By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToay.com
(June 16, 2017) — Dublin has a new defensive coordinator who has won a district championship as a head coach.
Doug Kent is a veteran of 19 years coaching up and down the conference ladder on both sides of the ball.
“I’ve known of Coach (Bob) Cervetto for many years there around Stephenville and Tarleton State,” said Kent. “He has a great reputation for being a man for the kids, and that’s exactly the type of person I want to assciate myself with and the main thing that attracted me to this job.”
Kent has most recently coached and taught at Early, Gatesville then Early again in 2016-17, returning there so he could coach his daughter as a freshman powerlifter. And it was powerlifting, coincidentally, where Kent left a lasting impression on the Dublin athletic director and head football coach.
“I had known of him for about six years, and I just got to watching him close at a couple powerlifting meets,” said Cervetto. “What I really enjoyed was how he brought the same level of enthusiasm whether it was a big, physical kid, or one of the little guys, and how he paid the same attention to the girls as he did the boys. It didn’t matter who it was, he worked equally hard with all the kids.”
Cervetto was in the midst of shuffling his staff. He wanted the veteran eyes of defensive coordinator Steve Carroll in the press box where he could help analyze various situations on the fly, but Cervetto also wanted his offensive and defensive coordinators on the field.
The solution, Cervetto decided, was to make Carroll special teams coordinator and move him to the box, and to hire a defensive coordinator.
Kent proved to have a extensive, versatile coaching background to go with the energy and enthusiasm Cervetto had already witnessed firsthand.
“He’s been a head coach, a defensive coordinator and a offensive coordinator, so he’s done a little bit of everything,” said Cervetto. “He’s also a certified to teach secondary math and has a reputation as a good instructional leader.”
Kent led Dallas Spruce to a district championship as a head coach, then left behind the football program and athletic coordinator’s title in support of his wife, Jennifer Kent, who was hired as assistant superintendent by Kingsvile ISD. Doug Kent joined the coaching staff as a defensive assistant and helped Kingsville progress from 0-10 to a playoff team in three short years before his wife’s budding education career had the family on the move once again.
“My wife became principal at Early High School, so we moved to Gatesville, close to family in the area,” Doug Kent said. “It wasa good move for us that has since led to some wonderful opportunities.”
Doug Kent coached at Early and then Gatesville before returning to Early in 2016-17, which also proved to be his wife’s final year there. She has recently been named vice president of Ranger College Erath County, making her the top official at the junior college’s Stephenville campus.
“Coach Cervetto waited and waited, he was so patient while I took some time to make sure this was the right move for our family, and now I believe we did the right thing,” said Doug Kent. “I’m ready to help Dublin take the next step and make a deep playoff run.”
His wife’s position in Stephenville certainly helped put the icing on the cake.
“With her getting that job it just really feels like the Lord has blessed us in this transition and made it a smooth one for our family,” said the new coordinator.
He will stick with a 4-3 defense and draw specific schematics from past experiences at places like Duncanville, Mansfiield Summitt, Lewisville Hebron and others as he bounced from offensive to defensive coordinator before becoming head coach at Spruce.
“Coordinating on one side of the ball sure helps if you ever coordinate on the other side because you have a better idea what the guy across the field from you is thinking as he calls play,” Doug Kent said. “I’ve been blessed to coach on both sides and to work with some great athletes and coaches through the years, and now I’m excited to help in anyway I can to make Dublin successful, not just in football, but all sports and in the classroom. That’s a big check mark for me when I look into a job. I want to surround myself by good educators who are passionate about helping kids succeed.”
Coach Kent spent April and May showing Dublin his drive, literally, as he commuted back and forth from Early to get a jumpstart on building relationships with the kids and showing them his expectations as defensive coordinator.
Cervetto says Kent is already showing in Dublin the same inspiring traits that caught his attentive eye back in January.
“I saw a guy I liked, we were able to target him early in the process, then throughout our interviews he was the guy who seemed to have the right energy, enthusiasm and passion for the kids,” said Cervetto. “At the end of the day, Coach Kent was the right fit for the job because of the positive impact we believe he will make in the lives of our kids.”
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