Some people question what their future may look like, but Coach Brian Hempel seemed to know all along. A football coach of 15 years and government teacher at Bowie.

Hempel was a 1994 graduate of Bowie and he knew that at some point he would return to the school to coach. His inspiration to be a coach and teacher came from the relationship he built with the coaching staff when he was a player. And now 15 years later, after coaching and teaching history in other places in Texas, he has returned.

“I think teaching and coaching are a lot alike,” Hempel said. “We work on more than just the ‘X’s and O’s’ of football, we’re teaching our kids about life. I feel like I’m a coach and a teacher in both places.”

Current players are able to feel the passion in the coaches as well as see it. Varsity football player sophomore Trinidad Sanders said that there were certain characteristics to coaches that allowed the players to learn and participate more effectively.

“The coaches have to show to the team love,” Sanders said. “If they don’t show love to the team, the team isn’t gonna care about them. Determination, enthusiasm and just showing that you care makes a good coach.”

As well as qualities in coaches, players can have qualities in them that can help make it easier for the coaches to work with them on the field and allow coaches to easily teach the players what they have to know.

“I think what it comes down to is trust,” Hempel said. “If the player truly trusts that the coach has his best interests at heart and trust that the coach knows the craft and is coaching the player to win, it really comes down to that bond. It’s trusting that if the coach is upset, that there’s a reason for it. They’re really just trying to make them better.”

Trusting the coaches may be an important factor on the football field, but it can also be important in the academic field. Grades are an important piece of success in football regarding the “No Pass, No Play” rule.

“The coaches are like parents to me,” Sanders said. “They want you to do better and they really care about you personally. That makes me feel like I have to improve to show them off.”

Sophomore Kirk Nava is on the junior varsity team and also feels coaches may have a huge influence on the players that can last a lifetime. But to Hempel, the players have a huge influence on the coaches’ lives as well. He said that he sees the team working together as gamers and watching plays on Friday nights, that they’re exciting to watch.

“Bowie has some real talent,” Hempel said. “They’re strong and they’re big and they’re fast but bigger than that, they play well together. I can only tell you that they had a great season last year, 11-2 is a solid record and anybody would take that. What I see with this team is that so far, there’s really no let off, we’re just building on 11-2 and we’re expecting to go even further.”