SEARCH:

Archives > Coppell Gazette > Sports

Print
E-mail
Comment (No comments posted.)
Rate

RSS
Share
Text Size

Former Creekview coach to replace Lawhon

By Chris Roark, Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11:57 AM CDT

Coppell was once one of Shane Bybee’s biggest rivals. Now it’s his team.

Bybee, who had coached at Carrollton Creekview from 2001 to 2006, was named the new Coppell boys soccer coach Monday night.

Bybee replaces John Lawhon, who resigned June 8 to take the head coaching job at Corsicana.

Bybee spent the last year at Lovejoy, a first-year Class 3A school east of Allen. He had shown interest in starting up a new program when Lovejoy first opened, but once Coppell’s job opened up, the chance to coach a team as rich in tradition as Coppell proved to be too attractive.

“It’s a good opportunity,” Bybee said. “We’re talking about a team that has a history of success and has the expectation of success. We were building that at Lovejoy, but they’re already there at Coppell. I’m exciting about moving into an established program.”

Coppell went to the state tournament four times under Lawhon and reached the regional tournament six times during his seven-year stay.

Bybee had his own share of success at Creekview as he took the Mustangs to the state tournament in 2003. In fact, the two teams took turns knocking each other out of the regional tournament in recent years. Creekview beat Coppell in 2003, and Coppell beat the Mustangs to advance to state in 2002. In all, Creekview was 1-1-1 against Coppell during Bybee’s stay at Creekview.

“It will be strange,” Bybee said of facing Creekview. “There are some great kids over there, and I still keep in touch with some of them. Coaching against them will be very interesting. It will also be strange standing on the visitor’s side at Standridge Stadium or at Perry Middle School.”

The teams face each other twice in District 6-5A play.

Bybee said he’s not sure yet what type of style he will use at Coppell. For much of his time at Creekview, he took advantage of having such a solid defensive team and would play possession. But he said that if a team has a lot of attacking players, that’s the strategy he will use.

“It’s dictated by the players,” Bybee said. “Coppell has traditionally been an attack-oriented team, so I’ll look to see if they are going to maintain that this year. I’m fortunate to have a good staff of coaches at Coppell who knows the game.”

In Bybee’s six seasons at Creekview, he took the Mustangs to the playoffs four times. He compiled a 108-51-9 coaching record before going to Lovejoy, which played a junior varsity schedule this past season.

Share this Article