Colleyville Heritage hires Joe Willis from Cedar Park

[svhorns]

http://preps.blog.statesman.com/2015/05/28/joe-willis-to-leave-cedar-parks-football-program/?ecmp=statesman_social_twitter_2014_varsitynews_sfp

For the second straight off-season, an Austin-area football coach has been hired to coach at Colleyville Heritage.
Cedar Park football coach Joe Willis has told the high school that he will accept a job at Colleyville Heritage. Willis will replace Darren Allman, the former Westlake coach who bolted for an administrative job after only one 5-6 season with the Panthers.

A request for comment was not immediate returned by Willis, who has since told Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine about his decision. Leander ISD officials confirmed his departure to the American-Statesman.
Willis has been the head coach at Cedar Park since 2012, and he posted a 37-8 record with the Timberwolves. Cedar Park won the Class 4A, Division I championship during his debut season, and the team was the Class 5A, Division II runner-up this past December.

[Farmer]

Really solid hire. Those cedar park teams were always well coached. I loved watching them play against Lancaster in 2012.

[chhspantherfan]

Really solid hire. Those cedar park teams were always well coached. I loved watching them play against Lancaster in 2012.

That is why you were the first one that I called.........then dpants.

[Super B]

East Texas Baptist University

BS, Education

1988 – 1992




Stephen F. Austin State University

1987 – 1988

What? You saying East Texas Baptist U is a BS education?





Bad joke.

[Super B]

They had named the DC as interim HC. He will make a great HC someday.


As for this hire. Wow, what a great success......Willis has been the head coach at Cedar Park since 2012, and he posted a 37-8 record with the Timberwolves. Cedar Park won the Class 4A, Division II championship during his debut season, and the team was the Class 5A, Division II runner-up this past December.

Not sure what I think at this point, but why would he leave? Money? Issues?

Colleywood Moms?

[Super B]

Anyone know where he coached from 1992 to 2007 ?

6 years; 59-20-0; 5-4-1
2004 Iraan 7-4-0 C
2005 Iraan 8-2-0
2006 Iraan 7-6-0 R
—staff, Cedar Park—
2012 Cedar Park 14-2-0*
2013 Cedar Park 11-2-0*
2014 Cedar Park 12-4-0 C

* Outright district champ
C - Co-District champ
R - Runner-up in district race

Pre 2004, he was an assistant at various schools.

[chhspantherfan]

Equal Opportunity Post

"(Willis') dedication and the commitment to excellence have been evident in the success of all athletic programs at Cedar Park High School," Sloan said in an email to parents and teachers. "We are grateful for all that Coach Willis contributed to Cedar Park High School and LISD and wish the best to the Willis family in their future endeavors."

Willis spent five years as defensive coordinator at Cedar Park under then-coach Chris Ross. When Ross was elevated to Leander ISD's director of athletics in 2012, Willis stepped into the head coaching job. The Timberwolves won the Class 4A state championship in Willis' first season.
A third-round exit in 2013 was followed by a second title game appearance in 2014, where Cedar Park lost to Ennis, 38-35, in the Class 5A championship game on Dec. 19.

Willis leaves Cedar Park with a record of 37-8 as head coach, and will take over at Colleyville Heritage High School. The Heritage Panthers went 5-6 last season, but were bounced from the playoffs in the first round in each of the last three seasons.
Cedar Park's spring football game is scheduled for Friday, May 29, at the school's on-campus field.
http://www.hillcountrynews.com/news/...fe09ced35.html

