These are the Top 5 Texas high school football head coaching openings as of April 13, 2021:

Arlington Lamar: With Laban DeLay’s departure to South Grand Prairie, Arlington Lamar becomes a very intriguing job opening smack dab in the middle of the DFW Metroplex. Lamar has been a regular playoff team and during DeLay’s tenure, the Vikings twice advanced to the third round of the playoffs. They have a recently completed indoor facility and access to a solid pool of talent in Arlington ISD. The only real questions for Lamar are they are hitting a down cycle in overall numbers in the program.

Klein Oak: Although the tea leaves are reading that this vacancy stays in-house, Klein Oak has proven to be a consistent winner in the northern Houston suburbs. The Panthers made the playoffs all four years under Jason Glenn and posted back to back 10-3 records in 2018 and 2019. Klein Oak expects to have a very strong team in 2020 and Klein ISD is known for providing excellent support for their coaches making this a very attractive opening.

Lancaster: What was once considered a top 10 job in all of Class 5A has lost some of its shine as Lancaster ISD has been in no rush to name a replacement for Chris Gilbert, who left for the University of Texas in early February. Nearly two months of a job being vacant has reportedly resulted in some attrition at the lower levels with kids transferring out due to a lack of a true leader in the offseason program. Despite those challenges and this not being a HFC/AD combined role, Lancaster is still a very good job because of the facilities, good pay and most importantly access to elite athletes in your ISD in one of the most talent-rich areas in the country.

Henderson: This is a tradition-rich job in the heart of football-crazy East Texas with some very nice facilities on-campus including a new weight room and indoor facility. Lion Stadium, which is located on the campus of the junior high, is also recently remodeled and features nice amenities as well. Henderson may be hitting a bit of a dip in talent, but that dip likely won’t last too long based on past history, the question at Henderson is really with administration at the moment as there’s been a complete purge of head coaches in the athletic department, which has raised eyebrows across the state.

Universal City Randolph: Randolph is one of the more unique jobs in the state in that you are dealing entirely with the children of military personnel. That inherently comes with some challenges but also comes with certain advantages. If harnessed in the right way, the Ro-Hawks could be a sleeping giant in 3A-Division I being located in a major metro area, but with a small school setup and feel. You know discipline an doing the right thing will rarely if ever be an issue when dealing with a military community as well.