ALLEN — Todd Dodge has been called the Nick Saban of Texas high school football. That is the legendary status that Lovejoy’s new head football coach and athletic director carries.
After winning seven state titles — four at Southlake Carroll and three at Austin Westlake — Dodge is coming back to coach after being retired for the last two years. He has as many state titles as Saban had national championships before retiring as Alabama’s coach in January.
And Dodge is ready to start chasing title No. 8, saying at his introductory press conference Saturday morning that he plans to start immediately. He was unanimously approved as Lovejoy’s coach at a special Board of Trustees meeting and said that he started getting the desire to return to coaching while speaking at a clinic in College Station about a year ago.
“Since then the fire was lit back in me, and I knew that I definitely wanted to get back into coaching,” Dodge said. “The two years that I’ve had off have been very, very good for me and for [my wife] Elizabeth, but I don’t know who is more excited, her or me.”
Todd Dodge is officially approved as the new football coach and AD at Lovejoy. The legendary coach won seven state titles at Southlake Carroll and Austin Westlake before retiring after 2021 season.#txhsfb @SportsDayHS @LovejoyFootball @lovejoyisd1 @dctf @ihss_dfw @SLCAthletics pic.twitter.com/OwU6Si8sgJ
— Greg Riddle (@DMNGregRiddle) January 27, 2024
Dodge needs two more state titles to tie the state record shared by Carthage’s Scott Surratt and the late Gordon Wood. He had one of the most amazing five-year runs in state history, winning four state championships and amassing a record of 79-1 at Carroll from 2002 to 2006.
Dodge will replace Chris Ross, who had a record of 45-9 in four seasons at Lovejoy, including 12-2 this past season. Dodge said he has been keeping an eye on Lovejoy since it started playing varsity football in 2008.
He takes over a Class 5A Division II program that had success quickly, reaching the state semifinals as a 3A school in 2009 and playing in regional finals in 2010, 2020, 2021 and 2023.
“First of all, the excellence that they have had here. I’m so impressed with how it all started,” Dodge said. “It was instant success, and not only in football, but in all sports. The volleyball program is as good as there is in the country, and all of the sports are at a high, high level.”
Dodge said that being in a school district with just one high school was important to him, and Lovejoy is in the same mold as Carroll and Westlake in that regard. It also gives him a chance to move close to family, with his son Riley being the head coach at Southlake Carroll and many relatives living in the Dallas area.
“Elizabeth and I are looking for a place to make our home for the rest of our lives,” Dodge said.
Todd Dodge is officially the new football coach at Lovejoy. He takes over a team that has reached the regional final in three of the last four years.#txhsfb @SportsDayHS @LovejoyFootball @lovejoyisd1 @SLCAthletics @dctf @ihss_dfw @MaxPreps pic.twitter.com/X7mRcdPWmz
— Greg Riddle (@DMNGregRiddle) January 27, 2024
It has been a long journey to get to this point. He also held head coaching jobs at Cameron Yoe, Carrollton Newman Smith, Keller Fossil Ridge, Marble Falls and the University of North Texas.
Dodge has been living in Horseshoe Bay, about an hour outside of Austin, and he has stayed involved in football. Even during retirement he continued the quarterbacks and wide receivers camp that he has been running for 32 years, he trained quarterbacks on the side, he attended Southlake Carroll and Westlake games and he traveled around the country watching former players compete in college.
Dodge was 58 when he retired from coaching after leading Westlake to a third consecutive state championship by beating Denton Guyer in the Class 6A Division II title game in 2021. He was asked Saturday how much longer he would like to coach.
“I would love to coach for a full alignment — seventh grade all the way through 12th grade. See one complete cycle through,” Dodge said. “You never know what happens after that.”
Dodge has a career record of 233-72, and he won his last 40 games at Westlake. His most memorable victory at Westlake came in the 6A Division I state championship game in the pandemic-ravaged season that started in 2020 and finished in 2021, when he beat Carroll 52-34 while going head-to-head with his son.
When he was asked if he would like to schedule a nondistrict game against Carroll now that he’s at Lovejoy, Dodge emphatically said, “No,” drawing a big laugh from the crowd.
“We did that once. I don’t really enjoy competing against people who are really, really close to you,” Dodge said. “That was a special time, and also one that I only want to do one time. You don’t really know the toll that takes on a family.”
Dodge does expect to play a tough schedule next season, and next week’s realignment could put Lovejoy in a district with Anna, Frisco Emerson and Melissa. Those three schools were a combined 37-6 in 2023, with Anna winning the 4A Division I state title, Emerson reaching the 5A Division II state semifinals and Melissa finishing 10-2.
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