Josh Ervin first thought about leaving Ganado before he even got all his stuff out of the moving boxes in 2018. Nothing against the town; he just left his heart 40 minutes west in Bay City, where he’d played his high school ball and earned his first coaching job out of college.

He’d followed his mentor, Brent Bennett, who’d been promoted from Bay City’s offensive coordinator to Ganado’s head coach. Ervin only left because Bennett had sweetened the deal by making him the offensive coordinator. But he had a shield up, determined to make this a pit stop.

“I thought I’d be in Bay City forever,” Ervin said. “When I got here, I said, ‘In two years, it’s time to pack it up and leave.’ Because I just didn’t know how I’d fit in.”

In the six years since, the boy from Bay City has grown into a man invested in Ganado. He has a wife and roots here now. At 30 years old, Ervin lead Ganado to its first state championship in school history last December. He has spent the months since dutifully bouncing from the team bus’ police-escorted welcome party at Indian Stadium to the community parade. Ervin is usually uncomfortable with praise, but this town waited 96 years to celebrate a state champion, and by golly they’ll do so.

With each passing day, Ervin is happier he has done what he thought he didn’t want to.

Within his first year at Ganado, Ervin realized he’d fit in just fine. He fell in love with how hard-working the kids were because they matched his own effort level and intensity.

“When I walked into the office every morning, I knew that I had to bring my A-game,” Bennett said. “Because if I didn’t, I knew he was going to walk into my office and say, ‘Dude, you’re slacking today.’”

David Lucio, the offensive coordinator at Bay City during Ervin’s senior year, said Ervin’s offensive acumen and drive made him a future coach on the field. Ervin coached Bay City’s 7-on-7 football team over the summer while he was playing NAIA football at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

“His IQ was phenomenal for a high school kid,” Lucio said. “He probably could’ve been their damn offensive coordinator that (senior) year.”

Ervin signed on as a running backs coach at Bay City out of college but was switched to quarterback coach within the first year. By then, Bennett had replaced Lucio as offensive coordinator but was just as impressed with Ervin’s hustle. Once Ganado hired Bennett to be its head coach, Bennett made what he calls the easiest decision of his life: bringing Ervin with him.

In a profession where many coaches do the same things over and over, Ervin isn’t married to a single scheme. In his first year as offensive coordinator, Ganado scored 14 combined points in its final three games of the year to finish 4-6. Ervin and Bennett switched the offense from the zone scheme they ran at Bay City to a gap scheme that better suited their bigger, stronger kids at Ganado.

Ervin took over for Bennett as Ganado’s head coach in 2022. When Bennett attended the state championship game, he noticed his former team was back to running zone because Ervin decided it fit that year’s team personnel better.

“He doesn’t care about the success for himself,” Bennett said. “He wants to see everybody else succeed.”

Since that 4-6 season, Ganado has reached the third round of the playoffs in five of the last six years. Ervin is now 36-8 over three seasons as the head coach, and Ganado’s 44.88 points per game in 2024 were the most in school history.

Bennett sat in the upper deck of AT&T Stadium during Ganado’s 30-28 triple overtime win over Stamford, the longest state championship game in UIL history. From his perch, he watched an entire community live and die with each turn in the game, just as they had for decades. Only this time, they were the last team standing.

It dawned on him then that the kid he once had to drag to Ganado wouldn’t have it any other way.

The only thing more impressive than what Ervin has accomplished is how he’s done so.

“He’s a guy you’d want your sons to grow up to be like,” Lucio said.