White Oak fans, meet new coach Tanner Thiel

Tanner Thiel was an assistant coach at White Oak High School in a few sports from 2014-2017.

He’s returning to the Roughnecks now as their athletic director and head football coach, after a special meeting of the White Oak ISD board on Tuesday.

Nobody, coach Thiel insists, is happier he’s returning than HE is.

“I spent three years there, and loved it,” Thiel said. “I learned so much, not only as an assistant with football, but with basketball, as well, and head powerlifting coach. …I had mentors there that taught me not only really how to coach, but how to run a program. We loved our time there, and we’re so happy to be coming back.”

Thiel comes back to White Oak after eight years coaching at Grape Creek, where he guided quite a turnaround — more on that in a bit.

He’ll be at school for his first day on Monday.

Thiel’s wife, Cara, and children Tatum (11) and Bode (7), will finish the school year at Grape Creek, where Cara is a teacher, originally from Van (a former Van High School softball standout) and then they’ll join him here — it’s about a six-hour drive, Thiel noted.

“A lot of people don’t know a lot about Grape Creek,” Thiel explained. “They’ve only had a program since 1998. It’s one of those schools where it’s not an easy place to build a winning program. They just haven’t had a lot of success.

“I was talking to one of their board members, and he told me he was on that very first team back in ’98. He said back then, they won their very first game, but then lost 36 in a row. At the time, it was the longest losing streak in the state, and it got a lot of attention. As it worked out, by the time I left, I was there eight years, and I was by far their longest-tenured coach they’d ever had. I looked it up, and their coaches were averaging about two years there.”

A program that had been used to winning two and three games a season became moderately successful under Thiel’s guidance, even climbing the mountain to win a district championship in 2021. In 2025, the Eagles (in the San Angelo area) went 7-5 overall, and 2-2 in district play, a third-place finish. They beat Crane, 50-15, in the first round of the playoffs, and then lost to Idalou, 59-12. Idalou went four rounds deep into the postseason.

White Oak the last few years has also had moderate success, going 5-5 the last two seasons after a winless 2023. In fact, Jaxsen Ludlow is one of the nominees for the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football / Panini 3A Quarterback of the Year. The ‘Necks have competed in an ultra-difficult district, with Jefferson, Liberty-Eylau, Tatum and Atlanta all having been state-ranked the last two seasons.

Coach Thiel let ETBlitz.com in on this: he runs the single-wing offense, very non-traditional compared to everything people are running now. The single-wing was even invented by Pop Warner, believe it or not…

“It works,” Thiel noted.

Thiel will soon meet with Roughnecks football players, and that’ll be private. But asked what he would say today to his players, before they ever really get to know him…

“I would say I hope they’re excited,” Thiel said. “I’m excited and I can’t wait to get started. I’m excited to meet the kids and build relationships with them and get things going.”

Unlike a lot of coaches when they come into a program, having to learn about history, tradition and the like, Thiel won’t have to do that.

“I know White Oak has a lot of traditions, and I’m already familiar with them, and I love ’em,” he said. “White Oak is a special place. No matter what the situation is, they expect to excel, and to win — not just in football but in everything, especially in academics. And I’m so glad to again be a part of that. My wife and I are excited that our children will get to be a part of that.”