Winningest coach in GHS history announces retirement

A 43-year coaching career spanning schools across Texas is coming to a close.

Graham High School head football coach and athletic director Kenny Davidson has announced his retirement effective at the conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year.

Davidson has coached in Graham for the past 19 years and been the head coach of the Steers since 2010.

Graham ISD announced Davidson's retirement Tuesday, Dec. 19, wishing him the best.

“My wife, Susan, and I have prayed about this, and we feel that now is the right time to step away from coaching.” Davidson said in the release. “We are very family-oriented and this will give us more time to spend with our adult children and our grandchildren.”

For Davidson, the love of coaching and desire to be one came early on. He started his football career in junior high, which carried into high school in College Station and a scholarship offer at Abilene Christian University.

Defensive lineman was Davidson’s primary position and he played at that spot throughout his time at college, which included a NAIA championship in 1977 when the Wildcats finished 11-1-1.

Following his time in college, Davidson had played well enough to be named an All-American his senior year and also earned a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.

During his time as a player, however, the thought of coaching and the passion for it remained. After his stint in the NFL concluded, Davidson began working in the profession, with the first stop as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater.

Over the next few years, Davidson had a few different stops. He took a coaching job at a high school in Amarillo, then he tried out for the up-and-coming United States Football League, a league that played three seasons from 1983-1985.

While the USFL didn’t quite pan out, Davidson returned to coaching as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M University. From there he began to move around Texas as he knew the high school coaching ranks are where he wanted to spend his career.

“(There is a) lot of turnover there (in college), and I’m being honest, I don’t know if I want to chase this and I really want to live in Texas,” Davidson said. “I don’t want to be having to move my family. I was married at the time. I didn't want to move all over the nation because coaches don't stay in colleges that long.”

Davidson coached near Austin, spent time in the Texas panhandle and then earned a long stay at a Fort Worth Christian school where he spent 14 years as the head coach and won a state championship in the private school division.

But then one of his old college roommates and the head coach at GHS at the time, Brad McCoy, called Davidson and asked him to come look around the school and the community.

That turned into a job offer and made the decision easy for Davidson and his family to move to Graham to join the Steers community.

“It was a change going from a private school in Fort Worth to come here (to a) small town,” Davidson said. “But we fell in love with the Graham community and things like that and then were fortunate enough to get the head coaching job after coach McCoy.”

During his tenure as head coach of the Steers, he compiled a record of 130-46 with his teams making the playoffs every year he was in charge. His teams made five state semi-final appearances with the most recent coming in 2020.

The decision to step away was not an easy one to make but Davidson is grateful for the time he had as Graham’s head coach and for the students and coaches he interacted with on a daily basis.

“Your staff is a tight-knit group and you spend a lot of time together, and you grow close to the coaches in the office,” he said. “Then just being able to be around kids and to influence them and to see their progress, teaching the rewards of winning and how to handle losses. I think that football parallels life in a major way.”

Graham’s head coach and AD has spent his time molding students and athletes throughout all his years with the school.
While Davidson is moving on with the announcement of his retirement, his legacy will remain as one of the most successful coaches in school history.

“We have loved every minute of our time here. This is an amazing community with great kids that are fun to be around and to coach,” Davidson said. “Once my tenure here is done I will miss the day-to-day interaction with the kids and also the coaching staff.”

GISD will immediately begin the search for Davidson’s replacement. Resumes will be accepted until noon Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, with the intention of having the new coach in place by the end of January.

An announcement was made Wednesday, Dec. 20 that assistant athletic director Mike Carroll will assume the athletic director’s duties and defensive coordinator Clay McChristian will serve as interim head football coach until a new head coach/athletic director is hired.

McChristian has Davidson’s support and is his recommendation as the replacement for the athletic director and head football coach positions.