Feb. 16, 2010

By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER

The convincing sales pitch, combined with the fact that Wayne Hooks had become a familiar face hanging around Rice Stadium watching football practices, made the decision especially easy for David Bailiff.

Bringing Hooks and Ray Ward aboard would cost Bailiff nothing, not even "a tank of gas" as was remarked. Both men, titans in the Texas high school coaching profession and retired for six years, would serve in a volunteer capacity tackling some of the odds and ends every Football Bowl Subdivision program needs managed. And though his relationship with the Texas High School Coaches Association was already rock solid, Bailiff could not bypass an opportunity to envelop two men with nearly eight decades of combined coaching experience yet so willing to serve.

"We're going to have them involved in a lot of aspects of the program," Bailiff said of Hooks and Ward, newly named Texas high school coaches liaisons. "During spring ball when the high school coaches come, they will get them set up with film and get them out to practice and introduce them to everybody that they need to meet. They'll play a valuable role.

"And they are both, in my opinion, icons in the city of Houston and in the state. It's really going to help us even have a better relationship with high school coaches in Houston and the state of Texas."

Hooks and Ward, whose volunteer service commenced around the holiday break, have roots that run deep and wide across the Greater Houston area. Ward began his coaching career at Sealy High School in 1962 before moving on to Waller, Cy-Fair, Alvin, Elsik, Spring Branch, Memorial and finally Pasadena, where he spent the final 14 years of his career coaching his alma matter. Hooks started coaching at West Hardin in 1964 and spent time at Orangefield, Hardin and Hamshire-Fannett. He and Ward coached together at Memorial in the mid-1980s before Hooks assisted Fred Goldsmith at Rice. He capped his career at Cy Falls High School before retiring in 2003, the same year Ward stepped aside.

That cache is invaluable, and it's what Hooks and Ward gladly offer.

"We can still relate to the high school coaches the same way we did when we were coaching," Ward said. "And in talking with them, they still consider us coaches. They know we're retired, but there is a fraternity there that is unbreakable.

"We're in the immediate area and this is the area we pretty well grew up in and coached in most of our lives. We know probably a majority of the coaches in Harris County, and if not they know of us. And plus, there is something about being able to communicate with a high school coach if you're a high school coach (as opposed to) a coach on the college level."

Maintaining those lines of communication is key to the lifeblood of any college coach - recruiting. Bailiff enjoyed dizzying success during his second season on South Main, leading Rice to its first bowl victory in 50-plus years. But he remains just three full recruiting classes deep into his tenure, and the process of building a consistent winner requires his establishing an advantageous position with the coaches he connects with while mining the talent that will supply his burgeoning program.

Hooks and Ward can serve as vital assets in that regard. While they are disallowed to recruit, they can serve as a bridge between the high school coaches who have questions of Bailiff yet are unsure of how to initiate that conversation. Hooks and Ward will work as sounding boards for those with pressing concerns and buffers between the coaches who are providing Bailiff the student-athletes both care so deeply about.

"I think it's important for every coach to feel like he's important. I really do," Hooks said. "Coaches sometimes get their feelings hurt, and I know because I was there and (Ward) was there. But that's a personal thing.

"I think in the Greater Houston area we can be of help just because we know the coaches, and it's somebody at Rice they know besides the guy recruiting their school too."

Bailiff considers the Greater Houston area the foundation for his recruiting, a philosophy evidenced by the seven local players he signed earlier this month. If he can continue to strengthen his preexisting relationships with local coaches, Bailiff will steadfastly make progress at Rice. Having Hooks and Ward in the fold should help advance his cause.

"It lets the high school coaches know that we're serious about having great relationships, that Rice as a coaching staff stands for the same things that they do," Bailiff said. "It gives them even more of a resource with people that we don't know as well as we would like. They're going to feel really good about coming by with Coach Hooks and Coach Ward here."

Said Ward: "We're hoping that we can establish that where if (high school coaches) come up here and (Rice) coaches are busy, we're not."

The public relations aspect of the job has served to spark both Hooks and Ward. Both missed the coaching profession, but certain details of their jobs expedited their retirement. The camaraderie of the fraternity never gets old, nor does the joy from watching players develop. So while they will occasionally take a peek at practice and observe a drill or two, Hooks and Ward will continue to massage their relationships with area coaches. Bailiff has put them in charge of organizing his annual Gridiron Heroes Football Clinic, an event that serves to benefit the foundation that supports players who suffered catastrophic spinal cord injuries.

In short order, Hooks and Ward crafted a star-studded clinic featuring college and high school coaches from near and far. The dual-session clinic will serve high school and junior high coaches alike, and because their reach extends so far, Hooks and Ward ably crafted a strong lineup for the April 10 event. Together they are outlining additional plans to serve both constituencies, high school and Rice coaches, in the future.

"This gives us an opportunity to be around all the high school coaches, and yet be representing a university that's No. 1 as far as reputation is concerned, as far as character is concerned," Hooks said. "Bailiff is doing a great job, and when we had an opportunity, wanted to be a part of it."

For Hooks and Ward, the opportunity was novel enough to splurge on gas.

"Every high school coach has always thought at some point and time about coaching in college. We're not coaching, but we're at a level where we're relating to a college and can help that particular college," Ward said. "You feel a part of it even though you don't coach on the field."