Lauve leaves Jasper for Elgin
By JIMMY GALVAN

DANNY LAUVE addresses his football squad during practice this past year. Lauve resigned his post with the school to accept a position to Elgin High School.

While the decision to leave Jasper was a hard one, Danny Lauve said it was even harder to tell his football squad the news that he was leaving for Class 4A Elgin.

"That was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life," Lauve said of informing his returning players of his departure. "I have never had to do that before as a head coach. I left them with a challenge and if they answer the challenge they can be an awfully good football squad."

He said the decision to leave Jasper for Elgin was hard because he had grown to like the Piney Woods.

"It was probably one of the tougher decisions I have faced," Lauve said. "These kids have been through a lot and worked extremely hard to make next year a successful year. We have challenged them to be their best and seeing the way they are working, it is hard to walk away from that kind of work ethic."

He also admitted that it was hard to leave JISD administration who made his position an easy place to work.

"Chris Coleman is about as classy as they come," Lauve said. "The administration and teachers here are super. For me, it was a great stop."

Lauve said one of the initial draws to the position was the similarity of the two administrations of the campuses.

"They are similar in many fashions," Lauve said. "If I wouldn't have had that comfortable feeling, there is no doubt that I wouldn't have taken the job."

Lauve will be taking offensive coordinator Patrick Forrester with him to Elgin.

"Hopefully, (Elgin) will be his program," Lauve said. "My goal is to go there and just be the athletic director. It's predicted Elgin will be a Class 5A school in the coming years."

Lauve accepts a team that finished 8-3 in Class 4A last year and were beaten in the first round of the playoffs by Brenham.

"The challenge won't be immediate but will be down the road," Lauve said.

Next year, Elgin may move into a district with Class 4A powerhouses Hutto, Austin Taylor and Maynard.

"That would put us as the smallest school in the district and we are banking on the growth in Elgin to get us where we need to be," Lauve said. "I don't think I am going to step in and we are going to play for a state championship, but that will be our goal.

"But realistically, that won't be possible for the next couple of years down the road," Lauve said.

When he looks back at Jasper's first year in District 21-3A, he believes his Bulldogs were ready for the challenge but couldn't overcome the damage caused to the squad by Hurricane Rita.

"You look at other schools and it didn't bother them but they didn't lose a kid like Gilbert Moye or Taylor Hart. When you lose them from your program, it's tough," Lauve said.

He said there are plenty of memories that he will take from Jasper on his second stop at the head-coaching carousel.

"The best will be having the kids come into this office and we mess with them," Lauve said. "That is something that you don't replace. I know that we have had that everywhere we have been but we really had some special kids here."

He points to many games along the way to the state championship game three years ago including game against Waco Connelly.

"I will never forget Jordan Patton coming to the sideline when we started overtime and he said 'give me the ball," Lauve said. "We had waited for him to reach that moment. When he came to the sideline and said that, I knew we had arrived as a program."

He said he leaves here knowing he didn't fulfill all his goals when he took the position in Jasper.

"We came here to win a state championship and we didn't accomplish that," Lauve said. "I think there are a lot of things we can be proud of and one of them is the mentality that we put in our kids to overcome adversity, and the foundation of success. It's more than x's and o's that they learned here.

"I think you always do better at your second job than your first job," Lauve said.

"Its just part of the maturing and growing up process. I knew what I wanted when I took this job and I think I brought everything to the table that I had to offer."