Clear Springs offensive coordinator Omasha Brantley was officially named the next head football coach at Galveston Ball at a school board meeting Wednesday night. He replaces Sheldon Bennight, who departed in March to take over at New Caney.

Brantley, who has been the offensive coordinator just up the road at Clear Springs for the past three seasons, gets his first head coaching gig and takes over a team that will be in a bit of a rebuild after a 9-3 mark a year ago.

“I’m not far from the island and in Galveston County, so I’ve been familiar with the success Ball had under Coach Bennight,” he said. “There’s a deep tradition and history in the program and they’ve had so many talented players go on to success. I’ve seen their kids in action they are a hard-working and resilient bunch.”

The new head man for the Golden Tornadoes began his coaching career in the college game where he was a student assistant at Sam Houston under current University of Houston head coach Wllie Fritz. He also spent time as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce (now East Texas A&M) and Northwestern State.

After his time in college ended, Brantley made the trip back to his native Central Texas where he served as Elgin’s WR and passing game coordinator for two seasons. Brantley then joined the staff at his alma mater Austin LBJ as the Jaguars offensive coordinator. He was part of the Jags 2021 state runner-up coaching staff. In 2022, Coach Brantley then made the move to the Houston area joining the staff at Clear Springs.

Aside from Coach Fritz, Brantley has ties to some outstanding coaches. He played for current DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis, who is a two-time state champion head coach. He’s also the fourth coach from Jahmal Fenner’s staff at Austin LBJ to now become a head coach; Fenner now works in the player personnel department at the University of Texas.

“Galveston is a one-horse town, when I thought about a place for a first job this was what you want,” he said. “We have our own beautiful stadium and strong community support. When I met with the committee originally I got some really good vibes and I thought this might be the one for me, then that feeling just grew stronger when I met with the superintendent, principal and athletic director. There’s great support at Ball with great people who have great energy.”

Brantley, who starts officially on April 22 says the timing of the hire will make for an accelerated transition.

“Once I start, we’ve got to work on establishing our culture, getting to know the kids and building a staff,” he said. “Then we can map out the summer, strength and conditioning, skills and maybe try to get into a 7-on-7 tournament. We won’t do spring so we’ll that extra week in the fall, but I’m just excited to get started and have my family be part of the community.”

NOTE: Story updated 9:00pm April 16 with quotes after board meeting