Schulenburg Hires Ferguson for AD/Head Football Coach

Clay Ferguson beat out 140 applicants for the position of Schulenburg Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. The Schulenburg I.S.D. Board of Trustees picked Ferguson for the job during a special meeting last Friday, March 7.

He coached this past year at Elgin High School, where he served as the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator. This will be Ferguson’s first head coaching job. He comes with quite a bit of experience. He went to high school at Jim Ned and graduated college from Texas Tech. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at West Texas A&M University. The team won a conference championship during his time there. Then he took his first high school coach job at Sulphur Springs in East Texas. After a year there, he hired on at Copperas Cove under their famous head coach Jack Welch.

“That’s a place that taught me a lot and shaped me into the coach that I am,” Ferguson said in an interview with the Record. “You learned what a work ethic was. You learned what a program looks like. Obviously Coach Welch and them were really successful and that’s the kind of program I want to bring to Schulenburg.”

(Welch coached at Copperas Cove from 1994-2017 and compiled a 192-84-1 record, including two state title appearances.)

“After we were there for four years, I got an opportunity to go to the Metroplex, to The Colony,” Ferguson said. “I was up there for five years. That was a great experience. We were able to have a five-year playoff streak for the first time in school history. We had the first district championship in 20 years. We had a really good run there, but the Metroplex got old for me. I’m not much for the big city.”

Ferguson traded in the Metroplex traffic for a slower pace in Caldwell, where he served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under Head Coach Matt Langley.

“They hadn’t been real successful, and we were trying to get it turned around, but then COVID hit,” Ferguson said. “But in our second year there, I was able to take my 4x8 relay team to the state track meet.”

Throughout his career, Ferguson has coached track and basketball in addition to football.

Langley left Caldwell after the 2020 season, and that left Ferguson without a job.

“That’s just the nature of the business in the spot I was in,” Ferguson said. “A buddy of mine got the job at Elgin. It just kind of fell in right. We knew what we were taking over in Elgin, somewhere that was a struggle. We were able to turn that place around. Kids bought into us. We were 7-4 that second year and made the playoffs. We won a playoff game this year for the first time since 2013. We were able to turn that place around and get it going in the right direction.

“It was time for me to take that next step,” he added. “It’s been a long process. But obviously God had a plan. He said, ‘Hey, I’m going to put you where you need to be.’And Schulenburg it is.”

As for X’s and O’s, Ferguson said he’ll tailor the game according to the skills and strengths of the athletes. He hasn’t had a chance to meet most of the returning players, except for a few he met during the Shorthorn alumni baseball game he attended after the school board meeting last Friday.

“On the defensive side, we’ll run a four-man or a three-man front,” he said. “It’s in our arsenal. We’re going to do everything we need to do to be successful. In my first year at Elgin, we had a four-man front. But then we didn’t have four defensive linemen, I had three.”

At that point, Ferguson adopted an Iowa State-style defense with three high safeties, also known as a “Three-High.”

“We’re not going to necessarily live in one thing,” he said. “As good as people are offensively these days, if you live in one thing, you’re cooked.”

Ferguson said he prides his defensive style on creating turnovers. At Elgin, Ferguson often “crowned” his defensive turnover makers with a cowboy hat. Ferguson said his defenses have forced no less than 20 turnovers a season for the past 12 years.

“That’s something we’re going to hang our hat on,” he said.

“On the offensive side, we want to run the football, be balanced, and create explosions when we get the opportunity,” Ferguson added. “We’re not going to beat our heads against the wall. We’re going to put kids in positions where they can be successful.”

Ferguson will need to hire a few assistant coaches.

“I’ve put some feelers out,” he said. “Obviously I need to get there and hammer out teaching fields and all that stuff to fill out the staff and get the guys I want. A couple of guys are going with Coach Hobbs to Giddings. So I’ll for sure be able to have at least a couple of guys. But it’s early in that process.”

Ferguson’s first day with the student-athletes will be March 18, after the kids get back from Spring Break. Schulenburg I.S.D. reported his salary will be $85,000 annually.