OISD hires Tomball’s Tobola to head athletic, football programs

The Olney school board hired a new head coach-athletic director at a May 21 special meeting, recombining the two top athletic department jobs a year after Head Coach Jody Guy left the position in a winning football season.

The new head coach is Christopher Tobola who is wrapping up his sixth season as associate head coach and special teams coordinator at Tomball High School. Coach Tobola was born in San Antonio and graduated from Samuel Clemens High School in Schertz, Texas. He attended Sul Ross State University for his undergraduate degree and Texas A&M Commerce for his Master’s degree in athletics administration.

Coach Tobola’s 24 years of coaching experience includes stints as athletic director in Wortham, Texas; defense coordinator in Corsicana, Texas; defensive coordinator in Del Rio; head coach in Charlotte, Texas; head baseball coach in Three Rivers, Texas; varsity assistant coach in San Marcos, San Antonio and Marion, Texas where he coached football, baseball and basketball, he said.

His wife, April, will teach second grade at Olney Elementary School and his son Rylen will attend eighth grade at Olney Junior High School, he said. The Tobolas also have a son, Breven, and a daughter, Kaydence, attending Texas Tech University.

OISD Superintendent Dr. Greg Roach said Coach Tobola “seems to know he is in the kid business.”

OISD Board President Summer Branum said Coach Tobola “has a lot of value as a coach” and “a wealth of knowledge of the game - and not just football.”

“He has a wide range of coaching experience that will help us win games, but the thing he always comes back to ... is building relationships with kids, parents, and colleagues and allowing those relationships to be the foundation for making our athletic program reach its full potential,” she said.

Coach Tobola said he is in “the early stages” of assessing the Cubs athletic programs. “I have not met the kids yet,” he told the Enterprise. “I have seen the facilities and walked around the school buildings and I have been in contact with the coaches who are still on staff and are running the strength and conditioning program.”

Coach Tobola said he has put out the word on social media and through other channels that he is looking to hire an offensive and defensive coordinator for the football program, and a head baseball coach for the boys teams, and two girls’ assistant coaches.

“I’m in the process of bringing some new faces into town and playing catch-up on everything that needs to take place this summer and into fall,” he said.

He and his family will be “in and out of town” for the next month or so as he sells their home in Tomball and buys one in Olney, he said. He plans to be fully immersed in the athletic program by July. when he begins meeting with the coaches and wrapping up strength and conditioning training and planning equipment pickup and Youth Football Camp, he said.

Coach Tobola is “excited to get going and meet the kids,” he said. The first day of football practice is Aug. 5.