After leading Iran High School to its worst record in school history with an 0-11 season, first-year athletic director and head coach Matthew Luddeke’s job was in trouble. After a 90-minute closed session on Monday, the Iraan-Sheffield ISD School Board voted to take no action and keep Luddeke in his role.
Nearly 20 parents and athletes attended the meeting to speak in favor of Coach Luddeke.
“He has a very good balance between playing football and making you into a man and getting you ready for the real world. That’s what we liked about him,” Javier Hernandez- a soon-to-be senior on the team- said in an interview.
In some games, Luddeke only had enough players to suit up 12 athletes per game and even finished a game with only 10 players on the field after a dramatic drop in enrollment caused extensive drops to budgets and staff. The two-hour meeting spent an hour and a half on the agenda item before deciding to stick to the contract Luddeke agreed to last month.
