David Bailiff has been hired as the 18th football coach in program history. Let’s take a look at some of his info.

David Bailiff:

DOB: May 26, 1958

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Alma Mater: Texas State (1977-1980)

Offensive Philosophy: Shotgun Spread

Defensive Philosophy: 4-2-5

Overall: “When you have playmakers, let them make plays.”

Family: Wife (Angie) Daughter (Brooke) Sons (Grayson & Gregory)

Coaching Career-

Five Quick Thoughts:

1. He has history at least playing against The Lions. He was the team captain of Jim Wacker’s SWT 1980 team in their first year in the NCAA. That year, the Lions and Bobcats battled as two of the top teams in the LSC. He also is familiar with former Lion Coach Eddie Vowell and knows about the great tradition of that is East Texas State/Texas A&M-Commerce Football. He knows we expect to win here.
2. He almost won a National title. In the 2005, he led his alma mater to the Division I-AA national semifinals and won the Southland Conference title. The Bobcats lost by 3 points to a Northern Iowa team that featured some very odd calls in a high scoring 40-37 affair. He knows what it takes to win and go deep on a tournament level playoff system.
3. He had the most success at Rice than any coach in the past 60 years. Rice is a tremendously tough place to play due to their extremely high admission standards and from that pool, you pick your scholar athletes. Some are very good, like their Baseball program and some notable players such as record setting QB Chase Clement and Wideout Jarrett Dillard, other than that, a coach at Rice is forced to make lemonade with whatever lemons they get in recruiting. Some are good ones, some are not so much. They are all academically gifted, and that is Rice’s prime focus.
4. He wins in the postseason. His record in the postseason is 5-2 during his time at SWT and Rice. If you want a coach who can do more with less, this is a guy that appears to be able to do that. Getting to the postseason is one thing, winning there is quite another. Nobody wants to end their season in the week after the first round of the playoffs.
5. He has STRONG Texas ties. This is huge in recruiting and also in knowing what kind of kids you want in your program. A storyline that was buried after winning the National title last year was that not only had the Lions won a national title, but they had the highest team GPA of any team in the Conference and also in the Region and one of the highest in the entire country. Bailiff comes from a school that recruits the best talent with the best academic prowess, now he gets to come to Commerce and use that. Some of the best high school football programs in Texas have some of the best academic programs as well, and that is where you build championship programs on this level.

Side Notes: Since the news broke, there has been a split as to whether this was a good hire. My vote? I like the direction. Sometimes more than a record overall has to be looked at. Can he recruit? Is he a fit? Does he want to be here? Does he understand what Lion fans have been used to for the majority of program existence? Those questions appear to be good answers.

I will leave you with a quote he made upon accepting the job.

“I am so thrilled to be the 20^th head coach in the history of the school. I’m an old Lone Star Conference guy, and that’s where my roots are in college football,” Bailiff said. “It’s great and exciting what coach Carthel built here, and it’s the first job I’ve had where you’ve got to look at the blueprint and continue building the momentum on something great he’s already got started.”

He will be introduced in McKinney ISD Stadium as the head coach on Wednesday at 11 AM. (Tim McMurray has some major chutzpah on that one.)