Felecia Teeter always knew she wanted to impact kids. So much so that in her last eight years of working with the federal government she used her vacation time attending coaching clinics and athletic director conferences. 

Now the 55-year-old is coaching tight ends for Lubbock Estacado’s varsity football team.

Estacado’s former head coach Joe Cluley offered Teeter the job, and she got there within two weeks. 

“I was just so excited to get the opportunity,” Teeter said. 

The Southern California native had originally planned to launch her own business in the spring of 2021, which focused on in-person team-building sessions, and she thought, “Well, that’s not gonna work.” And despite having 30 years in the workforce under her belt, it wasn’t enough to retire.

“I was like, ‘Man, I need a job,’ and because I had been a member and going for so many years to Texas High School Football Coaches Association (THSFCA) conferences and clinics and football clinics, I just had access to the job board,” Teeter said.

Teeter, a self-proclaimed “strategy nerd,” found that football caught her eye more than the other sports. 

“The whole putting your mind against the opposing coach's mind, destroying him, I liked that aspect of football,” Teeter said. “But football, unlike any other sport, is so much on what is your plan against the enemy. We spend hours and house looking at film and reviewing the opponent, trying to figure out what scheme you have, what talent, how to maximize your player's talent and abilities against the opponent.”

“I don’t know if I would’ve had enough courage,” Teeter confessed. “I just applied for it because I would have never thought someone’s gonna hire some middle-aged woman in West Texas to be a football coach.”

Coupled with attending football clinics, Teeter also refereed for the Texas Association of Sports Officials, which gave her the confidence to realize just how much she knew. 

“I might not have played high school or college football, but I certainly know a lot about the game,” Teeter said. 

One of Teeter’s sayings is “scoring is a boring” because she would rather flawlessly execute a handful of plays than have a repertoire of 30 since there is less assurance that it will be run correctly. 

One of Teeter’s favorite things about coaching is seeing her players succeed on the field. One time this season, Teeter witnessed one of her tight ends score his first-ever touchdown. 

“I just lost my mind; I’m sure everybody in the press box up there heard me screaming because I was just so excited that he had scored his first touchdown,” she said.