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GODLEY — The Godley ISD school board unanimously approved the hiring of Randy Brawner as the boys athletic director and head football coach at Thursday morning's meeting at the Godley ISD administration building.

Brawner comes to Godley after a four-year stint as an assistant coach for Class 4A power Aledo.

Superintendant Paul Smithson interviewed 11 candidates out of 199 applicants and three received second interviews.

"This is my first head coaching job, and I'm extremely excited to be down here," Brawner said. "I'm anxious to get to work. I appreciate Mr. Smithson and the school board for showing faith in me, giving me that first head job. I'm extremely excited and ready to get to work."

Smithson said Brawner's enthusiasm and intensity was what made him stand out among the other applicants.

"Of course, you always like experience," Smithson said. "But it was more important to be a fit with the community. We interviewed candidates with head coaching experience, and they all had to get their first job at one time or another. You can only get head coaching experience by being a head coach. We feel like he'll do just fine and we'll help him do that. I had to get my first superintendant's job somehow. I didn't have experience when I got it.

"He just kept rising to the top. Not only his knowledge of football, but his organizational skills and his intensity. We feel like he will be a real good fit with our students."

Godley has advanced to the postseason in football the past two years and Brawner said he looks to build on that winning tradition.

"I think that was one thing that attracted so many quality applicants to this job is that very reason," Brawner said. "They weren't a 1-9 or 0-10 team. They were a playoff team the last two years. That's what I attribute [the number of applicants] to. Many of them were good, quality coaches."

Brawner was the offensive line coach for the Bearcats in his first season before spending the past three years as the offensive coordinator.

Aledo went 11-1 last season, losing to state semifinalist Everman 24-7 in the area round of the playoffs.

The Bearcats' offense averaged 38.25 points per game last season, topping 60 points twice and scored more than 40 in four other games. Aledo averaged 46.1 points in seven District 6-4A games.

Brawner said because of the football team's recent success, he spent a lot of time trying to sell himself to Smithson.

"Every fan in the state and every school expects a state championship, but that doesn't happen," Smithson said. "I didn't talk wins and losses with coach Brawner. I talked about preparation and making sure we do everything right. If we do things right, the wins and losses will take care of themselves. We'll play the season and count them up at the end. The main thing is preparation and getting our students ready to play, getting the coaches on the same page and all the preparation necessary to have a successful program."

Brawner has ties to Johnson County. His grandmother lives in Cleburne and his father lives in Joshua.

"My grandmother is a lifelong resident of Cleburne," Brawner said. "She graduated from Cleburne High School, I hope she doesn't get mad, but I think in 1939. She still lives in Cleburne and I'd like to just tell her that I'm coming back home."

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