Having gone 0-10 and 1-9 in their first two seasons as an 11-man program, the Abilene TLCA Eagles changed coaches in the offseason — moving from Jeremy Kirk, who started the program as a six-man school, to Steven Ward.

In taking his first career head coaching job, Ward will be faced with many of the same challenges that Kirk dealt with at the charter school. The most notable of those is not knowing who he would have during the summer as he worked to implement his stamp on the program.

Ward will have continuity on his staff with the return of Dakota Fannin (offensive coordinator) and Tyler Burchette (defensive coordinator), which should help the Eagles as they look to put together the best season in the brief history of the program.