Reagan High School has a new head football coach.
Lyndon Hamilton, the Rattlers’ defensive coordinator the past four seasons, has been promoted to succeed David Wetzel, who resigned last month to become an assistant coach at Baylor.
Hamilton, 40, is in his 11th year as a coach in North East ISD. It will the first head-coaching job for Hamilton, an assistant coach at Roosevelt for seven seasons (2006-2012) before joining Wetzel’s staff in 2013.
“My goal is mainly just keep the ball rolling,” Hamilton said Tuesday. “We’ve got some really great kids here in this community. They work extremely hard. We have great parental involvement and there are high expectations here. The bar is very high here.
“Our job and my job is to continue to raise the bar each and every year and make sure our kids develop on the field and off the field. We want to make sure that when they leave us, they go on to bigger and better things in life and that their high school football career is not the highlight of their life.”
Hamilton takes over a program that was one of the most consistent in the San Antonio area under Wetzel, who went 114-42 in 13 seasons at Reagan. The Rattlers advanced to the state quarterfinals five times and won seven district championships, including each of the past four years, with Wetzel at the helm.
Reagan finished 9-2 last year after losing to Austin Westlake in the first round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs.
“We want to continue the tradition that we’ve had and build on the excellence that’s defined the program since before I got here,” Hamilton said. “Since Coach Wetzel’s been here, Reagan has been a very, very strong program. My ultimate job is to keep that tradition going, and making sure I’m doing right by these kids and this community.”
One of the first people Hamilton called after getting the job Monday was Wetzel.
“Coach Wetzel has an amazing ability to bring out the best in people,” Hamilton said. “You win with people and Coach Wetzel has done a tremendous job of putting together some very enthusiastic and innovative coaching staffs. Coach Wetzel allowed you to do your job.
“One of the things that I’ve learned from him is sometimes, as head coach, you’ve got to just get out of the way and let your coaches do the job. He allowed me to do that and put a lot of trust in me. I’m going to continue to put a lot of trust on the coaches on the staff.”
A 1994 Luling High School graduate, Hamilton played college football under Ron Harms at Texas A&M-Kingsville. He played linebacker for the Javelinas and was coached by defensive coordinator Richard Cundiff, later an assistant coach at Warren High School.
“Coach Cundiff was one of the first I called after I got the job,” Hamilton said. “I had to call him and thank him for everything he did for me in Kingsville to keep me going.”
Hamilton started his coaching career in 2000 at Rosenberg Terry, where he worked until going to Roosevelt in 2006.
