New faces in the coaching staff at Centerville High School

Rusty Robinson will coah the offensive line for the Tigers. Paul’s Photos (#10) James and Dusty Crafton are new coaches in the volleyball and basketball programs at Centerville. Dusty is the new varsity volleyball coach. James is the Girls’ Coordinator and will coach the junior varsity volleyball and the girl’s varsity basketball program. They have been married six years and come to Centerville from Leakey, Texas.

Dusty has coached at Lake Worth, Bandera, and the last four years at Leakey where her teams went to the Regionals the last two years. Dusty emphasizes teamwork, fundamentals, hard workouts, and good defense as the keys to a team’s success. Dusty feels blessed to inherit a strong program with talented players returning from last year’s team.

James coached at Joshua, Lake Worth, and the last five years at Leakey. James said no team will “outwork them” and his team will be in top condition to finish off the opponent late in the game.

Keith Thomas is the new of- fensive coordinator for Tiger football and the varsity baseball coach. Paul’s Photos Coach Kyle Hardee’s football team is looking forward to the new season. Fifty -four young men attended the first “two-a-day” workouts and 24 will be playing on the varsity. The varsity welcomes back 12 lettermen including 1st Team All District performers Clay Hardee at defensive end and Jeremy Hammock at outside linebacker. There are eleven seniors and nine juniors on the varsity squad. Coach Hardee said, “The boys have a good work ethic, lack size, but will have more overall speed than last year’s team”. One of the keys will be to avoid the injury bug. Last year’s team suffered a couple of losses in close games that could have gone their way with a good bounce of the ball in their direction.

James and Dusty Crafton, new coaches in the volleyball and basketball programs at Centerville. Paul’s Photos (#3) Two new additions to the coaching staff are Keith Thomas and Rusty Robinson.

Keith is beginning his 23rd year in coaching with previous stints at Oklahoma University, Navarro Junior College, Tomball, Normangee, and the last four years at Groveton. Keith is married to Robbie and they have daughters Allie and Brittany who is a senior at Centerville and plays on the volleyball team. Keith is the offensive coordinator for the football team and the varsity baseball coach.

Rusty Robinson is no stranger to Leon County as he coached at Leon the previous three years. Prior to that he coached at Fort Bend, Kempner, Austin, and five years at Franklin. Rusty has been married to Christie for 18 years and they have four sons:Rush 16, Avery 14, Coleman 10, and Cannon 7. Rusty coaches the offensive line.

Coach Hardee has returning coaches Lonnie Wright, Quinton Lankford, Stephen Harrison, and Woody Chamberlen as they kick off their 2009 season. Hardee expects New Waverly, Corrigan, and Buffalo to be the teams to beat to get to the playoffs. The first three teams advance to the playoffs.

Good luck and we welcome the new coaches.