KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — It's a new era for Chaparral High School, as the Bobcats will hit the field for the 2024 season with a new head coach, Tyrell McCrea.
"I was excited and nervous at the same time because the timing of the whole situation is late in the game," McCrea said.
"As a football coach, you want to have that off season to kind of prep, you want to have the summer workouts, you want to have all that. Meeting the people here at Chaparral like, they blew me away — I mean, it speaks for itself, so it was something I couldn't turn dow."
McCrea is coming off as the offensive coordinator for San Antonio Davenport, where the Wolves reached the 4A-Division one state semi finals.
Chaparral enters its third year of varsity football and McCrea takes over a program as the second ever head coach — and it's a goal checked off the bucket list.
"It's kind of one of the dreams of mine to have a fresh new school — for it to be in year three, it's still fairly new, so I'm not walking to a situation where it's always been done this way or these are our traditions and this way we kind of get to build some of those together," he said.
McCrea is not only the head football coach, he is also the athletic director — being a consistent presence for all sports is already an expectation he has set.
"My biggest goal is to make sure I serve my football unit as the same way I serve the basketball, cross country, swim, track, whatever we programs we have here," he said.
"You have to play those roles and you have to have those many hats."
The Bobcats first game of the season will take place on August 30 on the road against Kyle Lehman.
