GOD OPENED A DOOR
12/18/2024 2:52:00 PM | Football, General, "B" Association
After 32 years as a coach, Wetzel enjoying chance to work with Baylor letterwinners
(Editor's note: Part of this Q&A is included in the Baylor Insider magazine that will preview the Kinder's Texas Bowl between Baylor and LSU. The digital magazine will be available online and sent to Bear Foundation donors.)
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
David Wetzel, a former Baylor football letterman (1990-91) who had a decorated high school coaching career, was named Executive Director of the "B" Association in July 2024 after spending the previous seven years on the football staff at his alma mater.
Immediately tossed into the deep end with the Baylor Hall of Fame banquet, David discusses his transition and what he hopes to do in leading the letterwinners organizaton:
Q: After 32 years as a coach, including 25 in the high school ranks, was that a tough decision to walk away from that?
DAVID: I think tough would be a good way to describe it. As we got closer to the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School this summer, that's when it really felt like the Lord had opened a door that I need to go ahead and walk through. That's really the only way to explain it, because God provided me an opportunity to deal with outstanding people, Baylor letterwinners – there was a need there – and to be in charge of something. But it was tough. If you go back to my playing days, you're talking about 40-something years. I still get to communicate with the coaches, still communicate with the kids, just not in the same way. And then, obviously, having a son who coaches, I'm still kind of immersed in it in some way. It was tough, but it was the right thing to do.
Q: You and operations coordinator Kyndal Bockhahn both started this summer. What was that like trying to put together the Hall of Fame banquet in such a short time?
DAVID: I didn't know, until we got much closer, what a big undertaking it really was. (Former Executive Director) Walter Abercrombie used to tell me about it, and I've put on banquets before. But this was a big deal. Just the magnitude and the expectation that you want it to be excellent because of who you are honoring and what it stands for, I think it needs to be done at a very high level. There was a lot that went into that, but we had so many people that were willing to help. It's a heavy lift, and I'm glad it's over, but we've learned a lot of things that we can do better next year.
Q: What kind of changes would you like to see with the Hall of Fame banquet?
DAVID: I loved the venue, in the ballroom at the Hurd Welcome Center. I thought it was outstanding. There are probably some minor tweaks in terms of where we sit people and things like that, but nothing major. I thought it went really well, but I'd have to sit and think and talk to Kyndal, and I'd actually have to ask my wife some questions.
Q: In terms of the "B" Association itself, do you see opportunities to grow that group and reach former student-athletes of all sports?
David: We really do. We're still trying to learn. We have letterwinners, and we've got due-paying members, and we've got to figure out how to bridge that gap, because we've got a lot of letterwinners that aren't dues-paying members. So, we want to work on getting more people involved in the "B" Association. What exactly does that look like? We're still trying to figure that out. As we go through the process to bring in another board for the new year, how do we reach others? How do we get more diversity sports-wise and from the men's and women's side? Right now, we've got heavy involvement from football, baseball and track and field. And quite frankly, we've got to figure out how to get some of the other sports involved. And then, you take football, we're still at probably a low percentage in terms of dues-paying members. That's just something we have to figure out.
Q: What's your message to letterwinners to get more of them on board?
DAVID: This is a connection piece, it's not about trying to raise funds. This is a relationship piece to bring together people that have had a common blood, sweat and tears in the same place. Whether you were in the '50s or you just got done playing, there's a commonality and there's a connection there. We want to be an encouragement to the present student-athletes, we want to support the programs that are going on now. But it's an opportunity to gather together as family, with people that have like interests and shared the same experience, whether you won every game or went through some tough seasons. We want them to feel like they're still a part of something really special at Baylor.
Q: Looking back over a career that included an overall head coaching record of 163-71, do you have some specific things that you were proud of, things that you were able to accomplish?
DAVID: I think there's something special from all of them, from each of the coaching stops I made. Just the relationships with the players and players' families. To watch them marry and have families of their own, and be husbands and fathers, that's when you know you've planted a seed somewhere along the way. But if you're talking about the on-field stuff, there were a lot of fun things. At Killeen High School, I was a 31-year-old 5A head coach. They had just opened up Harker Heights, and Killeen High had been kind of left behind. But we made the playoffs and ended up playing three rounds before getting beat by Reggie McNeal and Lufkin that year. Just playing at Kyle Field was an incredible experience. And then, taking over at San Antonio Reagan and getting to coach one of Coach Grant Teaff's grandsons (Josh Bookbinder), and Coach Teaff being at our games. Reconnecting with him, and him sitting in our office and watching film with us, that was surreal. But it allowed me to have somebody to talk to, a mentor. I remember the first time we made the playoffs at Reagan, because they had never made it before, that was a huge deal. And then, we had a four-game playoff run and got beat that year by Nick Foles and Austin Westlake in the quarterfinals.