http://www.oaoa.com/sports/article_0....html?mode=jqm
CRAIG CRAKER | Posted Jun 7, 2007
Iraan High School head football coach and athletics director Joe Willis will resign from both positions Monday.
Willis has accepted a job as assistant head football coach at Class 5A Cedar Park High.
“To be at a program like that and to be around someone like Coach (Chris) Ross, career-wise it made a lot of sense,” Willis said.
The three-year Iraan head coach informed his team of the decision Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s probably the most difficult thing I have had to do since I’ve been here,” Willis said.
Ross has been talking to Willis for two years about joining him at Cedar Park and at one point Willis was going to go to the Austin area before backing out to continue to coach at Iraan.
The Timberwolves were 9-3 last season and are ranked No. 18 in a statewide preseason poll.
“He will step in and be working closely with me and make our program better,” Ross said. “I expect him to do some great things here, just like he has done at Iraan.”
Willis compiled a 22-12 record in his three seasons with Iraan, leading the Braves to the playoffs twice and advancing to the regional round in 2006.
“It’s very difficult,” Willis said. “To be honest it’s not just leaving Iraan, but leaving the group of kids I have gotten to know and make relationships with.”
Iraan-Sheffield ISD Superintendent Kevin Allen said he and the school board will decide what direction to take at Monday’s meeting.
The rest of the coaching staff will remain in place.
“One of the conditions if someone new comes in, there is a staff in place that we feel very good about as not only coaches, but also teachers,” Allen said. “We will have to evaluate if there is someone on the current staff that we will promote as head coach and athletic director.”
The resignation comes at a late point in most hiring processes, though Willis was hired on June 16, 2004.
“I don’t have so much regret as I do not getting to see my kids on a daily basis,” Willis said. “(Wednesday) we couldn’t have everyone here, not being able to look everyone in the eye and explain why it is happening the way it is, is the only regret I have.”
Iraan graduated a strong nucleus off of last season’s team but is still expected to challenge for the District 8-1A title with McCamey and Wink.

Here's something from before Iraan, it's also a very good read and solidifies what I've learned tonight. This is a really good man that will do well wherever he coaches. Excited to see who he retains.

"Willis enters the job after previous stints as a head coach and as an assistant for former Sweetwater coach Kent Jackson."

http://archive.cplstatesman.com/2012...cedar-park-ac/

For Willis, the semifinal berth is a first-year success for a head coach who forged a friendship with Ross at a coaching clinic in 1998.

“He was talking at a clinic and he was the offensive coordinator at Wichita Falls and we ran the same offense, so I went up and talked to him after the clinic,” Willis said. “He put me in contact with Kent Jackson (now at El Paso Coronado) and coach Ross and I stayed in contact throughout. It was very rare that there wasn’t a week we didn’t talk and discuss game plan at some point during my time at Sweetwater or Iraan.”
In 2007 another conversation brought Willis over to Cedar Park as an assistant to Ross on the offensive side of the ball. One year later he was promoted to defensive coordinator when Mann left to start the football program at Rouse. Willis was named the next head coach of the Timberwolves after Ross was promoted in April.
For Willis, the semifinal berth is a first-year success for a head coach who forged a friendship with Ross at a coaching clinic in 1998.
“He was talking at a clinic and he was the offensive coordinator at Wichita Falls and we ran the same offense, so I went up and talked to him after the clinic,” Willis said. “He put me in contact with Kent Jackson (now at El Paso Coronado) and coach Ross and I stayed in contact throughout. It was very rare that there wasn’t a week we didn’t talk and discuss game plan at some point during my time at Sweetwater or Iraan.”
In 2007 another conversation brought Willis over to Cedar Park as an assistant to Ross on the offensive side of the ball. One year later he was promoted to defensive coordinator when Mann left to start the football program at Rouse. Willis was named the next head coach of the Timberwolves after Ross was promoted in April.

“There aren’t many football minds that could compete with the amount of knowledge Joe Willis has,” Ross said. “Right from the first time I met him, you could just tell how much he knew and how much he just understood everything in the game.”“There aren’t many football minds that could compete with the amount of knowledge Joe Willis has,” Ross said. “Right from the first time I met him, you could just tell how much he knew and how much he just understood everything in the game.”

http://archive.cplstatesman.com/2012...ark-and-rouse/