The room buzzes with laughter and chatter when suddenly, a ringing phone interrupts the conversation. The phone call that would ultimately change an entire family’s future.
“Me and my wife were out on date night and we get the phone call, we were getting ready to go on Spring Break, he talks, tells me to come down, we see the school, fall in love with it. That’s how I got here,” Eric Luster said.
When Coach Joe Cary announced in late February that he would be leaving, Athletic Director Jay Zeller was tasked with the job of finding a new head coach. Given Zeller and Luster had worked together in the past at Grapevine High School… Zeller knew this would be a perfect fit. The team members were not sure what to expect of their new coach, but with most of them having been through changing leadership before, they were willing to give him a shot.
“More people are buying in and more people are taking his message to heart. People are showing up and dedicated to making the team the best it can be,” junior Christian Keefe said. “He’s always got a positive attitude about everything and is always working to fix something, he never complains about it, he just gets it done right away.”
Coach Luster hit the ground running after being introduced to his new team. With work beginning just a week after his arrival, soon after that bootcamp was scheduled and the team was on to new workouts with prep for spring ball in full swing.
“Physically you have to be able to handle the game. When we put the pads on, we’re gonna tackle a lot to the ground,” Luster said. “We have to do whatever it takes to win.”
One could assume spring ball is a chance to work on drills and time in the weight room but, for the coaching staff, spring ball is an opportunity to work on the athletes mental game as well.
“He brings a hard work mentality, we’re going to be disciplined in every little thing that we do. You can already tell from bootcamp, it did a lot of really great things for our kids. It just taught them attention to detail and intensity that they need to get next year rolling,” Coach Brandon Clemons said.
Although everyone is waiting to see how the next year’s season plays out, for the athletes, their season started in early April during bootcamp, with the start of spring ball closely following two weeks after that on April 18th.
“Friday night lights for football are electrifying, the stadium is packed, the crowd is loud, there’s so much energy. It’s an adrenaline rush,” Keefe said.
From alma mater in the middle of the gym to ‘Where Ya From?’ in the student section at football games, Brazoswood’s school spirit carries throughout the school and into the community because of the alumni that chose to stay close to home and come out to support the school every Friday night.
“I love everything about this place, it’s easy to have school spirit when everybody in this building has been together since first grade, it’s easier to have school spirit when everybody that’s teaching you graduated from here,” Coach Luster said. “The parent involvement is awesome. I’ve heard great things about the student section, that everyone comes out to the games. The school spirit is great, especially when you’re winning. That’s our goal, to give them something to cheer for.”
With the end of the school year fast approaching, spring ball will go as quickly as it began and in no time at all, the beginning of next school year and football season will be here. With tough, new teams being added to the schedule there’s a lot of work to be done but, Coach Luster is up for the challenge.
“I want to be known, that’s kind of why I love the whole deal ‘Where Ya From’ I want people to know that if you play anybody, no matter what sport but especially football, that you’re playing against a tough, well coached team, that’s going to play from the first quarter all the way to the last second on the clock,” Coach Luster said.