Fort Stockton just made a hire perhaps as noteworthy as its most famous resident, Paisano Pete.

DJ Howell will be the next athletic director and head football coach of the Fort Stockton Panthers, FSISD announced Monday. Howell takes over for Jeremy Hickman, who took the job at Cypress Woods in the Houston area after a successful three-year stint.

“We are incredibly excited to become part of the Fort Stockton community,” Howell said in a press release. “My family and I feel blessed by this opportunity, and we’re eager to build something truly special here. With trust, hard work, and collaboration, I believe we can create one of the best athletic programs in the state of Texas.”

Howell is perhaps best known for his work in six-man football, where he turned Miami — a Panhandle squad in the state's smallest classification, 1A Division II — from also-ran to contender from 2021 to 2023. His final year with the Warriors, Howell led Miami to a 12-1 record and a regional final appearance, earning Six-Man Coach of the Year honors from the Amarillo Globe-News.

Howell has plenty of 11-man experience as well, including in 2024 when he coached at Sterling City, a 2020 six-man state champion transitioning to 11-man. His career began in his native Oklahoma, where he was head coach at Meeker (a 2A school by Texas enrollment standards) after serving as an assistant at big-school programs at Tulsa Edison and Broken Arrow.