David Smoak ‏@DavidSmoak 29s

John Berry was officially approved as the new athletic director and head football coach at Gladewater High School on Monday. This is the first-ever head coaching job for Berry, who was named the interim AD/Football Coach in mid-January after long-time friend Jerrod Baugh resigned.

Berry had a long and successful career as an assistant coach at Longview under John King, in fact, Berry and Baugh were on the Lobos coaching staff before Baugh was named AD/Football Coach at Gladewater in 2010.

Berry was also an assistant coach at three schools in Louisiana, Ouachita High School, West Ouachita High School and Oak Grove High, where he was at a program that one two state championships.

Gladewater was 7-7 under Baugh in 2013.

Here are some quotes from Coach Berry about the official announcement:

Importance of keeping transition as minimal as possible, "This transition was unforeseen and we felt like we are starting the incline of our program, consistent playoff team and also, based on matchups, being competitive." Berry continued, "Keeping the staff together here that we have in place, particularly with a large group of seniors coming back gives us a chance to build on what we started."

You've been an assistant coach throughout your entire career, what's it mean to now be in the head coaching role, "What it means to me, it's something I've worked hard at here at Gladewater, where we can go out on the field and compete head-up against whoever is on our schedule, and me being promoted allows us to keep with the best group of Class 4-A teams in Texas." Berry continued, "As far as being a long-time assistant coach, that's been my life, I never once ever applied for a head coaching job, and didn't apply here, but was promoted when Jerrod Baugh resigned."

How difficult has it been through this transition, while also being a long-time friend of Jerrod Baugh? "First of all, he's a personal friend of mine, we've been together from Louisiana to Longview and now Gladewater, we've lived together, did our lives together, everything, good and bad, we've always remained as one, and it's been tough." Berry also added, "Second thing is the hole left by Jerrod Baugh can't be filled, we don't have anyone on staff to replace him because he worked his butt off, he lived up here at the field house, there are so many things people will never realize what he did, he was great for the kids at Gladewater High, and he met their needs, both personally and athletically, day in and day, and it's unfortunate that his circumstances occurred."