Q: You got the chance to come back to Baylor eight years ago, joining Matt Rhule's staff. How important were your Texas high school connections both in getting the job and in recruiting, too?
DAVID: That was a crazy deal. I drove to Waco and met with Coach Rhule that night at the Hilton. I got out, and I think they would all tell you, they just jumped right into recruiting questions. They were like, "Who do we need to get?" So, I drew a map of Texas on a napkin, and I told them, "We've got to go here, here, here, here." That's kind of how it all started. We had to put together a recruiting class in the dead period, and I thought we did a pretty dang good job, because a bunch of those guys ended up being really good players. So, were those connections important? Absolutely. I thought it was going to be my knowledge of X's and O's and my management of things, having run a program. And I do think Matt appreciated that. I'll go to my grave knowing that he did. But I realized pretty quickly that it was more about my relationships with the high school coaches. And call me a nerd or not, but I kind of know where everything is.
Q: At the time, you really wanted to be an on-field assistant coach, right?
DAVID: That's kind of what you think going into it. But then looking back, he probably did me a favor. To deal with high school coaches, to deal with Baylor people. I worked with the specialists, took care of those guys. And I'm thankful for that. But it's not what I had initially envisioned. We made it good, though. I ran the coaching clinic, took care of our coaches in terms of their relationships with Texas high school coaches, and I started managing our walk-on roster.
Q: During your time on the Baylor football staff, one of your responsibilities was managing the walk-on roster. Josh Cameron was one of those guys, a first-team All-Big 12 pick this year. But who are some other guys that have made a significant impact as walk-ons?
DAVID: Gavin Yates was a hand-down defensive end from Frisco Memorial. I talked to his high school coach and was like, "He might be able to help us at fullback/tight end," and look what he's done. Isaiah Hankins was a true Baylor connection. He's got Baylor blood and married Baylor blood, too. Isaiah was a big deal. Jacob Redding, a New Braunfels Unicorn, played a bunch the other day and was an interview guy at West Virginia. Safety Michael Allen, who plays on all the special teams. Guys like Caleb Parker, Jonah Burton, Dylan Schaub. I'm sure there's some I'm leaving out, but I'm proud of all those kids. They've done a tremendous job. Probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do was tell some dear friends and some high school coaches that we didn't have a spot, even though the kid was probably good enough. But I felt like it was the right thing for me to do, to have those conversations, because I could come from it as a guy that lived it as a walk-on myself.
Q: A lot of Baylor connections in your family, including your grandfather and uncle being football lettermen here. You talked about Coach Teaff earlier, what that like getting a chance to play for him as a walk-on receiver from Goldthwaite, Texas?
DAVID: It was awesome. I always tell a funny story about Coach Teaff, getting to play for him. My redshirt freshman year, in 1988, I had earned enough respect from the guys that they wanted me to play. We were beating Southwest Texas, and they started saying, "Hey, put Wetzel in." Cotton Davidson was the receivers coach, and he trusted me. He knew I wasn't going to mess it up. So, he sends me out there, and it's not even halftime yet. I'm in the huddle. And all of a sudden, they're waving me out. I get to the sideline, and Coach Teaff says, "We're not ready for that yet." So, I had to wait until the fourth quarter to get into my first game. But he was great. So many of the things that I did as a coach, I feel like, I learned from him.
Q: What was that process like in figuring out that you wanted to be a football coach?
DAVID: Coming from a 2A school, you play every sport, you're going all the time and you don't really specialize in anything. So, when I got here and got to sit and watch film, and I had a position coach and weight room guys. That just seemed cool to me. This is what I want to do. I loved the weight room, loved the conditioning aspect of things and really started eating up the X's and O's stuff. To me, I guess it was a natural deal, to get into coaching.
Q: What was that like getting a chance to coach your sons at San Antonio Reagan High School?
