Sports
February 8, 2024
How Rashee Rice Became One of Patrick Mahomes’s Top Targets
Rice, the rookie from North Texas and former SMU star, has emerged as a key facet in the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl ambitions.
High School Football
Sports
February 1, 2024
The GOAT of Texas High School Football Coaches Is Back
After a two-year retirement, seven-time state championship head coach Todd Dodge took over at Lovejoy High School, in the Dallas suburbs.
Sports
January 30, 2024
Get Ready for the Biennial Texas High School Football Feeding Frenzy
On Thursday, schools across Texas will learn what districts they’ll play in for the next two years. Then, the scheduling madness begins.
Sports
December 15, 2023
The Too-Small Texas Quarterback Who Broke Big Records
Division I schools thought John Matocha was too small, so the former Magnolia West star went to Division II and wrote his own legend.
Sports
December 11, 2023
Meet The Controversial First Family of Texas Six-man Football
Jamie Rigdon and his sons have made a habit of bouncing between high schools and collecting football championships along the way.
Sports
October 24, 2023
A High School Football Fairy Tale Unfolds in Southeast Texas
Thanks to second-year coach Trent Miller and five-star senior quarterback DJ Lagway, 8–0 Willis High School has become an “addict” for winning.
Best Thing in Texas
September 22, 2023
Watch This HS Field Goal Sail Through the Open Window of a Passing Car
Trick-shot professionals could practice a shot like this for years and never land it as cleanly as the Gordon Longhorns kicker.
Health
September 11, 2023
When Is It Too Hot for Texas Teens to Play Football?
When my son joined a middle school team, I researched heat safety. What I found was troubling.
Sports
February 9, 2023
Texas Football Coaches Recall Jalen Hurts’s High School Dominance
The former Channelview High quarterback, who will lead the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, ran “like frickin’ Larry Csonka.”
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
One of the Greatest Programs in Texas High School Football History Faces Its Final Season
With the city consolidating its school district, Wichita Falls High—and the six-time state champion Coyotes—will be no more.
Sports
December 22, 2022
Craig Way’s Texas High School Football Marathon: Seven State Championships in Four Days
Bally Sports Southwest’s Craig Way wouldn’t trade his annual high school football marathon for a chance to call the Super Bowl.
Sports
November 11, 2022
Why Did the Texas UIL Suspend a Six-man Football Coach for Three Years?
For the second time in history, the oversight body delivered its stiffest penalty—to a tiny central Texas high school with 48 total students.
The Stand Up Desk
October 25, 2022
Skip Hollandsworth Recalls “the Most Moving Story of My Career”
The Texas Monthly writer reflects on the run-down home that led him to write “Still Life,” about John McClamrock, the boy who could not move.
Being Texan
August 31, 2022
4 Signs It’s “Fall” in Texas
Texans don’t celebrate the start of fall so much as they spend a solid one to two months willing summer to end.
Sports
July 15, 2022
The State’s Winningest HS Football Coach Might Forget All His Victories
Dementia forced Phil Danaher off the sidelines. Now the legendary coach at Corpus Christi’s Calallen High School faces life after football.
Sports
February 9, 2022
Matthew Stafford’s HS Teammates Never Doubted He’d Play in the Super Bowl
The Los Angeles Rams quarterback was the “comeback king” of Highland Park’s 2005 run to the Texas state championship.
Sports
February 3, 2022
This Event Turns Houston HS Football Dreams Into College Scholarships
Since 2009, the Greater Houston Senior Football Showcase has helped 1,400 local athletes play at the next level while pursuing college degrees.
Sports
January 19, 2022
Forget the Cowboys. The Heck With the Texans. Root for the Local Legends in the NFL Playoffs.
The state's teams don't give us much reason to feel proud, so why not focus on Patrick Mahomes, Trent Williams, and Matthew Stafford?
Sports
December 20, 2021
A Storybook Ending for Westlake Football Coach Todd Dodge’s Legendary Career
In his last game before retirement, Dodge led the Chaparrals to a third straight state championship with a win over Denton Guyer High School.
Sports
December 13, 2021
Dave Campbell Made Texas Football the Juggernaut It Is Today
The legendary sports journalist and founder of the indispensable magazine that bore his name died last week at the age of 96.
Sports
October 22, 2021
The Great Burkburnett Football Field Feud of 1972
Decades after the Wichita County town saved its stadium from an oilman’s plan to drill at midfield, the structure has been condemned—after pipes once donated by oil companies rusted out.
Sports
September 24, 2021
On the Field With the Smallest Texas High School Playing Football This Year
At tiny Dell City School in far West Texas, more than half of the high schoolers are on the varsity football team.
Sports
September 1, 2021
Texan Deuce Vaughn Is Kansas State’s Big 12 Wild Card
The sophomore running back from Round Rock talks explains how Texas high school football prepared him for a breakout freshman campaign.
Sports
August 27, 2021
Coach Gary Joseph Has the Katy Tigers Eyeing Back-to-back State Titles
With Joseph in charge, Katy has won more than 90 percent of its games and five state championships over the past seventeen seasons.
