Brien Tuffly, Bellaire High School
Brien Tuffly is in his 12th season as Head Coach of the Bellaire High School Lady Cards softball Program. His record as Varsity Head Coach includes these accomplishments:
-
Named District 17-5A Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001
-
Named District 18-5A Coach of the Year in 2004
-
Selected to coach the Texas High School All Star Team in 2002
-
Had a Conference winning streak of 100-0 through 2002
-
Named Coach of the Year by the Houston Coaches Association in 1998-1999
- 2008 20-5A Coach of the Year 257-109 – Regional Semi-Finals
Prior to arriving at Bellaire, Coach Tuffly coached several fast pitch softball teams that enjoyed a great deal of success. In addition, he taught at Pearland High School for two years, where he coached basketball and football teams.
A native of Houston, Coach Tuffly attended Marian Christian High School where he played both baseball and basketball. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies from the University of Houston. He is certified in Special Education and teaches World Geography and U.S. History.
Away from the softball fields, Coach Tuffly and his wife Kelly operate a fishing guide service during the summer months. He is also a licensed Coast Guard Captain and is a certified ASA softball umpire.
James McClanahan -- Fort Bend Elkins High School
James McClanahan is in his twelfth year at Elkins High School and his eleventh season as head coach of the Elkins softball team. He has compiled an outstanding record of 258-69 during his past ten seasons, including a national championship, one state championship, seven district 20-5A Titles and three state tournament appearances.
He helped turn around a struggling softball program into a highly respectable and recognizable team during his past ten years as head coach. In 2004, he won the prestigious award given by the NCAA as "Coach of the Year."
In addition to his head coaching duties, McClanahan helped coach the football at Elkins for nine years as Offensive Coordinator. He also teaches business and calculus at Elkins.
Before
coming to Elkins, McClanahan coached football, baseball and power lifting
at Weimar High School for four years.
McClanahan graduated from Scarborough High School in Houston, received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas in 1989 and his master's degree in business from UH Victoria.
Coach McClanahan and his wife, Alena, have three children, Hayden (8), Ryan (6), and Kaylee (3).
Coach Hicks is in his third season as head coach at A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. His overall coaching record is 396-225-3 in 20 seasons as a head coach in Texas & Louisiana. His stops in his coaching career are at Westbank Cathedral Academy in Marrero, LA., Boothville-Venice HS (LA), Snyder, Freeport Brazosport, Sweeny, and LaGrange. He also was assistant baseball coach at Broadmoor HS in Baton Rouge when he was student teaching and getting to work with former Texas A&M star, Bucky Richardson.
Coach Hicks graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelors degree in education and is currently over halfway to his Masters Degree in Administration from Lamar University. He grew up in Houston and Sugar Land and graduated from Dulles High School. In his previous schools, he has coached football, basketball, and volleyball. He was the head girls basketball coach at Boothville-Venice HS and made the playoffs each year. In his 20 years of coaching softball, his teams have made the playoffs 18 times.
Currently Coach Hicks is the office director of the Texas Fastpitch Coaches Association and his duties include secretary, treasurer, and publicity. He also served on the softball committee of the Texas Girls Coaches Association for 6 years and was the committee chair in 2004. He also runs the webpages for the TMH Softball group, his schools' team page, and most importantly -- Texas Prep Softball webpage. At the TGCA summer clinics, he was the public address announcer for all of the All-Star games. He also, served as head coach of the TGCA South all-stars in 2002 with Coach Tuffly.
Hicks maintains a database of over 500 high school softball coaches, in which he runs a service to help coaches fill open dates on their schedules, and posts announcements for the state organizations and for coaches.
In 2008-09, Hicks, is also the filming coordinator for varsity football in the fall, and teaches English IV. Hicks is proud to say that his biggest fans are his parents, Robert and Alice Hicks of Sugar Land, who are both 85 years of age and have been married 60 years.