DAVID: I got to coach all three of them. Garren, the oldest, is a cattle rancher now. And he got out of football after his sophomore year to go to the (FFA) program. And it was the right thing to do. It was a total God thing. He was actually a good football player, he just had to deal with a bunch of injuries. Him getting out of football allowed me to learn how to talk to the parents better. When they would come to me and ask why their son wasn't playing more or why he wasn't doing this, I could tell them, "Hey, just be glad he's out here, and he enjoys being part of the team. I'm the head coach, and my son's not out here right now. He's raising cows and sheep and pigs. And I'm proud of him, because that's how God made him."
Skyler always just loved sports. He was probably reading Dave Campbell's Texas Football when he was a baby. He went all 12 grades in San Antonio, and he was a good football player. We just couldn't keep him healthy. He played at Tarleton State, got his degree in three years and then came here as a walk-on. He played tailback his first year, then he was the holder and moved to safety when Coach (Dave) Aranda got here, and played on all the special teams. So, it was fun coaching him. After that, he got into coaching, spent three years at Denton Guyer and is now at Southlake Carroll. They're playing in the state championship game on Saturday, which is really cool. I know he wants to be a good husband and dad, which I'm thankful for, because coaching is not an easy life.
Chase, the youngest, played ninth-grade football for me at Reagan and was a good little football player. That was my last year at Reagan, so then he went to Midway High School as a sophomore and got moved up for the playoffs and got to suit up when they played in the state championship game. And then, he played a lot his junior and senior year at safety, and they won a bunch of games. He had a good high school career, but Chase didn't want to play college football. He's about to finish his master's in accounting and will actually take his last class in Rome, Italy. So, we're going to go visit him there, and then he'll actually walk the stage with his master's in May.
Q: You just made it through your first fall out of coaching. Do you miss it?
DAVID: I think anybody that tells you they don't, they're probably lying. But I know I'm doing the right thing. And I'm still going to tell young Coach Wetzel on Saturday, they should have done this and this, and we'll talk through some things. But I'm going to be an encourager more than anything. This job is kind of like anything else: you can't know what you know until you just do it. Same way with being a head coach. You don't know until you do it. So, I think there are sitll things we're learning what we need to do, what we don't need to do; fires we don't need to mess with and some fires we need to put out or maybe stoke a little bit. I'm just thankful and appreciative of all of our sports and all the head coaches. I didn't really get a chance to deal with them in that way until I took this job. But we have awesome coaches here at Baylor, and I've loved getting to know them better.
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
David Wetzel, a former Baylor football letterman (1990-91) who had a decorated high school coaching career, was named Executive Director of the "B" Association in July 2024 after spending the previous seven years on the football staff at his alma mater.
Immediately tossed into the deep end with the Baylor Hall of Fame banquet, David discusses his transition and what he hopes to do in leading the letterwinners organizaton:
Q: After 32 years as a coach, including 25 in the high school ranks, was that a tough decision to walk away from that?DAVID: I think tough would be a good way to describe it. As we got closer to the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School this summer, that's when it really felt like the Lord had opened a door that I need to go ahead and walk through. That's really the only way to explain it, because God provided me an opportunity to deal with outstanding people, Baylor letterwinners – there was a need there – and to be in charge of something. But it was tough. If you go back to my playing days, you're talking about 40-something years. I still get to communicate with the coaches, still communicate with the kids, just not in the same way. And then, obviously, having a son who coaches, I'm still kind of immersed in it in some way. It was tough, but it was the right thing to do.
Q: You and operations coordinator Kyndal Bockhahn both started this summer. What was that like trying to put together the Hall of Fame banquet in such a short time?
DAVID: I didn't know, until we got much closer, what a big undertaking it really was. (Former Executive Director) Walter Abercrombie used to tell me about it, and I've put on banquets before. But this was a big deal. Just the magnitude and the expectation that you want it to be excellent because of who you are honoring and what it stands for, I think it needs to be done at a very high level. There was a lot that went into that, but we had so many people that were willing to help. It's a heavy lift, and I'm glad it's over, but we've learned a lot of things that we can do better next year.
Q: What kind of changes would you like to see with the Hall of Fame banquet?
DAVID: I loved the venue, in the ballroom at the Hurd Welcome Center. I thought it was outstanding. There are probably some minor tweaks in terms of where we sit people and things like that, but nothing major. I thought it went really well, but I'd have to sit and think and talk to Kyndal, and I'd actually have to ask my wife some questions.
