PORT NECHES, Texas — Anytime a new coach is hired, it's a process.
Even if there is just one finalist announced, that individual still has to be approved by the school board.
Monday night the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District school board wasted little time naming Southlake Carroll assistant Jeff Joseph as the twentieth head football coach in program history.
In fact the unanimous vote was taken in open session in front of a packed house.
Joseph, who is completing his masters degree, will also serve as athletic director for Port Neches-Groves.
While it is Joseph's first head coaching job, he has had plenty of experience as an assistant with stops at Austin Westlake, Texas A&M, Magnolia West and Southlake Carroll.
The Katy graduate is the son of legendary Katy Coach Gary Joseph and the grandson of Coach Eddie Joseph.
"This is the type of job that I've always hoped for. A job with tremendous community support. Tremendous administration rapport. A great tradition of athletics and excellence in athletics. Really looking forward to getting to work with the student-athletes. You know for me it's just going out there and being myself every day. I know who I am as a person and who I am as a coach is very reflective on the people that have had huge influences on me, including my dad and my grandfather. So you will see a little bit of them in me, in my style of coaching. But at the end of the day I'm going to be myself and I'm going to build relationships my way with players and I'm going to coach my way towards those players and with my fellow coaches."
Joseph has a history on the defensive side of the ball, so what can Indian fans expect?
"I think being multiple on defense today is very important. We're going to be based out of a 3-4 package, with the ability to bring pressure from a lot of different areas. And I think we're going to be built on speed on defense. And we're going to find people that we can get on the field that can run. They're going to play very fast. They're going to be great tacklers As long as you can tackle and you can get off blocks you're going to play good defense. That is something that is going to be emphasized here and we're going to find a way to play good defense here."
Coach Joseph understands the importance of keeping a high octane offense under the supervision of a good offensive coordinator.
"The best thing for a defensive coordinator is an offense that scores points. It makes playing defense so much easier when you have an offense that you know is going to go out there and score. I think as far as what we're going to look for in the offense is we're going to keep the offense pretty similar to what has been around here. We're going to base out of the shotgun. Play with some tight ends, play with some fullbacks, but we're going to play out of the shotgun and have the ability to throw the football. We're going to really play up to the strength of our players. And I know traditionally we've had really good quarterbacks here in the past and I know that we've got some good quarterbacks coming. So that's something we're going to build on, build on their strengths."
PNG opens the 2022 season at home against Port Arthur Memorial.