December 1, 2021
Featured Photographed by Arturo Olmos.
Todd Dodge is the greatest coach in the history of Texas High School Football. Most agree on that. But what most don’t know is that for Dodge, football is inextricably linked to family. That came to a head in 2020, when Dodge stared across the sidelines in the Texas State Championship game at the opposing coach—who just so happened to be his son, Riley.
I spent the 2021 season with Dodge and the Westlake Chapparals for a Texas Monthly profile.
Here’s an excerpt:
Last January, just after Austin’s Westlake High School had beaten Houston’s North Shore in the state football semifinals and while the Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” blared inside his team’s locker room, Westlake coach Todd Dodge stole glances at his phone. He had to check scores.
Dodge’s Westlake Chaparrals would play the winner of the matchup between Southlake Carroll and Duncanville—both from the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex—for the state championship in the toughest division of Texas high school football. The clock ticked as Southlake clung to a late lead, and before long, the final was set. Westlake versus Southlake. Goliath versus Goliath. Meanwhile, the teenagers in the locker room kept dancing to their coach’s favorite funk music.
Dodge’s phone rang. It was his five-year-old grandson, Tate. “We finally beat Duncanville,” the boy said. “Now we’re comin’ for you, Paw Paw.”
Read the rest of the story here.
After the story was published, Dodge led his Westlake Chaparrals to the state championship. I wrote about that experience in a follow up piece.