kens5.com
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 12:47 AM
Updated today at 8:53 AM
Steele football coach Mike Jinks, who guided the Knights to a state championship in 2010 and is 43-4 in the past three seasons, confirmed Wednesday night that he is leaving the Knights to become running backs coach at Texas Tech.
"I'm gone," Jinks said when asked if he was going to Tech. "It looks good. It's a good deal."
Jinks then said he was "leaning heavily" toward taking the job, but wanted to tell his players first Thursday morning.
"That's not going too well because it's already out there," Jinks said.
Jinks also confirmed that he met with new Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, a former standout quarterback at New Braunfels High School, in Lubbock on Wednesday.
Kingsbury resigned as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M last month to succeed Tommy Tuberville at Tech, where he was a record-setting quarterback under Mike Leach. Kingsbury, 33, is one of the youngest head coaches in college football.
Jinks, 40, has headed the Steele program since the Cibolo school opened in 2005. The Knights went 76-18 in seven varsity seasons under Jinks, who was head coach at Burbank for one year before moving to Steele. He has a 79-25 career record.
Steele won the Class 5A Division II state title in 2010, finishing 14-2 after losing two of its first three games.
Jinks made history as the first African American coach to lead a team from the San Antonio area to a University Interscholastic League football state championship.
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UT running back Brown still tight with Jinks
The Knights went 15-0 in 2011 before losing to Spring Dekaney in the 5A Division II state final. The loss snapped Steele's 28-game winning streak.
The Knights lost to Katy in the 5A Division II state semifinals this past season, finishing 14-1.
Jinks was head coach of the West team in last week's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, which has been played in San Antonio since 2002. Jinks said after the game that he was looking forward to preparing for another season at Steele.
Earlier in the week, Jinks said it would take a job at a major college to lure him from Steele.
"I wouldn't leave for another high school job," Jinks said. "I'm in a great situation at Steele. We have a great administration, a community that supports us and some outstanding athletes and coaches."
Jinks has coached two outstanding running backs at Steele, Malcolm Brown and Justin Stockton. Brown earned U.S. Army All-American honors after helping lead the Knights to the state title as a senior, and Stockton has played on the varsity since his freshman season in 2010. He will be among the top returning high school players in the state next season.
Brown, who completed his sophomore season at Texas in 2012, has maintained a strong bond with Jinks.
"Coach Jinks shoots me a text every once in a while," Brown said before last month's Alamo Bowl. "He is a guy who is repetitive about the things he says, and he works his way inside your head. Coach Jinks is really a great guy.?
"He is easy to understand and makes it real simple for you. He's a smart guy who can develop players. He's a great coach."
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Jinks played quarterback at Judson
A 1990 Judson graduate, Jinks considered applying for the head coaching job at his alma mater last year when Jim Rackley retired. In the end, he decided to stay at Steele. Kerrville Tivy coach Mark Smith was hired as the Rockets' coach.
Jinks also turned down an offer to become head coach at Division II Angelo State, where he started at quarterback as a junior and senior.
The son of an Army sergeant, Jinks was born in Killeen. He attended Cole Junior-Senior High School at Fort Sam Houston until he transferred to Judson before his freshman year. He made the varsity as a sophomore quarterback and played on teams that went 37-4-1.
Jinks began his coaching career in 1995 at Killeen Ellison under current East Central coach Robert Walker, who he met while waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant in San Angelo. Jinks coached at Ellison for two years before moving to Judson in 1997.
Jinks coached at Judson for only one season before moving on to stints as an assistant at Austin Crockett, Houston Galena Park and Lee, and taking his first-head coaching job at Burbank in 2004.
Before Judson played Denton Guyer in the 2010 state final, Jinks talked about being the first black football coach at a San Antonio-area UIL school to lead a team to the title game.
"I am here because someone gave me the opportunity," Jinks said. "There are a lot of other guys out there right now, coaching in the inner city, who could do what I've done.
"For whatever reason, most minority coaches are in the inner city and they don't have the resources you have at a Judson. I know because I've been at both places."
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