the dinner, at which Texans Ambassador and Pro Football of Famer Kenny Houston was the keynote speaker.
Svoboda's Collins team went a perfect 10-0 in the regular season and wound up 12-1 after falling to Tyler John Tyler in the regional semifinals.
Wells, meanwhile, guided Dawson to the 4A state semifinals, finishing 12-3.
Both coaches received a $1,000 grant in their names to their football programs, and also picked up a scholarship to attend a clinic this weekend. The scholarships will be given to a player of their choosing that meets the socio-economic requirements.
"I owe it all to the coaches and the kids," Svoboda said. "I'm just kind of steering the ship, but those guys, it's all about them and everything they were able to do for us this year."
Svoboda also was appreciative of getting recognized for the job he does in addition to coaching on Friday nights.
{QUOTE}"It's not all just about the wins and losses," he said. "Just being a part of these young men's lives and trying to show them the way on a lot of tough issues high school kids are dealing with these days, and trying to be a mentor to them, and tough love sometimes, that's really where the gratification is."
Dawson is a young high school and took part in a varsity schedule for the first time in 2009, nearly reaching the state title game in 4A. Perhaps most impressively, Wells did it with kids that were high achievers in the classroom, and he was thankful the Texans recognized his off-the-gridiron commitment to his players.
"It's very important," Wells said. "One of the things we stress is doing right. We kind of have the A/B rule. I know there's the 'no pass, no play' rule, but we're real strict about making A's and B's."
Last year, Gary Joseph of Katy High and Jerry Stewart from Dayton picked up the 5A and 4A-under awards, respectively.
This was the eighth year that the Texans gave out the award.
