North Crowley (Texas) High School head coach Ray Gates is joining Neal Brown's new North Texas staff, according to a report on Wednesday from Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell's Texas Football.
Viewed as one of the rising stars in Texas high school coaching, Gates went 54-4 in his four seasons at North Crowley, his first head coaching job. Located just south of Fort Worth, the Panthers went 7-4 and finished in third place in their district prior to his arrival, and did not post a winning record from 2006-19.
Gates first North Crowley team went 12-1 and reached the regional semifinals, and the Panthers then went 14-1 and fell in the state semifinals in 2023. The 2024 outfit went 16-0 and won the Class 6A Division I state championship.
North Crowley is the only school other than Duncanville, Galena Park North Shore or Austin Westlake to win the championship in Texas's largest classification since 2017. They became the first Greater Fort Worth school to win a state championship since their own 4A title in 2003. Gates was named the MaxPreps national coach of the year following last season.
Ironically, Gates's North Crowley tenure ended at his new place of work; the Panthers lost to Allen in the Region I final on Dec. 5. He's expected to serve as a special assistant to head coach Brown at North Texas while also working with the Mean Green's edge defenders. Gates was the defensive coordinator at Cedar Hill, Joey McGuire's former school, before landing the North Crowley job. He previously served as a graduate assistant at West Texas A&M.