Dowell steps down as Louise coach, AD
By CHRIS BARBEE cbarbee@leader-news.com

LOUISE - Louise Athletic Director and head football Rodney Dowell tendered his resignation on Tuesday.

He should remain with the district through his contract period, which ends in June.

"Unless I find an AD job," he said. If he does he might need to leave early to put his staff together. If that doesn't happen, he said he'd start looking at some assistant jobs or some head basketball coaching jobs.

Dowell came on board in 2005, replacing Rick Fraumberger who coached for only one season in 2004 He relieved Kevin Wiataek who coached in 2002-03. Rob Murray coached from 1999-2001.

"I'm not burned out. I want to be an AD again. I don't want people to think it's a deal where I'm having to leave, or I've done something wrong. That's certainly not the case.

"I want to be closer to my dad," he told the Leader-News Friday morning.

Dowell, who was reared in Lubbock, where his father still lives, said he wants to get back to that area so his dad can watch his grandson participate in athletics.

"He's a big sports fan. When I coached in the Panhandle my dad didn't miss a game.

And it didn't matter if it was a track meet or whatever. It's been hard on him being away from the boys," the coach said.

"He's going into the eighth grade," he said of his son, adding he would not want to pull him out of high school to make a move, so now is a good time.

LISD Superintendent Andy Peters notified the Leader-News of Dowell's decision, which came on the heels of the Louise school board not taking action on the coach's contract after coming out of executive session Monday night.

"He hasn't done anything wrong," Peters said. "He's wanting to go one direction, and we're wanting to go a different direction."

The superintendent said he would "look within" before opening the position to out-of-district applicants.

"We want to keep our direction together. There are a couple of senior coaches on the staff who might be interested. In fact, we hope they are. We've given them a week or so to think about it.

If they are interested we'll interview them and maybe take a name to the board. If not, then we'll open it up," Peters said.

Dowell said he was surprised that the board did not take action on his contract, but said he had pretty well made up his mind already that he would try to get back to the Lubbock area this next school year for family reasons.

He did acknowledge there were probably some politics involved with the board not taking action, including the fact the board knew he had taken a look at a couple of openings, including one in Edna.

"It's a good time for the kids of Louise. I'm not leaving 'em dry. I'm not leaving 'em in bad shape.

I'm leaving them with a great opportunity where someone can come in here and continue to do what I feel we've done," he said. "It's just personal, but it's really tough.