The West Brook Bruins are going to play for the State Championship in 6A Division II Saturday at 3pm against the Longview Lobos. The Bruins haven’t been to the State Championship game since they won it all in 1982.
But an Orangefield Bobcat has led his team up the ladder in just his second season as a head coach. And his mentors aren’t surprised one bit.
Bruins Head Coach Eric Peevey graduated from Orangefield in 2002. But he didn’t wait until he graduated college to get into coaching.
“I got a job driving a school bus at Orangefield and volunteered with the football team,” he said. “I’d break down film (of the game) and do whatever I could to help and to learn. And then sometimes at night I would wait tables at Tuffy’s. I did that all four years before becoming a proud Lamar graduate.”
The head coach at Orangefield at the time was Kevin Flanigan. He coached Peevey before mentoring him about his plan to be a coach after graduation. “There was no doubt that he was driven and wanted to be a coach,” said Flanigan.
One day during his time at OF, Flanigan called Peevey in his office and told him he wouldn’t be hiring him after graduation. “I was devastated when he first said it because I thought I was doing everything I was told,” he said.
Flanigan said it was part of the plan. He told him he wouldn’t hire him as long as he was at Orangefield because if he was serious about coaching, he needed to experience other schools than just the comfort of being at his alma mater.
So when Flanigan left OF for Crosby, one of the first calls he made was to the fresh-out-of-college, but seasoned Peevey. “I told him I wouldn’t hire him at Orangefield. I didn’t say I wouldn’t hire him if I were somewhere else,” Flanigan joked.
Peevey spent two years at Crosby with Flanigan before going back to OF to coach his brother Zach under Blake Morrison. Then he spent three seasons under Randy Crouch at Little Cypress-Mauriceville before getting another call from Flanigan when he took over at West Brook in 2012.
In 2017, Flanigan announced he was leaving for Tomball High School. “I was hoping Eric would get the job. He was ready.”
Peevey, the Defensive Coordinator at the time, wasn’t sure he would get the job either. “I had already been turned down by a smaller school in the area because I didn’t have head coaching experience.”
But at 34, Peevey’s first head coaching job would be at a 6A school with as many as 70 players on the sideline on a Friday night. That just doesn’t happen very often in Texas high school football.
Peevey was also quick to say it doesn’t happen without great support from his wife Amy. “Listen man, she is the rock of this family. I can’t do what I do without her.” The former Amy Johnson, an LCM grad, also manages Johnson’s Mini Storage. They have two boys, Will and Grey.
Another coach that was beaming ear to ear when Peevey took over the Bruins was Randy Theriot.
Now retired and a member of the Southeast Texas Coaches Hall of Fame, Theriot was at Orangefield during Peevey’s early years as a student athlete.
“The group of guys he hung out with were all good guys,” he said. “But Eric exuded leadership even then. He’s the kind of guy that can get everyone in the boat rowing in the same direction. I’m not surprised by his success. West Brook is lucky to have him.”
Theriot was in the stands when West Brook defeated favored Austin Westlake 35-30 last Saturday. He said had the honor of coaching both coaches. Peevey at OF and Todd Dodge when he played for Thomas Jefferson in Port Arthur.
Peevey credits Theriot with giving him the coaching bug. “That’s where it all started for me. I have a great father and grandfather and family, but outside of them Coach Theriot is like a father to me. I wanted to be a coach after being around him.”
As a side note, this reporter remembers a time years ago when Coach Theriot was at Orangefield and did something no one had done around here at that time. He brought his coaches and team to show support for the band at their marching competition. This year Coach Peevey was applauded on social media for doing the same thing at West Brook.
In his first season, Peevey’s Bruins made it to the playoffs but lost his first playoff game to Longview 42-21 in the bi-district round.
Now, after UIL realignment put the Bruins back in Region III, Peevey and the Bruins get a chance for revenge and a gold medal on the games biggest stage, in the game’s biggest stadium.
And then there’s his lucky hoodie. “No matter what the temperature is in there I’m going to have it on. Haven’t lost with it.”
“We have a great group of kids,” he said. “They’ve bought in to what we’re doing. Now we’re not very big. I’ve got some guys who can walk under a table without bending over. But they’re tough. They’ve faced adversity.”
That adversity included being down by 21 points in their third round game against Katy Tompkins. And they came back to avenge their loss earlier to Strake Jesuit, winning 54-43. The Brook’s only other loss was to Galena Park North Shore, who will be playing in the 6A Division I Championship.
Good luck to Coach Peevey and the Bruins. By the way he’s not the only Bobcat on staff. Derek Peveto and Parker James are assistant coaches.
-Gary Stelly, KOGT-
West Brook (13-2)
Bellaire 55-0
Strake Jesuit 40-55
Lamar 28-14
CE King 55-7
United 45-10
Channelview 57-20
LaPorte 44-6
North Shore 7-56
Deer Park 56-46
Sterling 59-7
Playoffs
Kingwood 56-14
Strake Jesuit 54-43
Katy Tompkins 49-45
Cypress Creek 31-21
Austin Westlake 35-30
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