After pacing the sidelines for nine seasons, Minford Falcons head football coach Brent Daniels has decided to call it a career.
“It was a difficult decision,” Daniels said. “The kids out here have been great. The coaches have been great. The community has been great. The staff and administrators have been great. I just felt it was time.”
Daniels is leaving behind a successful tenure at Minford, which saw his record conclude at 62-33 with one SOC II championship and five playoff appearances.
“Coach Daniels has been a pleasure to work with,” Minford Athletic Director Kristen Ruby said. “He has spent nine years, not only developing the Minford football program, but promoting academics and responsibility.”
Even though Daniels found continued success on the gridiron, his decision primarily came down to his family — and his desire to spend more time with them.
“The past two summers my son and daughter both play travel sports, and we cover quite a few states. On top of that, trying to make sure I was back for football or make sure that football practice was covered if I had to miss, it just wore me down a little bit,” Daniels said. “Just trying to get everything covered, when I’m at football I miss some of my kid’s events; when I’m with my kids, I don’t want to miss football.
“With what my kids are doing right now, it makes it real tough to be everywhere and do it correctly.”
Eli Daniels was a senior on the football team and will play baseball in the spring before choosing a college destination. Erin Daniels is a sophomore, and currently plays basketball and soccer.
“I don’t want to miss anymore of my kid’s activities and hopefully over the next couple of years, they’ll both be playing college sports somewhere,” Daniels said. “I just want to be able to watch them play without having other commitments tie me down.”
Despite walking away, Daniels won’t be completely isolated from the game.
“It’s going to be hard to be completely away from the game. I’m not going to interfere or anything, but I might stop in and watch practice every now and then when I start feeling the withdrawals. I’m going to be attending the ball games and watching the kids still,” he said. “It’ll be difficult. It’ll be rough. But the situation dictates that I step out for a while.”
While Daniels admits he didn’t take this decision lightly, he is very grateful for the support of his family.
“I’m thankful to my wife and family for all of their support during my coaching career. None of this would have been possible without them,” Daniels said.
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