Last season’s varsity track coach, Jeff Harrell, was recently selected by the Directors of the TTFCA as the Texas Track Coach of the Year.

“It was an honor to receive the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Coach of the Year,” Harrell said. “It was one of the highlights of my coaching career.”

Although Harrell has stepped down from coaching, he still remains at school teaching economics and US Government to seniors.

“There are some things about coaching I miss, but I enjoy the classroom,” Harrell said. “Texas High is a great place to work.”

When coaching, Harrell pushed his team’s work ethic and focused on reaching their goals. The 2014 boys varsity track team won the state track meet in Austin.

“We set our goals early and seemed to get a little better each week,” Harrell said. “We tried to peek at the right time, and fortunately, things worked great.”

One of Harrell’s missions when coaching was to help student athletes grow and learn important life lessons. The members of the 2014 boys track team excelled under his watch.

“The benefits of hard work and to have confidence in yourself [are some lessons I taught them],” Harrell said. “I couldn’t have been more proud of Jacorian Walker, Trey Walker, Trey Monk and Kevin Harris.”

Even though Harrell and his graduated team have moved on in life, he always remember them.

“I have always enjoyed coaching track,” Harrell said. “This team will always have a special place in my heart, not only because they were state champions, but because they were good kids.”