Q: In terms of the "B" Association itself, do you see opportunities to grow that group and reach former student-athletes of all sports?
David: We really do. We're still trying to learn. We have letterwinners, and we've got due-paying members, and we've got to figure out how to bridge that gap, because we've got a lot of letterwinners that aren't dues-paying members. So, we want to work on getting more people involved in the "B" Association. What exactly does that look like? We're still trying to figure that out. As we go through the process to bring in another board for the new year, how do we reach others? How do we get more diversity sports-wise and from the men's and women's side? Right now, we've got heavy involvement from football, baseball and track and field. And quite frankly, we've got to figure out how to get some of the other sports involved. And then, you take football, we're still at probably a low percentage in terms of dues-paying members. That's just something we have to figure out.
Q: What's your message to letterwinners to get more of them on board?
DAVID: This is a connection piece, it's not about trying to raise funds. This is a relationship piece to bring together people that have had a common blood, sweat and tears in the same place. Whether you were in the '50s or you just got done playing, there's a commonality and there's a connection there. We want to be an encouragement to the present student-athletes, we want to support the programs that are going on now. But it's an opportunity to gather together as family, with people that have like interests and shared the same experience, whether you won every game or went through some tough seasons. We want them to feel like they're still a part of something really special at Baylor.
Q: Looking back over a career that included an overall head coaching record of 163-71, do you have some specific things that you were proud of, things that you were able to accomplish?
DAVID: I think there's something special from all of them, from each of the coaching stops I made. Just the relationships with the players and players' families. To watch them marry and have families of their own, and be husbands and fathers, that's when you know you've planted a seed somewhere along the way. But if you're talking about the on-field stuff, there were a lot of fun things. At Killeen High School, I was a 31-year-old 5A head coach. They had just opened up Harker Heights, and Killeen High had been kind of left behind. But we made the playoffs and ended up playing three rounds before getting beat by Reggie McNeal and Lufkin that year. Just playing at Kyle Field was an incredible experience. And then, taking over at San Antonio Reagan and getting to coach one of Coach Grant Teaff's grandsons (Josh Bookbinder), and Coach Teaff being at our games. Reconnecting with him, and him sitting in our office and watching film with us, that was surreal. But it allowed me to have somebody to talk to, a mentor. I remember the first time we made the playoffs at Reagan, because they had never made it before, that was a huge deal. And then, we had a four-game playoff run and got beat that year by Nick Foles and Austin Westlake in the quarterfinals.
Q: You got the chance to come back to Baylor eight years ago, joining Matt Rhule's staff. How important were your Texas high school connections both in getting the job and in recruiting, too?
DAVID: That was a crazy deal. I drove to Waco and met with Coach Rhule that night at the Hilton. I got out, and I think they would all tell you, they just jumped right into recruiting questions. They were like, "Who do we need to get?" So, I drew a map of Texas on a napkin, and I told them, "We've got to go here, here, here, here." That's kind of how it all started. We had to put together a recruiting class in the dead period, and I thought we did a pretty dang good job, because a bunch of those guys ended up being really good players. So, were those connections important? Absolutely. I thought it was going to be my knowledge of X's and O's and my management of things, having run a program. And I do think Matt appreciated that. I'll go to my grave knowing that he did. But I realized pretty quickly that it was more about my relationships with the high school coaches. And call me a nerd or not, but I kind of know where everything is.
Q: At the time, you really wanted to be an on-field assistant coach, right?
DAVID: That's kind of what you think going into it. But then looking back, he probably did me a favor. To deal with high school coaches, to deal with Baylor people. I worked with the specialists, took care of those guys. And I'm thankful for that. But it's not what I had initially envisioned. We made it good, though. I ran the coaching clinic, took care of our coaches in terms of their relationships with Texas high school coaches, and I started managing our walk-on roster.
Q: During your time on the Baylor football staff, one of your responsibilities was managing the walk-on roster. Josh Cameron was one of those guys, a first-team All-Big 12 pick this year. But who are some other guys that have made a significant impact as walk-ons?
