Mesquite ISD on Monday night made not one, but two hires for head football coaching vacancies within the district as athletic director Kody Groves and the district wrapped up the process at Mesquite High and Mesquite Poteet shortly after Christmas break wrapped up.

Mesquite High, who posted a 2-8 record under interim head coach Vincient Green in 2024 named Houston Yates head coach Rafael Thomas as their next head coach. Thomas, a native of Lufkin who was a three-sport standout signed a football and baseball scholarship out of high school at Oklahoma State University and was a MLB draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Coach Thomas began his coaching career at Conroe High then he moved to his alma mater Lufkin, before moving on to Marshall High School where he worked as an assistant under Claude Mathis. He was named head football coach at Houston Yates in July 2022 and in three seasons at Yates he posted a 21-12 overall record. Thomas lists legendary Lufkin head coach John Outlaw as one of his biggest coaching influences along with Claude Mathis.

“My family and I are over the moon to get started at Mesquite, we are ready to put down roots and build a program at Mesquite. The entire interview process was seamless and Coach Groves was unreal, he made me feel wanted and it makes you feel good that they have confidence in you as a Coach and a leader,” said Thomas who does not have a start date as of yet.

Poteet High School who in the not so distant past was one of the top 5A programs has recently fallen on hard times, the district named Lewisville Hebron offensive coordinator Terrance Orr as the next head coach at Mesquite Poteet.

Orr, a native of DeSoto, comes from a well-known football family in the Dallas area as his father Terry Orr was a former NFL player with the Washington Redskins and a two-time Super Bowl champion, his three brothers both played college football as Nick Orr played at TCU, Chris Orr played at Wisconsin. While Zach Orr played collegiately at North Texas and played three seasons in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens, where was a second-team all-pro in 2016. Zach was forced to retire after the discovery of a rare spinal condition that he had since birth and is now the Ravens defensive coordinator.

After his high school career wrapped up at DeSoto wrapped up Coach Orr played collegiately at Texas State and immediately jumped into the coaching business after college and got his start at Mesquite Poteet under Randy Jackson and then worked for Mesquite ISD AD Kody Groves who replaced Jackson as Poteet’s head coach.

After leaving Poteet, Orr spent four years at his alma mater DeSoto, including being part of a state title winning coaching staff in 2016. Orr also spent time at North Crowley and Dallas Carter as an assistant before coming to Hebron in 2022 where he’s served the past three seasons as Hebron’s offensive coordinator.

“I’m really excited, I feel like this a homecoming of sorts since Poteet is where I got my start in coaching. It is a full-circle moment for me personally, we want to get the excitement and energy back at Poteet and restore the great tradition that was built. We are going to lean on the foundations of Respect, Honor and Pride at Poteet,” said Orr who says he expects to start right away at Poteet.