Tomball Memorial’s Sam Parker Hired as Athletic Director/Football Coach
Dara, Sam, and Elly Parker will soon have a Canyon Lake residence.
Checking All the. Boxes
Canyon Lake will start a new chapter when former Tomball Memorial’s Head Coach Lawrence ‘Sam’ Parker and his wife (Dara) and daughter (Elly) takes the reins as the next Hawks Athletic Director and Head Football Coach.
Former Head Coach Charlie Drum retired at the end of last season after taking over for Matt Monzingo (4 Years) who served as the first Hawk coach when the school started in 2007 and left the Hawk’s sideline after the 2011 season.
Coach Drum started with Monzingo as his defensive coordinator and had been, The Lake’s, Head Coach for the past 12 years compiling 67 wins and two district titles.
Sam Parker was a tight end for University of North Texas (UNT) and after his playing career got his feet wet as a graduate assistant for the Mean Green coaching quarterbacks for 3 years.
Parker then started coaching at Pflugerville Hendrickson High School and then Ennis.
His next stop was as the Offensive Coordinator at John Tyler High School (2008-10) before taking a job at Spring High School in 2010. Coach Parker inherited a 2-8 team and transformed it to an impressive 30-9 record during his final 3 years there. That Spring team compiled 6 post-season victories during that stretch.
Canyon Lake ‘Hawk’ Proud!!
Next up had Parker taking over as Tomball Memorial’s Athletic Director & Head Coach for the past 7 years with a 53-25 record which also featured two district championship seasons.
Tomball Memorial plays in a 6A Region II District 15 school that featured some stiff competition with 7 other teams in that district.
When Parker took over for the Wildcats, this school’s previous 3 campaigns, had a paltry 14-16 record with a 9-12 district slate.
Coach Parker will be leaving his replacement with players that can win another district championship for this upcoming 2024 season. Last year’s squad had a strong group of Juniors that resembled Canyon Lake’s 2022 senior class who won district and sent several players to the college level.
That Junior class for TMHS finished 2nd in district with a 10-2 record and sported an offense that averaged 40 points while their defense allowed 20 points last season.
It was a balanced offense that averaged 225 yards on the ground while going to the airwaves with a 207 yard average.
“Canyon Lake checked off a lot of boxes for our family,” Coach Parker said when asked about his move from the Houston area. “My family wanted to be at the same school together and that would not happen at Tomball Memorial as it is 3200 students and growing, so the size of this school checked off that box.”
Coach Parker continued, “We have a lot of family in New Braunfels and San Antonio area which checked off another box on our list and then knowing that Canyon Lake High School has a great academic success along with the location was huge boxes that we were able to. check off.”
“Mark Olberholtzer (CLHS Principle) talked bout this community and I could see his passion and how he wanted Canyon Lake to be great in everything along with being great in academics. When I asked him bout what Canyon Lake wanted, he said to put in the time and wanted to have someone to show the way for that same type of success.”
What will be your schedule to start this journey? “I’m going to be there on Monday and I’m excited to watch and observe and then after a few days I will then start to put a plan together.”
Coach Parker continued, “I think, just like winning a football game, you have to win in all three phases (offense-defense-special teams). A lot of people don’t know how hard it is to win a game and it almost becomes to big to handle in getting there….but we have to win the moment and continue winning those moments every day and that will mean growth….you can’t walk into a weight room and expect to be in shape…but it comes on how well you handle those hard moments and choose to win those moments by overcoming adversity.”
Parker closed, “I want to observe and see what is working and what is not and that will help me decide what direction we will take to be successful.”
The Hawk Nation welcomes the Parker family to the Hill Country as the next chapter begins this coming Monday!
Good Luck Coach and Go Hawks!!
