Next fall Liberty-Eylau must play Arkansas High, Texas High, Argyle, LaVega and Carthage again during the 2019 high school football season.
It’s a murderous schedule that left the Leopards banged up going into district play in 2018. Still, L-E persevered and went two rounds into the 4A playoffs. New athletic director and head football coach Klint King was aware of the schedule, and was not intimidated.
“That schedule is going to be a challenge,” admitted King. “It’s a challenge we’re ready to meet, but I don’t necessarily want that schedule every year.”
King, a native of Sulphur Springs, officially begins his new job on May 6, but he will be in Texarkana earlier. He’s the 11th head coach in L-E’s history.
“I’m going to come in and evaluate the week before I officially start,” he said. “I want to see where we’re at. We’ll make the changes that we need to make, and keep the things that we need to keep. We want to start building relationships with kids, which we’re really excited about doing.”
King selects a new defensive coordinator
A new defensive coordinator has been picked by King. He hopes to have an offensive coordinator soon.
The Leopards’ new mentor was still in Texarkana Friday morning, getting paperwork completed, while visiting with Superintendent Ronnie Thompson, Matt Fry and local media.
He was asked what the Leopards might look like when they line up at Harris Field next season.
“I like to spread it out; we’re going to get it to athletes in space,” King said. “When the numbers seem impossible, we’re going to run the football. We’ll take what the defense gives to us. We’re going to be fast pace, upbeat and attack.”
Leopards will attack on defense
The Leopards will also be attacking on defense, too. That’s something King knows very well. He comes to L-E from Richland High in the Birdville ISD, which scored 23 defensive touchdowns the past three years.
“I’ve played odd and even fronts on defense,” he said. “We’ll adapt to the kids we have at L-E, but we will attack. We want to dictate to the offense what they’re going to do, rather than the other way around. When the L-E job opened up, I started watching a lot of video of the Leopards’ games. Oh, I’m really excited.”
The 35-year-old King and his wife, Whitney, were visibly excited about their move from the Metroplex to the Liberty-Eylau community. They have two children, Judd (5) and Grant Klaire (2).
“We’re so happy to be part of the Liberty-Eylau family,” King said. “I’ve always known the history of Liberty-Eylau’s athletics. It’s a rich history, and we’re just excited to be here. East Texas is home to me. We love the area, and want our kids to grow up here. We plan to be part of the L-E family for a long time.”
Pleasant Grove’s Josh Gibson and Texas High’s Gerry Stanford are not strangers to King. He’s admits to being awed by Gibson’s success.
“I’m excited to be around those guys,” he concluded.
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