Calallen’s Danaher Expected to Pass Wood for 2nd Place on All-Time Coaching Wins List
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Updated: August 19, 2013
Danaher Expected to Pass Wood for 2nd Place on All-Time Coaching Wins List
Phil Danaher needs only eight wins to pass late legend Gordon Wood for second all-time. (Steve Nurenberg/Special to the Caller-Times)
In his thirtieth season as Corpus Christi Calallen’s head coach, Phil Danaher is expected to pass the legendary Gordon Wood on Texas’ all-time coaching wins list.
Danaher has never had a losing season at Calallen, recording 28 consecutive seasons with eight wins or more. It is fitting that a 29th will give him 396 career victories, or one more than Wood’s former national record.
Moving into second all-time will simply be the latest accomplishment in Danaher’s storied career. He has turned Calallen, which had missed the playoffs 28 straight times prior to his arrival, into a perennial 4A contender. As a bonus, Danaher was also able to coach his son Wes to fourth on the state’s all-time rushing list.
The man Danaher will pass this season is every bit as impressive. The late Gordon Wood, whom Bear Bryant once called the “best coach in the state,” was a seven-time Texas high school football state champion at Brownwood, picking up two more at Stamford as well as one each in golf and track.
When asked about passing Wood, Danaher stated, “Honestly, I never kept track of it and I never thought I would do it. We certainly expect to win eight games this season, but I don’t count it until they turn off the scoreboard. Coach Wood was a great man and a champion---passing him will be a tremendous honor.”
Championships are an area Danaher, who already owns the record for most consecutive 10-win seasons, still has some ground to make up on Wood. He has yet to capture a state title, falling 28-0 to Lewisville Hebron in his lone trip to the championship in 2005.
“That is always my goal with this team,” he said. “Those are the only wins that matter to me.”
The pursuit of a title will certainly keep Danaher motivated as he inches closer to the man who passed Wood and holds the #1 spot for all-time coaching win in Texas high school football history, G.A. Moore. Danaher’s eighth win of 2013 will also put him within 30 of Moore’s record 426 wins, set just two years ago.
Whether or not Danaher breaks Moore’s all-time record or even wins that ever-elusive ring, his legacy as a coach is cemented. He will be only the fifth coach in the entire country to have passed Gordon Wood, who remains one of the most well respected football minds to ever walk the sideline.
Danaher’s Wildcats will open their season at home against the Mercedes Tigers on August 30.
The Corpus Christi Calallen 2013 Team Preview
by Zach Shelton
Lone Star Gridiron
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