The Eagle has landed.

A coaching search that lasted just over five weeks has finally drawn to a close with Abilene High naming Mike Fullen as the new head football coach on Monday morning.

Fullen, who has spent 22 of the past 23 seasons on the Abilene High staff, was previously the squad’s associate head coach and defensive coordinator and led the Eagles through spring football.

“I am humbled and honored to be the next head coach at Abilene High School,” Fullen said. “I would like to thank Steve Warren for allowing me to come here in 1997 and giving me an opportunity to be a part of this staff and Del Van Cox for being a tremendous mentor and really just a great friend.”

Fullen also recognized offensive coordinator Tommy Martinez for helping “keep the train on the tracks” during the interview process.

He thanked his mom and aunt for the support they’ve given him throughout his career before turning to his wife, Lucille, and two sons.

“Lucille is definitely my rock in this process,” he said. “I can assure you that anything that comes out of my office as far as a letter or email, will definitely be properly punctuated and the grammar will be good.”

Lucille Fullen is an English teacher at Abilene High.

The newly minted head coach addressed his longevity during his introduction in which he choked back tears on occasion.

“I didn’t come here to be, necessarily, the head coach here or to be here, leave and be a head coach somewhere,” Fullen said. “That was not a goal of mine. My goal was to get to this level and prove that I could coach at this level.

“I was never going to leave here to go chase a head (coaching) job,” he added. “If the opportunity was going to happen, it was going to happen here, and it has and I’m thankful.”

Please join us in congratulating @coachfullen as the new AHS athletic coordinator and Eagles football head coach!

— Abilene Eagle Football (@Abi_Eagles_FB) June 3, 2019

Fullen said that he was thankful and nervous about the opportunity that is in front of him, adding that he’ll be heavily involved in the defense, but will relinquish the defensive coordinator title.

He takes over for Cox, who in April was promoted to the assistant athletics director position for Abilene ISD.

Fullen is the Eagles’ 23rd head coach since the 1912 season. Of the previous coaches, 15 had a winning percentage of at least .500 at the school with Chuck Moser’s .908 being the best of anyone that led the team for multiple seasons.

AISD Athletics Director Phil Blue said of the 40 official applications and additional dozen or so phone calls he received, the field was whittled down to eight interviews initially before three were given second interviews.

Fullen was the only candidate interviewed with no experience as a head coach.

“It’s a great day to be an Eagle,” Blue said. “Through the process, this is the way that it usually happens, the cream usually does rise to the top.”

Blue thanked the committee that recommended Fullen — a committee that included Cooper coach Aaron Roan, who took over the Cougars program last summer — and the two other finalists.

Fullen and Blue served together for five years on Warren’s staff.

“Of the many qualities that Mike has, holding kids to a standard of excellence and getting them there is one of his strengths,” Blue said. “You can’t do that if you don’t build relationships with students and that is one of his strengths and that’s what we are all about in AISD and education.”

Fullen said the best thing to happen during the process that resulted in his hiring was the decision to continue with spring practice.

“That gave us all as coaches and players a place that we knew and we were comfortable with,” he said. “Just doing that kind of made us focus on making the team better. I’m fairly good at blocking out the noise, but it was good to have that to hold on to and to keep us on track.”

Abilene High started playing football in 1906, but the first coach documented in program history was R.B. Curry from the 1910 season. There is not one known for 1906-1909 and 1911.

The Eagles have a rich history with seven state championships, and this fall could win the 700th game in program history as early as Oct. 4 in a District 3-6A home game against Hurst L.D. Bell. Abilene High enters this fall with an all-time record of 694-399-34.

Fullen takes over the helm of a team about to play its 114th year of football that has 21 seasons with at least 10 wins — 10 of which happened under his predecessors Warren and Cox.

Under Warren and Cox, the Eagles have posted winning records in 19 seasons since 1996.

Fullen will look to join P.E. Shotwell (1923), Dewey Mayhew (1928, 1931), Moser (1954-56) and Warren (2009) as coaches who have won state titles at Abilene High.

Abilene High has 28 starters returning from last fall’s 5-5 squad that missed the playoffs in the last week of the season. The Eagles have eight offensive and nine defensive starters returning — numbers that set Fullen up to succeed as a rookie head coach.

Great hire! @THSCAcoaches

— Randy Jackson (@CoachJacksonTPW) June 3, 2019

This is what u call a grand slam. https://t.co/0BpvrMFCRZ

— David Ritchey (@CoachDRitch) June 3, 2019

Coach	Season(s)	Overall Record (Win percentage)
Unknown	1906-1909, 1911
R.B. Curry	1910	0-3-2 (.200)
Coach Hiatt	1912	3-2-1 (.583)
V.H. Robinson	1913	4-2-1 (.643)
A.H. Roberts	1914-16	8-6-3 (.559)
P.E. Shotwell	1917, 1919-23, 1946-52	89-39-6 (.687)
Dave Majors	1918	8-0 (1.000)
Lee Jones	1924-26	20-6-1 (.759)
Dewey Mayhew	1927-40	97-36-11 (.712)
Vernon Hilliard	1941-42	12-7-1 (.625)
Jake Bentley	1943-45	15-15 (.500)
Chuck Moser	1953-59	78-7-2 (.908)
Wally Bullington	1960-65	40-19-1 (.675)
David McWilliams	1966-69	21-17-2 (.550)
Jerry Thormalhen	1970-73	16-24 (.400)
Bill Shipman	1974-75	9-11 (.450)
Dewitt Jones	1976	4-6 (.400)
Louie Spinks	1977-82	27-32-1 (.458)
Don Cumpton	1983-85	15-14-1 (.517)
Larry Pullin	1986-90	17-32 (.347)
Carlous Stone	1991-93	4-25 (.138)
Gary Gaines	1994-95	4-15 (.211)
Steve Warren	1996-2014	172-61 (.738)
Del Van Cox	2015-18	26-18 (.591)

Source: TexasHighSchoolFootballHistory.com