Texas football analyst Bob Shipley recommended as next Belton head coach/AD

Pending approval from the Board of Trustees on Monday, Texas Longhorns football analyst Bob Shipley will be the next head football coach and athletic director at Belton High School, according to a release from the school district.

The father of Jordan and Jaxon Shipley joined the Longhorns last spring as part of the expanded personnel department, working under former Director Player of Personnel Patrick Suddes, who was hired away from Alabama but spent less than a year in Austin after being let go by new head coach Charlie Strong following the hiring of Strong.

Suddes was just named to the same position at Arizona State this week.

The elder Shipley was responsible for a wide range of tasks that included the coordination and implementation of the daily operational, administrative and logistical processes within the football program. He also co-coordinated the walk-on program, assisted with film cut-ups and distribution of prospective student-athletes to coaching staff, supported the planning and execution of the annual high school coaching clinic and the summer football camp, and assisted with hosting prospective student-athletes and guests on official and unofficial visits to campus. In addition, he assisted with high school relations, updated recruiting lists, monitored contacts and evaluations conducted by the coaching staff, and secured transcripts in collaboration with the student services department.

Prior to arriving at Texas, Shipley had coached at Brownwood for four seasons, appearing in the playoffs each year. Before that, he spent two years at Coppell after six seasons at Burnet. His coaching career began with two seasons at Rotan.

The move of Shipley to Belton, where he will replace longtime head coach Rodney Southern, who left to take the Huntsville job nearly a month ago, means that Texas is now without both members of the personnel department who were hired last spring in an effort to recruit better and earlier.

Strong has not yet replaced Suddes, so it's unclear where he stands on having a personnel department to relieve pressure on assistant coaches and help with the logistics of travel and the tracking of potential targets.

It took former head coach Mack Brown too long to start leveraging all the resources at his disposal to maximize his chances for success at Texas. Strong would be wise to learn the same lesson more quickly.