One of the area’s most successful six-man high school football coaches is leaving.

Nathan Hayes has accepted the head football gig at Coolidge, ending the most prosperous tenure in Crowell’s history.

The Wildcats had only one playoff triumph e in their first seven seasons at the six-man level when Hayes arrived in 2011. Under his guidance, the Wildcats claimed Class A Division I titles in 2013 and 2014 and made a surprising run to the 2015 championship game, too.

Hayes finished with a 64-14 record in his seven years at the helm. The Wildcats went 7-4 in 2017 with a loss to eventual state champ Strawn in the second round of the playoffs.

“Just the kids that we got on the same page that came together,” Hayes said when asked what he’d remember the most. “The bond that we had during that run. Every year you graduate kids, but the next year you have guys that step up. That impressed me the most.”

Mitchell Parsley, now the quarterback at Wayland Baptist, was a key component during the Wildcats’ two titles, but Hayes also coached his two oldest sons – Tristen and Skyler – while in the small Foard County town.

Tristen was a record-setting passer who took over for Parsley at quarterback his final two years of eligibility. Skyler will be entering his senior year of high school and has been a Red River Super Six selection his first three seasons.

Both brothers have had tremendous success in other sports at Crowell. They teamed up to win a Class A boys double tennis title in 2017 and Skyler is coming off a Class A singles runner-up finish last week.

While Hayes felt like it was time for a change, he said leaving Crowell hurts because of how much the town has meant to his family of six. They rallied around Skyler during a medical scare last August that eventually was diagnosed as spinal stenosis.

“I’m having a hard time dealing with that right now the because these people have taken my little kids in,” coach Hayes said. “They’ve been like grandparents to all of my kids.

“The school board has treated me well. The people have treated me beyond what I would have expected. They’ve been really great to us.”

Hayes is only one of two area six-man coaches to win multiple titles joining Mike Reed who won twice while at Throckmorton. But arguably the best coaching job by Hayes’ staff wasn’t one of the titles.

In 2015, the Wildcats lost three games during the regular season but made a surprising run to the championship before falling to Abbott. It marked the first of three straight seasons Crowell lost to the eventual state champ.

“If you had told us we would have made it to the state championship game, I would have said no way,” Hayes said. “We did and I think we got big-headed or we would have won that game. Who knows.”

Coolidge, about 35 miles northeast of Waco, is coming off a 9-3 season and is grouped with Milford, Penelope and Avalon in 11-A Division I for the next two years. Crowell is back in Division I, but is grouped with Chillicothe, Northside, Paducah and Knox City in 3-A.

Crowell becomes the area’s fifth six-man coaching job to open this offseason. Newcastle, Throckmorton, Chillicothe and Forestburg are the others who’ll have new leadership in 2018.

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