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Danaher On The Road To 300 Wins

By R.K. Speights

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- History once again looks Texas high school football squarely in the eye. Phil Danaher, athletic director/head football coach for Calallen High School, Corpus Christi, Texas, needs 10 wins to reach the magical mark of 300 career wins. With the Friday night’s win over Corpus Christi Ray High School, he extended his career total to 290-39-2.

Win number 300, would place Danaher in the No. 2 spot in career wins (active coaches*) and No. 4 spot in all time wins in the state of Texas.

"Will I reach the 300 mark in career wins this season?" said Danaher, "Most likely. depending how far we go in the playoffs. Do I think about it, no but I do think about winning ten games this season."

"To put in perspective what 300 wins mean.:" Danaher said, "It means that I have been blessed with tremendous athletes, a fantastic coaching staff and communities that supported me over the years."

The road to the 300 mark for Danaher started 30 years ago.With three years under his belt coaching he landed his first head coaching job in Dilley, Texas, a class 2A school. During his first year as athletic director/head football coach, the Wolves won their first district championship in more than a decade and were named regional co-champions. In four years Danaher’s compiled a record of 25-15-2.

The next stop on the road was as athletic director/head football coach for Hamshire-Fannett High School, Hamshire, Texas, a class 3A school. During Danaher’s six seasons at Hamshire-Fannett, the Longhorns won three district championships advancing to the regional finals twice. His record at Hamshire-Fannett was 43-22, extending his career record to 68-37-2.

This year Danaher started his 21st season as the athletic director/head football coach at Calallen High School, a class 4A school.

Under Danaher’s watch, the Wildcats have made the playoffs for the past nineteen consecutive seasons, posting a 212-39-2 record. Until 1985, Calallen had not seen a playoffs berth for 29 years. Since then, they have reached the state semi-finals seven times. Calallen has won ten or more games every year for the past 16 years – a state record.

Can Danaher hit the 300 mark this season? If past performance means anything then the answer is yes.

Some 20 years ago, Houston Yates High School, Houston, Texas, held the record of ten or more wins in a season for eight consecutive years. Calallen broke that record and went on to add eight more years to the record.

"As a young coach, Houston Yates’ record of ten game winning seasons impressed me," said Danaher. "When we passed that record, one of our goals each year is to keep that record in tack, that has had a greater bearing on my career wins than any other factor. We are going for 17 consecutive years, winning ten or more games, this year."

Another milestone in Danaher’s career would be win 315, which would place him at the No. 3 spot as all time winningest coach. .

Danaher was born November 23, 1948 in Saint Joseph, Missouri.. Shortly afterwards his family moved to south Texas. He played high school football at Harlingen High School, Harlingen, Texas, was two time All-district, two time All-valley as quarterback and played college football for Angelo State University.

He and wife, Anita, have three children: Cody, Wesley and Brittany.

As a side note: State football records run in the family. Wes Danaher holds the No. 2 spot in Texas high school football rushing records with a career record of 8,855 rushing yards and the No. 3 spot in season rushing yards with 3,569 yards. In 1991, his brother Cody was the leading scorer in Texas class 4A high school football, accumulating 168 points. He had 27 rushing TDs, 12 passing TDs, 1498 yards rushing and 1030 yards passing

*In 2003, G.A. Moore, athletic director/head football coach for Pilot Point High School, Pilot Point, Texas, surpassed legendary Texas football coach, Gordon Wood in career wins.

Wood held the record of all time winningest coach with 396 career wins. Moore broke that record last season reaching the 402 mark.

Tuesday August 31, 2004