Rogers looking for success with Bulldogs
Last year, the Marlin Bulldogs had a fantastic season. They finished with an overall record of 11-3 and a perfect district record of 7-0, winning their first district championship since 2005.
With Coach Ruben Torres leaving, the Bulldogs have promoted defensive coordinator, Jeff Rogers, as the new head coach.
Rogers is also a member of the Texas State 7-on-7 Board of Directors. He has plenty of past coaching experience in Central Texas as a defensive coordinator for three years in Lexington, an offensive coordinator at Groesbeck for three years, and Navasota where he spent six seasons with the Rattlers as offensive coordinator. Rogers also spent one season as the head coach at Vanderbilt Industrial.
Now after spending time as the defensive coordinator for Marlin, he is now the head coach, and is ecstatic and excited about the whole situation. He believes it is a good fit for him.
“There was a process they used, no matter who it was,” Rogers said. “I was here, the job posted, Coach Torres left, and I decided I was going to apply for the position. I went through the process and we had a couple rounds of interviews and everything, and it was the Friday before spring break I got a call that afternoon and they had told me that they were offering me the position.”
For a lot of new head coaches there is a process to build that team chemistry with the student athletes, but Coach Rogers feels that since he was here last season, that process will be much smoother. This should allow continued success for the Bulldogs.
“I think the biggest thing is when I’ve taken a head coaching job before and going in and didn’t know anybody, there’s some things you do a little bit differently as you’re coming in,” he said.“Being here, and already being in place and having a relationship with the kids and knowing how the system and everything has been run and how the program has been run and how things work, the administration and everyone involved, it was a really easy transition for me. We just kind of picked up from day one and just started going like we would go like we had been going since Torres had been gone.”
Even though their season ended with a tough loss to Tolar, the Bulldogs still accomplished great things, including a trip to the quarterfinals and their first district title since 2005. Coach Rogers believes that last season was just a stepping stone for many more great things to come for the future of Marlin football.
“I think our whole season last year is something to build off of,” Rogers said. “I know that I, personally, and the football team, we have something to prove. We had a great season, but we didn’t accomplish our number one goal, and our number one goal is to win a state championship. That’s what our goal is set on right now here in Marlin.”