November 3, 2017: The last time that Luling tasted victory under the Friday night lights.
However, Nate Langford is ready to get the program back on the right track after he was named as the school’s next head coach on April 19.
“I feel honored that this district is willing to give me an opportunity,”
Langford said.
“I am indebted to them for giving me my first opportunity.”
It’s the first head coaching job for Langford, who had served as the defensive coordinator at Seguin for the past four seasons. He replaces Stacey Martin, who stepped down back in mid-March and has now accepted a position on the Midland coaching staff.
Luling is located 50 miles south of Austin and has an estimated population of 5,954. The high school has an enrollment of 390 students, which means the Eagles compete in District 13-3A Division 1.
Langford’s foremost task at the helm of the football program will be snapping the 30-game winless streak that currently envelops the Luling program. After observing the program over the course of his first three days on the job, he says that his first goal at Luling is to instill a positive culture with a winning mentality.
“The biggest thing is that it isn’t an X’s and O’s issue,”
Langford said.
“It’s a deeper issue of self-confidence and a heart issue. There’s kids that don’t really want to be a part of a losing culture [in reference to the 30-game losing streak], so not too many kids are just signing up for that. The biggest thing that I will need to be able to do is to create some excitement among the players.”
Langford has firsthand experience when it comes to turning around a program. He played at a Texas State program that had suffered 11 losing seasons in 12 years from 1993 to 2004. However in 2005, as the starting defensive end for the team, Langford helped the Bobcats earn an 11-3 record and an FCS semifinals appearance.
Langford believes that with the right culture and work ethic, Luling has the talent to make a similar ascent.
“You can call me crazy, but I don’t believe that Luling has been losing because they don’t have the pieces; I haven’t seen that,”
Langford said.
“I would say that the pieces are scattered and not all of them are in boys’ athletics, but the pieces are here.”
And although there are only five teams in District 13-3A Division I, meaning that all but one team will earn a playoff berth, it is stacked with talent. All four teams besides Luling had winning records a year ago. Llano made a run to the regional finals, while Lago Vista was a regional semifinalist. Blanco and Comfort, the final two teams, had 8-4 and 7-4 records respectively.
However, Langford emphasized that he believes that his squad has the raw talent to be able keep up with its district opponents.
“It’s a very tough district, but they are not physically inferior to their opponents,”
Langford said.
“They don’t see the monsters that they can be, but that’s my job to show them who they really are.”
Heading into next season, Luling will have to deal with the graduation of talented running back Dario Munoz, who was a spark plug on offense for the Eagles and a solid presence defensively from his safety position. However, Kiylyn Black and Rafael Santamaria both return after earning all-district honors on the offensive line, meaning Langford will have a solid foundation to build on up front.
For right now, Langford believes the biggest key for his team is doing the little things right.
“We need to control what we can control,”
Langford said.
“We can’t control how big of a team it is or how many people we have on our roster, but we can do the little things really well. Especially for a team that is just trying to build confidence, trying to create small wins and going from there.”
Despite three barren years in the win column, Luling isn’t that far removed from success on the gridiron. The Eagles made the playoffs in six consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2017.
And with that in mind, Langford is upbeat as he embarks on the task of snapping a three-year long losing streak and making Luling a playoff-caliber program again.
“I’m so excited because there’s so much potential here,”
Langford said.
“If we can glue those pieces back together and draw them in, I think we’re going to be a handful.”
