Whether you’re trying to keep a winning tradition going or restart a down program, the first line of business is always the same for high school football coaches in the Big Country. First, they must sell their philosophies and themselves to their respective communities.

"It’s always about the kids,” says Shane Mobley Sweetwater head coach. “It always has to be about the kids and that's what I talked to the community about."

Several of these new big country coaches have returned to teams they've either played or coached for in the past. For them, it's a chance to re-establish new and old new and old traditions at their old stomping grounds.

For Rocky Smart (Clyde), and Justin Wiley (Ballinger), 2012 is their homecoming to the schools they played for in the 90’s.

"To get to come back and be apart of it again is pretty exciting,” says Smart. It's unique because there’s a lot of invested interest of making your hometown trying to make um as could as they can be."

“For us it was the right fit for our family,” says Wiley. “I talked to our interview committee and to the school board for a long time about wanting to make a long-term commitment. I told them it was my intentions that I have two boys that are three and six and it's my intentions that they graduate from here."