KATY (Covering Katy News)—Katy Tigers football coach Gary Joseph and his son, Port Neches-Groves Indians coach Jeff Joseph, will be on the cover of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine, which will be on sale this summer.
Gary Joseph said the magazine approached him at the end of April about being photographed for the cover. Jeff came to Katy, and Erik Williams, a Houston freelance photographer, staged and took the photos at Rhodes Stadium.
“The photo shoot, we were going to do it at Legacy Stadium,” said Carter Yates, who wrote the cover story. “But the athletic director, Lance Carter, said, 'Hey, the Katy fans way prefer Rhodes Stadium because that’s the more historic stadium. It's the older stadium. It's actually the stadium Jeff used to play at as a as a player for his daddy.' We’re super thankful to Lance Carter for giving us that note that we should move it over to Rhodes Stadium for the cover shoot.”
The cover is folded in the middle and opens out to be twice as big. It features the Josephs and University of Texas quarterback Quinn Evers and Texas A&M quarterback Connor Weigman, which will renew its historic rivalry following a 12-year hiatus.
Yates said the decision to focus on the Josephs came after Port Neches-Groves won the state title last season.
“In Texas, Gary Joseph was someone who was a major hole in our cover game,” Yates said. “Someone in the room said, you know, what about Jeff and Gary Joseph on that? He's Jeff now, having won the state championship and they're the first active father-son duo to win the state championship game, and it kind of dawned over in the room.”
To write his article, which is about 2,250 words, Yates drove from the Dallas area, where he and the magazine are based, to Port Neches for a couple of days to interview Jeff Joseph. Then it was on to Katy to interview Gary Joseph.
“This was my first cover story I've written for the magazine,” Yates said. “I couldn't have picked two better people to write about.”
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Yates had much to cover. Gary Joseph has led the Tigers to five state titles, the most recent in 2020. Jeff Joseph, led the Indians to the state title last season, his second. In his first season, the Indians made it to the title game before falling short.
According to the magazine, the Josephs are the third father-son duo to coach their teams to a state title. According to http://www.Texashighschoolfootballhistory.com, Chuck York (Brady, 1959) and sons Toby (Cameron, 1981) and Todd (Corrigan-Camden, 2002) were the first father-son duo. Jimmie Keeling (Lubbock Estacado, 1968) and son Dale (Everman, 2001 and 2002) are the second such duo.
When last year’s Katy team finished with a 10-2 record, Gary traded his Tigers red for Indians purple and was happy to see Jeff’s team make its mark.
“That was a very, very special time,” Gary said. “I know how hard it is to get to a state championship game, and he got them there his first year, and they lost. Then, they came back, and you get back and you really want to see our kids succeed and that they were able to win this time. But it wasn’t just that, you know. They were very poised, and they did a good job.”
But despite the success, Yates said the article was not so much about football, but about family. The Josephs are part of an extended coaching family, beginning with the late Eddie Joseph, Gary’s father, who coached at Wharton from 1968-80. While none of his teams won state titles, his Wharton teams had an 89-41-4 record, and he later served as executive director of the Texas High School Football Coaches Association. Eddie Joseph died in 2019.
Gary Joseph said his father taught his kids well.
“That was a great thing,” Joseph said. “I have all the admiration in the world for my dad and what he did, not just the way he did it.”
Those lessons rubbed off on Gary and Jeff, and their respective coaching staffs. Some of Gary’s former players are on Jeff’s staff, and other Joseph family members are also coaching football. Gary’s brother Scott is on the Katy staff.
“He’s here with us, and he’s been head coach at Aldine Davis and head coach at Westbury and worked at the college and several other places, so I’m thankful to have him here,” Joseph said.
The late Dave Campbell, longtime Waco Tribune-Herald sports editor, began the magazine in 1960. Originally meant as a football preview magazine focusing on Texas pro, college and high school teams, the publication now has multiple editions and also covers basketball.
As for the 2024 Tigers, Joseph said the expectations don’t ever change. Katy expects to play for the district championship.
“That’s the first thing,” Joseph said, adding that the district’s growth means only two non-district games. “You know you have two games to prepare, and that’s why you must be ready to go early on, and it’s always the thing around here. You know you'd love to go undefeated, but you know that's just part of growing up. We expect to have a chance.”
The Tigers open their season August 30 against Dickinson at Sam Vitanza Stadium in Dickinson.
Yates said the magazine will be on sale after July 4 at bookstores and grocery stores, including Kroger and H-E-B. It can also be purchased on TexasFootball.com.