Humble Atascocita Turns to Kyle Coats to Maintain Winning Texas High School Football Tradition

After earning District Coach of the Year honors at The Woodlands College Park, the former UT analyst brings a championship pedigree to Eagles

The Woodlands College Park football coach Kyle Coats was hired to take over the same position at Humble Atascocita on Feb. 17. / Rick Berns

Humble ISD announced the hiring of Kyle Coats as the new football coach at Atascocita High School on Feb. 17.

He leaves the post at The Woodlands College Park in the northern suburbs to take over an Eagles program that has been one of the better Houston programs.

“Atascocita has been a top-tier program in the State of Texas since I began coaching, and I’ve always admired the talented and physical teams Coach Stump and his staff have put on the field,” Coats said. “The brand of Atascocita Football carries a lot of weight, and I’m excited to lead this program into a new era as we get started.”

Since starting to play football in 2006, the Eagles have a record of 164-74.

This year, the Eagles posted a 6-5 mark and took fourth in District 17-6A, one of the toughest in the state. Houston C.E. King made the 6A Division 2 final and Galena Park North Shore won the Class 6A Division 1 championship.

Former head coach Craig Stump announced his retirement in January. He guided the Eagles to 10-win seasons 10 times in a 12-year span. Atascocita reached the regional finals six times, including four straight from 2021 to 2024.

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Coats’ background

He took over as College Park’s head coach in 2023 and went 4-6 in the first year. He went 7-5 in Year Two and guided the Cavaliers to the playoffs for the second time in school history.

This year, the Cavs were 11-2 and reached the 6A D2 regional semifinals, losing to DeSoto, 56-34.

That was a unique twist for Coats, who as the co-defensive coordinator of DeSoto in 2022, when they won a state title.

College Park won the District 13-6A championship this year, and he was named the District Coach of the Year.

Coats’ first day will be Feb. 23, according to the school's press release.

He previous had coaching stops at Round Rock Westwood, the University of Texas, East Texas Baptist, Hardin-Simmons University and Trinity University.

He was a defensive analyst with the defensive backs at UT from 2017 to 2020. The Longhorns won the 2017 Texas Bowl, 2018 Sugar Bowl and 2019 Alamo Bowl during his tenure.

Texas Longhorns players celebrate after defeating the Missouri Tigers in the 2017 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium. Newly-hired Atascocita coach Kyle Coats was on the coaching staff that season: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

After UT, he was the Westwood defensive coordinator until 2022, then joining DeSoto for one season.

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Coaching start

The Georgetown native played football at Trinity University, a Division III school in San Antonio. He later became a graduate assistant at Hardin-Simmons in 2011-12.

He returned to Trinity as an assistant coach in 2012-13 and then returned to Hardin-Simmons as the special teams coordinator/defensive back coach from 2013-17.

That led to the job at East Texas Baptist University as the defensive coordinator in 2017, which was followed by the job with the Longhorns.