PORT NECHES, Texas — Port Neches-Groves ISD has named Southlake Carroll assistant coach Jeff Joseph as the lone finalist for their vacant athletic director/head football coach position.
Multiple sources close to the situation confirmed the news this morning before superintendent Dr. Mike Gonzales confirmed it as well.
Joseph, who is the son of legendary coach Gary Joseph, recently got back into coaching at Southlake Carrol after serving as vice president of Big Kat Waste Solutions.
His past coaching experience includes serving as defensive coordinator at Austin Westlake before taking a graduate assistant position at Texas A&M.
Following his stint at Texas A&M in quality control, Joseph took over as defensive coordinator at Magnolia West.
He is currently the special teams coordinator at Southlake Carroll, along with coaching defense.
The hiring is still pending board approval. That process will take place Monday night during the regularly scheduled board meeting.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Gonzales sent 409Sports the following statement.
"PNGISD has selected Coach Jeff Joseph as our lone finalist. It was a very exciting and stressful process for our six member committee. District administrators were chosen for the committee and were charged with the difficult task of selecting the top two candidates. After an extended second interview with the top two candidates. I made the decision to choose one candidate as our lone finalist. We believe Coach Joseph will do an excellent job at PNG and we look forward to having him expand on the winning tradition of all sports at PNGISD."
This afternoon Southlake Carroll Head Coach Riley Dodge gave his thoughts on Joseph.
"You know me and Jeff worked together real briefly at A&M, so that's where we kind of crossed paths. I've known Jeff's family a long, long time. It goes back to both our grandfathers coaching together back at Austin Westlake. So a lot of ties with the Dodge and Joseph family, but when I got the opportunity this past year, I had a position open, the first person I called was Jeff and got him back in the game. It was a no brainer hire for me. He made the Carroll Dragons a lot better and know what he's going to do for the Port Neches-Groves Indians."
When asked about Joseph's work ethic and style, Dodge didn't hesitate with his response.
"Yeah, he's really one of the brightest football minds in the State of Texas. You know x's and o's, there's not a lot better than Jeff. So on the football side of it you're getting a really, really sharp football coach. Just as a person, he's an unbelievable person, great connector with people, loves building relationships. And obviously in this line of business if it's in high school, college, NFL, pee wee football. That's what it's all about, is connecting with your players, connecting with the community. And Jeff is going to a great job at that."
While Joseph has experience coaching at major programs, this will be his first time serving as athletic director. Dodge thinks he can handle it.
"Yeah I think that's obviously going to be a new role. But I think he's going to be great. Great spot with some great people in administration to help him and try to get his feet wet, the lay of the land at Port Neches. So, something I think that he's going to do a great job of. Obviously he's got a lot of people in his corner to help him out. I think the biggest thing is hiring great people and when you hire great people, usually they make you look good. So I think Jeff is fully aware of that."
