When news got out last week that Charles Taylor, McCallum athletic director and head coach of the varsity football team, would be taking a job as AD and head football coach at Pflugerville, it came as a surprise to many players, students and faculty members. For me, though, I was left feeling surprised by the fact that Taylor’s decision was a surprise to us all. In hindsight, we really should have seen it coming.

First off, the timing was perfect for Taylor to get a new job. The McCallum football team had just gone through its best season ever, winning the most games in school history (14) and making it to the state semifinals, the farthest a McCallum team had advanced in school history. When you coach a team to a historic season like Taylor did, you are going to get some offers to go to bigger and more prestigious schools.

Taylor’s stock was high, and it most likely was not going to get higher. With the McCallum football team losing 24 seniors next year, not only was this the best team in school history, it will most likely hold that title for the foreseeable future. Combined with the fact that McCallum football will be moving up to 5A Division 1 next year, this was probably going to be Taylor’s best opportunity to leave for a more prestigious school.

Not only was this a good time for Taylor to leave McCallum, it was also a great time for Taylor to go to Pflugerville.

“That’s a school rich in tradition and history,” Taylor told The Shield. “The past couple of years they haven’t been great, but they do have potential, and it’s just one of those jobs; they come down to 5A and I think it will be a pretty good situation.”

Pflugerville is a school that has previously (but not recently) been a football powerhouse. Once, from 1958-1963, the school enjoyed a 55-game win streak, which was at the time the longest win streak in the history of high school football in this country. Eleven years ago, the Panthers ended the 2007 football season as the No. 10 team in Texas. Pflugerville has also had some of the top talent in the nation in previous years. In 2013, the Panthers had two graduates selected in the NFL draft, Zaviar Gooden and Alex Okafor.

More recently, however, Pflugerville football has been struggling. Taylor will be taking over a team that hasn’t had a winning record since 2012 and hasn’t won more than three games in three years.

Taking over a team with high potential, but one that has been struggling in recent years, is a dream for any high school football coach. If Taylor can take the Panthers back to the success they once enjoyed, he will be credited with turning the program around, something that could set him up for an even better job in the future. When you take into account that Pflugerville will be moving down from 6A to 5A next year, this is an excellent opportunity for Taylor to do some great things for the Panthers.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly for Taylor, he believes that the move from McCallum to Pflugerville may be beneficial for himself and his family right away.

“It was a great opportunity, good for my family, close to the house, just little details like that, when I looked at it,” Taylor said.

Overall, I think it is easy to say that Taylor made the correct decision to go coach at Pflugerville, but that doesn’t mean McCallum is any less sad to see him go.

Goodbye, Coach Taylor, and good luck… unless we play you in the playoffs that is.