Sports
August 3, 2021
Texas High School Football Didn’t Have to Lose Quinn Ewers
The five-star recruit will skip his senior season at Southlake Carroll to pursue sponsorship offers currently prohibited by state rules.
Film & TV
June 11, 2021
‘12 Mighty Orphans’ Is the Cornball Texas Football Movie We Need Right Now
The film, based on a true Fort Worth story and starring Dallas native Luke Wilson, is a welcome post-pandemic balm.
Sports
May 4, 2021
From a Private Harris County High School, Three Players Appear to Be NFL-Bound
From 1983 to 2020, Houston’s Episcopal High School produced just two NFL players. In 2021, Jaylen Waddle, Walker Little, and Marvin Wilson are all on their way to NFL careers.
The Culture
December 22, 2020
‘Texas 6’ Offers a Glimpse at the State’s Smallest Football Dynasty
The new docuseries follows tiny Strawn High School's six-player football team in its quest for a three-peat.
Sports
October 2, 2020
How High School Quarterbacks Prepared for the Strangest Season in Football History
They faced a shortened season filled with cancellations and uncertainty. It didn’t stop some of the state’s top athletes from finding new ways to keep working.
Sports
October 8, 2019
More Than a Game
One month after a man from Plano drove to El Paso and murdered 22 people, a high school football game between the two communities became a chance to heal.
Sports
September 20, 2019
Art Briles Is Coaching High School Football in Texas. What’s His Endgame?
It’s unclear whether the disgraced coach will return to the national stage, but he has a foot back in the door at Mount Vernon.
Sports
August 16, 2019
Following Protests, the Plano Senior High vs. El Paso Eastwood Football Game Is Back On
Citing abstract fears, Plano ISD canceled a game against a school in the devastated community.
Sports
May 28, 2019
Watch the Moment Mount Vernon Learned Art Briles Would Be Its Next Head Coach
Inside the May 24 school board meeting.
Sports
November 4, 2016
Phil Danaher Becomes Texas’s All-time Winningest High School Football Coach
The Corpus Christi Calallen High School coach just notched his 427th victory.
Sports
May 16, 2016
It’s Time To Stop Spending Tens of Millions of Dollars On High School Football Stadiums
Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t stop spending money.
Sports
September 9, 2015
On John Jay High School Football And The ‘Friday Night Lights’ Mythology
Over the weekend, a referee was targeted and tackled by high school players. Does Texas have a football problem?
Sports
August 27, 2015
Allen’s Eagle Stadium Is Set To Officially Reopen On Friday
The most expensive high school football stadium in the world will get a triumphant return after its embarrassing closure in 2014.
Sports
November 7, 2014
Why You Should Root For Booker High School’s Football Team to Win the State Championship
Unless you’re an opponent, of course.
The Culture
October 21, 2014
Harvester Good
For the past 26 years, the Pampa High Fighting Harvesters have counted on their equipment manager not only to fold their uniforms but also to keep their spirits high. Because in Pampa, there is no Friday night without Trent Loter.
Sports
October 21, 2013
Texas’s Losingest High School Football Team Determined to Win
Scarborough High School, in Houston, has suffered through a 44-game losing streak dating back to September 2009. The team's seniors could graduate without seeing victory. But the Spartans still rush the field every Friday night, hoping their luck will turn around.
Sports
October 4, 2013
“Spinal Cord Injuries Are No Longer a Hidden Topic”
Twelve years after a high school football injury left him paralyzed, San Marcos's Chris Canales and his father, Eddie, help out others in similar situations with their organization, Gridiron Heroes.
Sports
August 30, 2013
Getting Back to Normal
The West High School football team opened their 2013 football season Thursday night, another step for the town in moving past the devastating fertilizer plant explosion.
Sports
January 21, 2013
Texas: It’s Where College Football Players Come From
An ESPN analysis of "recruiting migration" trends among Top 20 college football teams found one thing never changes: Texas had the most players in both 1940 and 2010.
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Stop Writing About “FNL” and Romney
UPDATE: Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger and FNL TV producer Peter Berg have both joined the fray over Mitt Romney and "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts...Can't Lose."
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Who Gets the “Friday Night Lights” Vote?
Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have both attempted to claim coach Eric Taylor's "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts..." rallying cry as their own—and FNL author Buzz Bissinger has picked a side.
January 21, 2013
Cheerleaders Must Stop Displaying Religious Posters at Football Games
Bible verses on banners spark controversy in a small East Texas town.
Sports
January 21, 2013
Carthage to Boast Largest High School Stadium Jumbotron
Carthage ISD is putting the finishing touches on a $750,000 scoreboard for its high school stadium, complete with a record-setting 1,200-square-foot video screen.
Sports
January 21, 2013
What People Are Saying About Allen’s $59.6 Million High School Football Stadium
Is this the Jerry World of high school football? The Eagles open the 18,000-seat facility in style August 31, when Southlake Carroll comes to visit.
The Culture
January 21, 2013
Austin Becomes Dillon Once Again
Friday Night Lights cast members and producers come home for the ATX Television Festival, with a panel and an Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow screening.
The Culture
January 21, 2013
Friday Night Lights’ Peter Berg Does Not Like Craig James
And Details also gets more details on the upcoming FNL movie from the director.