Wigington named new Caddo football coach

Over the last 22 years, Jeff Wigington has been a highly successful assistant football coach south of the Red River but will soon be headed back to the Sooner State as the new head coach of the Caddo Bruins, the school recently announced. Wigington will take over the coaching reins looking to continue and hopefully add to the Bruins’ gridiron success over the last several seasons following Trenton Harmon’s resignation this spring to take a school administration job in Tonkawa.

It’s a Homecoming of sorts for the Wigington family as Jeff grew up in Denison, but was a college baseball pitcher at the University of Oklahoma. That’s where he also met his wife, who was catcher for the softball Sooners and helped lead them to their first-ever national championship in 2000.

“We’vebeenwantingtogetclosertofamily in Oklahoma for a few years,” Wigington admitted. “My wife’s family lives in Atoka and my family still lives in the Denison area, so it really worked out well. I knew Caddo has been having pretty good success as well and that just made it an even better fit.”

Wigington began his football coaching career at Denison before moving on to DeSoto, where he helped win a state championship in 2016. He then moved on to Fort Worth Brewer for five years before spending this last year a little closer to Texomaland as offensive line coach at Plano High School.

Obviously one of his biggest transitions will be going from the 11-man game, where he has spent his entire coaching career, to the 8-man ranks for the first time.

“It’s going to be a little different in 8-man, but at the end of the day it’s about scoring points and trying to stop people,” Wigington commented. “It’s the same thing we hung our hat on at DeSoto which correlates a lot to 8-man football. You still have an offensive front with receivers and skill guys, and you want to get them in space. There are some similarities with 7-on-7 because it gives you opportunities to isolate and there are so many formation possibilities.

“You want to establish a run game no matter what level you are at, but we are going to be explosive offensively and fun to watch. I’ve been working on the playbook since we decided to make the move and we are going to go as fast as we possibly can in games, which should be exciting.”

While he knows he will need to replace a talented four-year starter at quarterback in Coltin Speers, the new Caddo signalcaller may already be familiar with Wigington’s style as his junior-to-be son Cale is an athletic talent in both football and baseball for one of the largest schools in Texas.

The new Bruin head coach also knows he won’t have near the numbers which he was used to at the bigger schools he has been at, but feels like that will also give him a better chance to grow relationships with his players.

“I am looking forward to the smaller school setting,” Wigington said. “Caddo has some great players, but obviously you can’t immediately replace a player like Coltin Speers and what he did for four years. It’s next man up though and that player will have his own abilities and what he’s good at. Our job as coaches is to put them in position to be successful and about what is best for the team. There is definitely enough talent in Caddo, and they are perennial winners. That was a big draw to me, even the challenge of replacing some key seniors. I’m looking forward to it and seeing what we can do.

“Things are different in a smaller school. Being at a big school like Plano there is a lot to deal with. Freshmen and sophomores don’t even go to the same campus as the upperclassmen. We are looking forward to being in a smaller school. I am very personable with my players, which is a big factor for me. Kids have to trust you and get to know you. The smaller numbers are a great opportunity to get to know the kids. It took me almost a year to get some of the kids’ names down in Plano. That’s what I like about it. Everybody knows everybody and supports everybody. Small towns like this shut down for state playoffs and I wanted my kids to experience that. I don’t think there is anything like it.”

While he still has a couple weeks of school remaining, Wigington plans to get up to Caddo and meet all the players before school ends and then hit the ground running during the summer.

“I’m looking forward to getting there and getting started,” he added. “There will be some adjustments. Coach Harmon was a great head coach. I’m going to have to get up there, show them my plan and get to know them. It’s going to be fun to get more creative and I think it will be a smooth transition that everyone will enjoy.”