Wildorado ISD has made a major move for its football program, hiring DJ Howell as the district’s new athletic director and head football coach.
For a Class 1A six-man program, this is not a small hire. It is a statement.
Howell brings more than 25 years of coaching and teaching experience to Blue Mustang Nation. He spent last season as the athletic director and head football coach at Fort Stockton, where he led the Panthers to a 6-5 record and a bi-district playoff appearance in his lone season.
Before his stop at Fort Stockton, Howell built one of the best seasons in Miami High School history. In 2023, he led the Warriors to a 12-1 record and a trip to the Class 1A regional finals. That run earned him multiple coach of the year honors and helped make him one of the more respected six-man coaches in the Panhandle.
That background is what makes this hire so interesting for Wildorado.
Howell has worked across Texas and Oklahoma, coaching multiple classifications and serving in head coaching and athletic director roles. He has been part of playoff runs, district championship programs, regional recognition and five state championship coaching staffs.
Now, he takes over a Wildorado program looking for a spark.
The Mustangs went 0-10 last season after finishing 6-4 the year before. That kind of swing can be tough on a program, but it also makes the timing of this hire feel even bigger. Wildorado is bringing in a coach with experience, credibility and the kind of energy that can help change the direction quickly.
The hire comes during a busy stretch for Wildorado ISD. Former Canadian head football coach and longtime superintendent Kyle Lynch has been serving as interim superintendent and helping guide the district through a key leadership transition. The district also recently named Eric Gomez as superintendent, giving Wildorado a new leader at the district level and a proven coach leading athletics.
Still, from a football standpoint, Howell is the headline.
Wildorado is getting a coach who knows six-man football, knows how to build a program and knows what winning looks like in small-school Texas football. His success at Miami showed what can happen when the right coach gets the right group believing quickly.
For Mustang fans, that is the exciting part.
This is not just a hire to fill a spot. It is a hire with vision behind it. Wildorado brought in a coach who should energize the program and give Blue Mustang Nation plenty of reason to believe better days are ahead.
The next chapter of Wildorado football just got a lot more interesting.