DAVID: Gavin Yates was a hand-down defensive end from Frisco Memorial. I talked to his high school coach and was like, "He might be able to help us at fullback/tight end," and look what he's done. Isaiah Hankins was a true Baylor connection. He's got Baylor blood and married Baylor blood, too. Isaiah was a big deal. Jacob Redding, a New Braunfels Unicorn, played a bunch the other day and was an interview guy at West Virginia. Safety Michael Allen, who plays on all the special teams. Guys like Caleb Parker, Jonah Burton, Dylan Schaub. I'm sure there's some I'm leaving out, but I'm proud of all those kids. They've done a tremendous job. Probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do was tell some dear friends and some high school coaches that we didn't have a spot, even though the kid was probably good enough. But I felt like it was the right thing for me to do, to have those conversations, because I could come from it as a guy that lived it as a walk-on myself.
Q: A lot of Baylor connections in your family, including your grandfather and uncle being football lettermen here. You talked about Coach Teaff earlier, what that like getting a chance to play for him as a walk-on receiver from Goldthwaite, Texas?
DAVID: It was awesome. I always tell a funny story about Coach Teaff, getting to play for him. My redshirt freshman year, in 1988, I had earned enough respect from the guys that they wanted me to play. We were beating Southwest Texas, and they started saying, "Hey, put Wetzel in." Cotton Davidson was the receivers coach, and he trusted me. He knew I wasn't going to mess it up. So, he sends me out there, and it's not even halftime yet. I'm in the huddle. And all of a sudden, they're waving me out. I get to the sideline, and Coach Teaff says, "We're not ready for that yet." So, I had to wait until the fourth quarter to get into my first game. But he was great. So many of the things that I did as a coach, I feel like, I learned from him.
Q: What was that process like in figuring out that you wanted to be a football coach?
DAVID: Coming from a 2A school, you play every sport, you're going all the time and you don't really specialize in anything. So, when I got here and got to sit and watch film, and I had a position coach and weight room guys. That just seemed cool to me. This is what I want to do. I loved the weight room, loved the conditioning aspect of things and really started eating up the X's and O's stuff. To me, I guess it was a natural deal, to get into coaching.
Q: What was that like getting a chance to coach your sons at San Antonio Reagan High School?DAVID: I got to coach all three of them. Garren, the oldest, is a cattle rancher now. And he got out of football after his sophomore year to go to the (FFA) program. And it was the right thing to do. It was a total God thing. He was actually a good football player, he just had to deal with a bunch of injuries. Him getting out of football allowed me to learn how to talk to the parents better. When they would come to me and ask why their son wasn't playing more or why he wasn't doing this, I could tell them, "Hey, just be glad he's out here, and he enjoys being part of the team. I'm the head coach, and my son's not out here right now. He's raising cows and sheep and pigs. And I'm proud of him, because that's how God made him."
Skyler always just loved sports. He was probably reading Dave Campbell's Texas Football when he was a baby. He went all 12 grades in San Antonio, and he was a good football player. We just couldn't keep him healthy. He played at Tarleton State, got his degree in three years and then came here as a walk-on. He played tailback his first year, then he was the holder and moved to safety when Coach (Dave) Aranda got here, and played on all the special teams. So, it was fun coaching him. After that, he got into coaching, spent three years at Denton Guyer and is now at Southlake Carroll. They're playing in the state championship game on Saturday, which is really cool. I know he wants to be a good husband and dad, which I'm thankful for, because coaching is not an easy life.
Chase, the youngest, played ninth-grade football for me at Reagan and was a good little football player. That was my last year at Reagan, so then he went to Midway High School as a sophomore and got moved up for the playoffs and got to suit up when they played in the state championship game. And then, he played a lot his junior and senior year at safety, and they won a bunch of games. He had a good high school career, but Chase didn't want to play college football. He's about to finish his master's in accounting and will actually take his last class in Rome, Italy. So, we're going to go visit him there, and then he'll actually walk the stage with his master's in May.
Q: You just made it through your first fall out of coaching. Do you miss it?
DAVID: I think anybody that tells you they don't, they're probably lying. But I know I'm doing the right thing. And I'm still going to tell young Coach Wetzel on Saturday, they should have done this and this, and we'll talk through some things. But I'm going to be an encourager more than anything. This job is kind of like anything else: you can't know what you know until you just do it. Same way with being a head coach. You don't know until you do it. So, I think there are sitll things we're learning what we need to do, what we don't need to do; fires we don't need to mess with and some fires we need to put out or maybe stoke a little bit. I'm just thankful and appreciative of all of our sports and all the head coaches. I didn't really get a chance to deal with them in that way until I took this job. But we have awesome coaches here at Baylor, and I've loved getting to know them better.
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