The Speakers

Former Tarleton standout quarterback and head football coach at Glen Rose Cliff Watkins. Coach Watkins has an impressive 88-26 overall record and is very well known for his fast paced Offensive Style. Coach took over in Glen rose in 2016 and has amassed an record of 67-21. His Glen Rose Tiger team went all the way to the State Semifinals this past season before losing a heartbreaker to the eventual State Champions.

His Glen Rose offensive has School records in almost every category.  Numerous QBs who have passed for over 2,00 and 3,000 plus yards in a season. in 2018 Weston Halcom rushed for 2,002 yards in a season which shows the balance of Coach Watkins offense.

Watkins, a Breckenridge native, helped Tarleton to the 2003 NCAA Division II playoffs, earning all-conference, all-region and honorable-mention All-America honors. He was later receivers coach at Stephenville, where he was on staff for the 2012 3A Division I state championship.

Watkins had stops at Cisco, Midland Lee and Eastland. Watkins was 21-5 at Eastland as Head Coach before taking the Job at Glen Rose.

 Coach Kyle Hardin is the Head Coach of the Crandall High School and is coming off a 9-3 campaign in 2022! Coach Hardin has been around the game of football and groomed to be a top-tier head coach by his father, legendary head coach Kiff Hardin.

In 2019 Coach Hardin was the Offensive Coordinator at McKinney North High School where he led the offense that scored 59 points per game to finish as the most prolific scoring unit in Class 5A, 

Under Hardin’s direction, North averaged an eye-popping 40 points or more per game in all seven of his seasons as play caller — highlighted by last season’s squad, which statistically was the most prolific offense in McKinney ISD history. During his tenure, Hardin’s offense also spun out the most prolific rushing and passing seasons ever in MISD.

Coach Russell is excited to be beginning his sixth year as head coach and 24th total at GHS. He returned after being the head coach at Wichita Falls for three years where he led them to deep playoff runs in back to back years. Prior to that he was the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at GHS from 2001--2012 A lifelong Owl he is a 1984 graduate of GHS. While there he was selected to the All-Metroplex and All-District teams in both football and baseball. He attended Panola College and the University of North Texas on baseball scholarships and captured All-Conference honors at both stops. He was the secondary coach for the 1999 state championship team and also helped coach the North all-stars to victory in the 2001 THSCA All-Star game. 

Coach Zac Harrell comes from a family tree of successful Coaches. His father, Sam Harrell, has spent most of his career coaching football in Ennis, where he won Class 4A state championships in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

Zac Harrell was a senior and starting wide receiver during the 2000 title season. In 2001, his brother, Graham, who went on to be an All-American QB for Texas Tech and spent time in the NFL, is the new Offensive Coordinator at Purdue. Clark quarterbacked for the University of Tulsa and is now the Head Football Coach at New Diana High School.

“Our quarterback almost will never take a snap underneath the center,” he explained. “Our offensive philosophy is that we want to try to spread out the field and get the ball in as many different kids’ hands as possible, trying to best utilize the athletes we have. … We’ll do what gives our kids the best chance to win, and that will look different year to year. But the base philosophy is a spread offense with four, sometimes five wide receivers on the field.”

During his four years total as OC at Van — in two separate coaching stints — the offense averaged more than 40 points a game for a combined 39-11 record. His last two years as OC at Sweetwater, the team had a record of 25-2.