Christoval promotes assistant Matt Lowry to lead boys basketball program
Christoval ISD has selected assistant coach Matthew Lowry to be its next high school boys basketball coach, athletic director Casey Otho announced Wednesday.
Lowry has been promoted to replace Bryan Blackwell, who left Christoval to take the same position at Idalou.
Blackwell coached six seasons at Christoval, leading the Cougars to a 121-65 overall record, including two deep playoff runs over the past two seasons. Christoval won three playoff games in 2021 and won four in 2022, falling in the Class 2A Region I final.
It doesn’t take long to research Lowry’s professional experience. The Angelo State University graduate’s first year on the job was this last one, when he assisted Blackwell at Christoval.
Lowry said he would be hard-pressed to find a better learning experience.
“(Blackwell) is an amazing coach. I couldn’t have found a better coach to learn from,” Lowry said. “I thought I knew what I knew, but he expanded my knowledge of the game so much. We had a such a good relationship and it was fun coming to work every day. We were pretty close.”
He’ll also benefit from his background. His father is Blackwell head football coach and athletic director Clint Lowry, and his grandfather is Boyd Lowry, a Texas Six-Man Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee from Gordon.
“I grew up around it,” Lowry said. “Both my mom and my dad coached. It ran in my blood a little bit.”
Working in a small school and small community is also part of the young coach’s experience. The Panther Creek and Blackwell native said he’s fit in well with the coaches at Christoval.
“I’m really blessed,” he said. “It was such a good opportunity coming here and working with the coaching staff here. It just fits. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start, and I can’t wait to build my head coaching experience.”
Lowry didn’t have much time to reflect about his new opportunity. He traveled to Austin on Thursday for the UIL State Track and Field Championships.
An assistant football and track coach, Lowry coached Cayden Carpenter to a spot at state in the boys 300 hurdles. He also coaches high jump. He’ll continue as an assistant football and track coach next year.
He said that one of the things that makes coaching at Christoval special is the all-around attitude of the entire athletic program.
“They don’t just compete for basketball,” Lowry said of his basketball players. “They want to compete in general. In football, baseball, track, the kids do everything and they want to be good at everything. And (coaches) are not battling for athletes, we want to see success across the board. You don’t see that at every school.”
Lowry said he’ll continue to benefit from his professional relationship with Blackwell, who he said was not leaving Christoval because of a lack of future talent. The Cougars, while graduating two starters, are returning the majority of last year’s team.
“They seem pretty excited,” Lowry said of the reception from the returning Cougars. “They were nervous at first because they don’t want things to change much. We’ll have the same terminology.
"I’m not saying I’ll do everything exactly the same as Blackwell, but if it’s not broken, I’m not going to try to fix it. It’s good because I’ve already got a good relationship with them, and the community members I have talked to seem excited, so I couldn’t be happier, honestly.”
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Christoval promotes assistant Matt Lowry to lead boys basketball program
