Wildcat athletic director not here to ‘fill shoes’

WAELDER — It’s always hard trying to fill a void, especially when the void is very large to fill. But new athletic director and head basketball coach Brandon Howard isn’t coming here to fill a void.

He’s here to give it his all and push the program further than it has ever been, despite any past coach’s success.

“I don’t like the term ‘fill the previous guy’s shoes,’” Howard said. “I mean, I’m going to come in and be the best coach I can be.”

“Filling Coach [David] President’s shoes, I’m not trying to do. But taking this team to the next level or the next round of the playoffs, which will be the final four; I mean that’s my goal. My goal is to win it all. They were three games away from winning. I’m not trying to fill his shoes, I’m trying to be the best coach I can be for [the team].”

That’s no disrespect to President. As a matter of fact, Howard was introduced to the job because of Waelder’s ex-athletic director.

“We went to the same high school. Me and [President] are good friends,” Howard mentioned. “He let me know he was leaving and I applied to the job. He brought me in, walked around, seen the campus, met a couple of the people, teachers and staff, and I told him I would like to come up here and see if I can make it work.”

After touring the school with President, Howard played some basketball with the team to get a feel for the players.

“I stepped on the court and ran up and down with them,” Howard recalled. “I liked the players. They are very respectful and they listened to me, even if I wasn’t their coach they listened to me when I had something to say. When President spoke they were all ears and it’s just a good environment. I kind of relate to the environment because of where I come from.”

Howard comes from Temple where he played ball with President and later had his try at the college level.

“Graduated from Temple, end up going to Midwestern State to play basketball, didn’t really work out,” Howard began. “Kind of started chasing the basketball dream and I went to Temple College, Navarro College, University of Texas at Permian Basin and then I ended up at Texas State. I graduated with my associate’s at Temple College and when I made it to Texas State that’s where I got my bachelor’s from.”

Although he has his degree in exercise and sports science, Howard wasn’t sure about coaching so much as just wanting to stay in the game of basketball.

“When I was coming up, like everybody’s dream I thought I was going to be in the NBA,” Howard said. “Never thought I’d be a coach until towards the end of my high school and thought, ‘well this thing is fun, I may be able to do this.’”

“Then I got into college, start going to school and I never knew you had to teach to be a coach and all of this so I started to learn more and after college I got the opportunity to be a coach and basketball is my favorite sport, my first love.”

After college, Howard was hired in Temple at Travis Middle in 2010, where he spent his time coaching football, basketball and track, even though his main interest was in basketball.

Four years later, Howard is making this jump to athletic director of an entire school, a big change from middle school coach.

“From what I hear it’s a pretty big jump,” he said. “I haven’t experienced all of the odds and ends of it yet. I’m just waiting until the year starts for it to really hit me.”

“I hear it’s a lot of work but I’m ready for it,” Howard continued. “You have to start somewhere, someone has to give you a chance to do it. It’s better than hearing ‘well you don’t have any experience.’ Well how can you get experience if you’ve never started anywhere?”

With it being the middle of July, Howard has already begun work on trying to fill the staff and figure out the pieces before school starts. As of press time, the Wildcats are without a volleyball coach but they are interviewing to fill that position.

Girls’ athletics has been an ongoing issue for Waelder, but Howard believes that all that can change with the right people in place. The Wildcats staff includes Howard and new coach Joe Nix, but he knows that he’ll need to find at least another person to help move the program to where it should be.

“The other coach we may potentially have, he will be running the girls’ program,” Howard explained. “Coach Nix and I will help out as much as we can. I think all three of us working together will be able to bring it up. It’s not just a one-person job; it’s not going to be a one-year turnover. If we demand them to be good or just push them to be good, eventually it’ll come.”

Despite the late start, Howard is prepared for the upcoming year. After all, it’s in his nature to be ready at all times.

“This may sound a little crazy and weird,” Howard began, “but before I even knew I had the job I actually went to the UIL breakdown. I looked at all the teams that were going to be in the district. I looked at the district MVP, the defensive player of the year, newcomer of the year, first and second-team all district players and I just wrote down each player from every team that’s going to be in our district.”

Howard had no idea if those players were seniors, juniors, and still playing basketball or even still at the school. Despite all this, he wanted to make sure he was prepared, no matter what.

“If I see that name I might know, well he was district MVP at that district or he was one of the first-team all-district players on that team. And that’s before I even got the job. Before I was even offered the job I was already planning ahead because I just had faith that this was my job and it was going to work out that way.”

Howard is all about basketball. He’s played the game and has coached it as well. The preparedness is an aspect of his personality that he hopes will show on the court with the Wildcats and in every other sport Waelder participates in. He wants the athletes to succeed not only on the court, but off.

“I love coaching. Teaching other young men things that I knew and now know about the sport and helping them not only as successful athletes but as successful people in the community. It’s more than just sports. It’s life.”

“I’m just looking forward to a successful season. Not just basketball but all sports,” Howard said. “I just want to be successful all across the board as a school like Waelder should be. Well represented in all sports.”

After accepting the job, President gave him a word of advice.

“He told me he was handing over the keys to the Lexus,” Howard said. “’Just drive it safe.’ That’s pretty much what he told me. He told me ‘don’t take it easy on the kids. Demand the best out of them and they’re going to give you their best. Don’t be soft on them, just come on and take control of the program. It’s a good opportunity.’”