Austin Travis High School coach Drew Sanders has been named the new football coach and athletic coordinator at Leander Vandegrift High School. Vandegrift will open in August of 2008 with ninth- and 10th-graders that will play a sub-varsity schedule for two seasons.

Sanders tells THEOLDCOACH.com, "It's a dream to build something from the ground up. This is an opportunity to work in one of the state's best districts and compete at one of the highest levels in Texas. Leander's commitment to athletics is tremendous, it's a great school district for our kids, a great place to live and coach."

Sanders played at Hardin Simmons under Jimmie Keeling and began his coaching career in 1998 at Mexia Junior High. He worked as an assistant at Killeen High, San Antonio Taft and San Antonio Stevens before he was named head coach at Travis.

"I will miss Travis because the parents were so supportive and the kids did everything I asked of them. The Austin ISD Athletic Department under Tommy Cox was awesome and Tommy made some great changes for the district. The experience of taking a program that wasn't very competitive and making them extremely competitive is what I'll take with me," Sanders added.

Sanders gives credit to Keeling, Lee Bridges, David Denney, and Tommy Cox as mentors in the profession, "They are all good men who have helped me along the way. I would not be here without the help and guidance of these and others."

Sanders begins at Vandegrift, the fifth high school in the Leander ISD, on January 26th. Vandegrift will not be placed in a district for varsity competition until the biennial realignment changes in 2010.