After David Fambrough was hired as the new Buckaroo head football coach last week at a special-called board meeting, many people will be surprised at the Breckenridge connections he has.

His parents, Tom and Annette, were graduates of Breckenridge High School in the 1960s and David spent every Thanksgiving and Christmas in town celebrating the holidays at his grandparents. He also worked at his grandfather's farm down the Necessity highway during the summers from a young age through high school.

His father was the head football coach at Keller and Bridgeport, so Fambrough has been in a football family all his life.

He calls Breckenridge home even though he actually never lived here because of the special memories he had here growing up as a kid at his grandparents home.

In his first and only year as head coach at Seymour, he inherited a team that went 4-6 the year before running the wishbone option offense and he then instilled the no-huddle spread offense. At the time, the Seymour athletic program was low on morale and didn't believe they could win in any sports. The kids and the Seymour community believed in Fambrough, and off they went to the Class A Division I state championship game.

The Panthers qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and played for the state title for the first time in school history, all this happening with a coach who had no head coaching experience and was in his first year at the school. They were defeated in the state championship game by Alto, who was ranked the No. 1 team in the state by the Associated Press the entire season and have won two straight state titles and boast a 28-game winning streak. The Seymour baseball team also qualified for the state tournament this year.

Before going to Seymour, Fambrough was the offensive coordinator at Pflugerville Connally for eight seasons where they made the playoffs all eight years in Class 4A. In the coaching circles around Texas, he is referred to as an 'offensive guru' and his no-huddle offense resembles more of the style Southlake Carroll ran under Todd Dodge during its run of state titles and mythical national championships.

If we put our faith in Fambrough, just like the kids and community at Seymour did, our athletic programs will also be successful.

Fambrough's offensive and defensive coordinators from Seymour were approved at Monday's school board meeting by the BISD Trustees to take the same positions on the Buckaroo football team.

**** Ruben Guerrero, who turned down the Seymour head football coaching job to come to Breckenridge will be the defensive coordinator while John Eli will be the offensive coordinator.

Guerrero was the head football coach and athletic director at White Deer from 2000-2005 where he led the team to the 2001 district championship as well as being named the district's Coach of the Year. He will be the boys head track and powerlifting coach and to his credit, has helped guide a state champion in the high jump.

**** Eli was the offensive coordinator at Seymour the past season and was an assistant coach at Axtell from 2002-2006 and Springtown during the 2001 season.

**** Former Buckaroo football coach Jeff Berry, who resigned in May will the running backs coach at Keller High School for the 2008-09 school year.

**** Ross Dodson, who has one of the all-time best winning percentages in Breckenridge football history, has been named the head football coach at Farmersville. Dodson led the Bucks to a No. 1 state ranking by the Associated Press in 1998 for nine week as well as leading the Buckaroos to three straight district crowns and three consecutive appearances in the Class 3A Region I finals.

**** Among the new teams Breckenridge will be facing in the newly formed District 2-3A next season, which includes Brownwood, Graham, Sweetwater, Snyder and Abilene Wylie, the schools have combined to win 15 football state championships, including six by the Buckaroos. Breckenridge hasn't won a state title since 1959.

**** Todd Hatton, who in three years turned the Buckaroo baseball program into a perennial playoff juggernaut resigned and will take over as head baseball coach in his hometown of Eastland. Scott Mann also has resigned as softball coach and replacements for the positions will be named at later date.

Hatton meant so much to the Buckaroo baseball program, and I'll go more in-depth into that subject in Saturday's issue of the Breckenridge American.