MEEKS RETURNS TO HENDERSON | Lions name Ricky Meeks AD, head football coach
Henderson fans, we have one question for you…
Are you ready?
Henderson ISD announced its new athletic director and head football coach Wednesday night at a special board meeting, once again uniting the positions.
That man is Ricky Meeks.
And that means business is about to pick up.
Meeks, the former AD at both Center and Alto, brings a reputation with him to Henderson of high-powered offense – and winning.
If the name is familiar, it should be: Meeks was an assistant for his father, Dickey, when the Lions won the University Interscholastic League Class 3A state title back in 2010.
You know – “The Boys of Fall” season.
And what’s sitting in the garage at Henderson? The equivalent of the sports car your parents told you not to fool with, like a scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
The Lions are bringing back a TON of talent, including receivers Lemarion Coleman, Macen Jones, and Amauri Murphy; quarterback Vince Howard; defensive lineman Varian Williams and Isiaah Vazquez; and oh, by the way, running back Jesstin “Meaty” Starling.
They’re all coming back – and Meeks will have the remote control on the sidelines.
It’s a scary thought.
Henderson ISD also recently brought on board new Superintendent Brian Bowman. ETBlitz.com was told recently that a new AD and head football coach would be brought on shortly after Bowman was officially on staff, and that was 100 percent correct.
“We are excited to welcome coach Meeks back to Henderson,” Bowman said, in a statement released through HISD Director of Public Information David Chenault. “His experience, leadership and commitment to student development make him an excellent fit for this role. He understands the important connection between athletics and academics, and we believe he will have a tremendous impact on our students and community.”
Henderson went 6-4 in 2024 under former coach Clay Baker, the best season the Lions have had in six years. In the second game of the season, their homecoming, the Lions almost knocked off Liberty-Eylau (44-41), who was state-ranked most of the season and had a deep playoff run.
Henderson did beat Kilgore for the first time since 2018.
The Lions had a late-season swoon, though, and missed the UIL Class 4A playoffs. And Meeks and his staff will come in, get to work and try to prevent that from happening again. Henderson hasn’t been to the postseason since 2019, something that Meeks and his players and coaches are sure to correct very soon.
Henderson football dates back to 1914, and the program has 593 wins, 433 losses and 53 ties. A 600th win in 2025 is looking like an awfully-strong possibility, now that Meeks is on board.
The Lions have had four undefeated seasons (in 1968, 1985, 1989 and 1990) and one state championship, of course, already alluded to earlier, in the 2010 season, a 28-21 win over Chapel Hill.
Also through a statement, Meeks said his leadership philosophy is built on five core pilars: ownership, grit, blessings, relationships and process.
“A strong athletic department builds a strong school district,” Meeks said, through a statement, “and a strong school district builds a strong community. I believe in the power of athletics to shape students into better people – better sons and daughters, better students, better leaders. My goal is to create a culture where every athlete, regardless of their sport, feels supported, valued, and driven to excellence.”
Meeks replaces Baker, a Henderson alumnus who was in the role of head coach for two seasons and went 8-12, a 2-8 season in 2023 and then 6-4 in 2024. Baker resigned a few weeks ago and returned to his former position as AD and head football coach at Carlisle, where his father, Rocky, coached for decades.
As for the younger Meeks, the Lions’ new leader, he was the offensive coordinator at Tatum, and then the head coach at Alto before taking over at Center.
At Alto for three seasons (2018-2020), Meeks went 23-13, and went 8-4 in 2018, 11-1 in 2019, before graduation hit hard in ’20.
While Meeks was at Alto, he had Vi’Dareous High, who set rushing records for yards and carries in a game (420 yards and 41 carries, against New Diana in 2018), and Aaron Skinner, in 2019 with performances against Hawkins (254 yards and five touchdowns in a game).
High finished with 1,835 yards in 2018, and 1,415 yards in 2019, and Skinner with 1,389 in 2019 – they had a combined 2,804 yards.
Skinner had 19 touchdowns in that 2019 season.
Since leaving Alto after the 2020 season, Meeks has been in Center, a Roughrider. He got his feet wet with a rough first season, a 1-9 campaign in 2021. But after that, it was eight wins a year, literally. Meeks has a 24-10 record since that first year, including 8-3 in 2024, and many of the school’s rushing records were set or tied under his tenure.
One can only imagine what he can do with “Meaty” Starling and the talent he’ll have at Henderson.
The Roughriders’ season began with a 38-7 blowout at home over Jacksonville, and continued with a 49-28 win at Spring Hill.
Center went 3-0 with a 35-28 win at home over North DeSoto, and then beat a talented Daingerfield team on their own turf by 25 points (48-23) on Sept. 20.
The ‘Riders edged Madisonville, 17-14, before running into Carthage, in Carthage, and that didn’t go well, a 59-21 loss.
But in a good sign, Meeks and his team bounced right back. They absolutely whipped Bullard on the road the following week (49-19), and then blasted Brownsboro in similar fashion the next week (49-12).
They did drop the game in the next-to-last week of the regular season to Athens, 43-26, but bounced back in the final week of the year with a 37-20 win over Rusk.
Center was dealt a tough hand in round one of the UIL Class 4A-Division II playoffs, having to face defending state champion Gilmer. But the Roughriders gave Gilmer all it wanted before losing, 20-14.
By season’s end, Meeks’ quarterback, Travis Belin, had completed 122-of-212 passes for 2,075 yards, 25 touchdowns and just two interceptions. TWO. His top target: receiver Timothy Johnson, who had 74 catches for 1,290 yards and 20 touchdowns, and averaged 17.4 yards a catch.
Sophomore Jeremy Bluford led the ‘Riders in rushing (1,237 yards and 14 touchdowns on 218 carries, and seven games of 100 yards or better).
Among the defensive leaders: linebacker Easton Wulf, who had 129 tackles, 30 for loss, two sacks, six quarterback hurries, and an interception.
Now, Meeks gets into the driver’s seat in Henderson, where he’ll have one of the most talented rosters in East Texas under his control.
In 2024, Starling had 1,377 yards and 22 touchdowns on 195 carries – he averaged 7 yards a carry and also had seven games of over 100 yards rushing a game. He averaged 137 yards a game.
Coleman had 544 yards’ receiving and four touchdowns on 44 catches; Murphy had 17 catches for 249 yards; and tight end Jordan Ervin is back, as well.
Vince Howard, who is underrated as a passer and a runner, had 1,227 passing yards, 440 rush yards and had a hand in 10 total touchdowns in ’24.
Meeks’ father, Dickey, passed on Aug. 3, 2020, after retiring from coaching in 2020. Meeks won three state championships in Louisiana, then two in Texas: one at Chapel Hill (1989) and of course, at Henderson. And he had several coaching phrases he was fond of saying, one from Paul “Bear” Bryant.
One of them: “It’s not the will to win that matters. … It’s the will to prepare to win.”
