Tom Bean hires Fex as head football coach, AD

TOM BEAN — The Tomcats went to the highest classification in Texas to find their new head football coach and athletic director.

The Tom Bean ISD school board has approved the hiring of McKinney Boyd assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator Steve Fex by a 7-0 vote to oversee Tom Bean’s athletic programs and build up a football program coming off a winless campaign.

“We’ve made great strides in Tom Bean academically. We have the highest ranked elementary school in the county. The high school and middle school test scores are above state and region averages,” Tom Bean superintendent Kelly Lusk said. “Now we’re targeting our extra-curricular programs and we are going to have a situation with this coaching hire to be in that position.”

Fex replaces Aaron Whitmire, who was elevated to lead the program just seven months ago and went through an 0-9 season.

He also received the athletic director title, which had been given to head softball coach Lance Cherry at the same time Whitmire was promoted in May. This marks the first time one person has held the head football coach and athletic director titles for Tom Bean since the decision was made to split those roles in April 2018.

Whitmire has an opportunity to remain on the Tomcat staff, but has not indicated if he will do that while Cherry will continue in his role as head softball coach for Lady Tomcats and he enters his 16th year in charge of the program, having made the playoffs 12 times with six trips to the third round and a region final appearance in 2017, losing 2-0 to eventual state champion Bells.

“Coach Cherry and Coach Whitmire did a fine job during the transition period. Those guys did a great job,” Lusk said.

Fex becomes Tom Bean’s eighth head football coach in the past 12 seasons with none of the most recent six getting past a third year.

Tom Bean finished 0-9 overall and 0-5 in District 5-2A (I) action this past fall, going winless for the first time since 2006. The Tomcats, who had a game cancelled due to COVID-19, lost their season-opener, 26-22, against Morton and then had only one other game decided by fewer than 34 points.

Tom Bean was shut out in its final six games and managed just five touchdowns across its first three contests. Opponents outscored the Tomcats 452-40 on the season and 353-0 in the last six games.

It was a big step back from a 2-6 mark during a 2020 season where they were originally scheduled to play nine games and ended up having another cancelled due to COVID-19. The Tomcats went 1-4 in 5-2A (I) play but a win in the season finale against Collinsville would have forced a three-way tie with the Pirates and Trenton for third place and a tie-breaker to determine two of those three advancing to the postseason.

The program hasn’t had a winning season since 2008 or won a playoff game since 2004. Back-to-back playoff appearances in 2018 and 2019 marked the first time Tom Bean made consecutive postseason trips since three straight from 2002-04 and for just the third time in program history, also joining three straight trips from 1993-95.

Fex has spent the past three years at McKinney Boyd and the program is coming off an 8-3 season with a bi-district loss against Lewisville in the Class 6A Division I playoffs.

It was the Broncos’ best season since 2014 and a playoff berth in 2020 was the first for the program since that ‘14 campaign.

McKinney Boyd went 3-7 in 2019, then went 4-7 with that playoff trip. Head coach Joe McBride announced his retirement last week and offensive coordinator Daniel Foster was elevated to take over the program.

Fex had served under McBride at Coppell and Dripping Springs, normally serving in an assistant head coach / defensive coordinator role.

The two reunited at McKinney Boyd after Fex had spent the 2018 season at Colleyville Heritage and the 2017 season at Southlake Carroll.

Fex went to Dripping Springs in 2014 after being at Coppell for seven seasons, the last five with McBride in charge.

He was also part of the original staff at Katy Seven Lakes when it opened in 2005 and played a varsity schedule a year later.

His first head coaching position was in 1988 when he led Regis High School to the Oregon Class A state championship and was there for two more seasons. His coaching career in Texas started at El Paso Irvin for 1993 and 1994, then a season at South Houston High before a run at North Shore High from 1996-99.

Fex, who played at Oregon and Western Oregon University in the early 1980s, spent some time in the college ranks as a student assistant at his alma mater for a couple years, an assistant coach for it from 1991-93 before being a graduate assistant at the University of Washington during its 2001 Rose Bowl season, which was followed by time as an assistant for Southern Utah University.

He has two sons who played in college — Jake, at Lamar, and Joe, at Bucknell, while his youngest, Jimmy, was a senior at McKinney Boyd this past season and will play at West Texas A&M.

This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: Tom Bean hires Fex as its head football coach, AD