New Baylor coach Matt Rhule's first move? Hiring a high school football coach

By Stephen Spiewak | Posted 12/9/2016

Matt Rhule has barely been the head coach at Baylor for 72 hours, and he’s already leaning on the high school football community to build his staff.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Rhule is hiring Reagan (San Antonio, Texas) head coach David Wetzel to his staff.

In Wetzel, Rhule is bringing on a highly successful coach with a large footprint in the Lone Star State.

The move is already creating a positive buzz:

From 2013-2015, Wetzel guided Reagan to three consecutive seasons with 11 or more wins. In 2016, the team finished 9-2.

Wetzel, a Baylor alum, is also president of the Texas High School Coaches Association, an influential organization of coaches that was first established in 1930.

Coaches making the jump from the high school ranks to college football is more common than ever.

In 2015, Texas hired Gilmer (Texas) head coach Jeff Traylor, who served as the team’s tight ends coach this season. Former DeSoto (Texas) head coach Claude Mathis joined the staff at SMU following the 2014 season, serving as an assistant coach to head coach Chad Morris, who rose to prominence as the head coach at Lake Travis (Austin, Texas). And there’s always some thought that Cedar Hill (Texas) head coach Joey McGuire could be a fit on the Longhorns staff.

Wetzel is further proof that high school football is home to some of the country’s finest coaches at any level.

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