E.T.W.
That’s Austin Vandegrift Head Football Coach/Athletic Coordinator Drew Sanders’ shorthand for “Expect to Win.”
Sanders – who last week was voted as Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) President-Elect for 2024-25 – had that phrase printed on the shirts he distributed to the roughly 20 freshman and sophomores that formed his first Vandegrift football team 15 years ago.
Working out in a spare weight room at a neighboring high school, the new team’s school had yet to be built, had no name, nickname, mascot or school colors. But they had Sanders as their coach and even then, E.T.W. was their motto as he built what has become a 6A Texas High School Football powerhouse from scratch.
It's the same philosophy that’s likely to drive Sanders as he steps into his new role in the THSCA hierarchy, helping develop student athletes and other coaches, fighting important battles, and advocating for public schools statewide.
“THSCA is the only organization (of its kind) in the country,” Sanders explained. “It has 28,000 members, and it is just an amazing organization that has tremendous power as far as to shape policy in athletics in addition to just accomplishing great things for coaches and kids. And so, to be voted by your peers as a president role just shows tremendous amount of respect for Vandegrift, what my coaches and players have done and it’s just such a huge honor."
“When I joined this organization 26 years ago, of course this was one of my goals,” Sanders continued. “And to ever think it could happen is almost like a dream.”
Sanders is a proud product of the Texas public school system. He won all-district honors and was Team Captain for his district championship-winning Mexia Blackcats before attending Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. A three-time Academic All-Conference defensive standout, he was part of four conference championship teams from 1993-97 before earning his Masters in Administration from Texas A&M Kingsville.
Sanders began as an assistant coach in Mexia, followed by stops at Killeen, San Antonio Taft and San Antonio Stevens. In 2006, he became the Head Football coach at W.B. Travis High School in Austin. After his third and final season at Travis, the Rebels reached the play-offs for only the second time in their previous 10 years, increased participation by almost 200%, and earned 16 wins, the most combined wins in a three-year period in almost 20 years.
Vandegrift – and E.T.W. – came calling in 2009 when Sanders became the Vipers’ first and only head coach. Since that first varsity season in 2010, Sanders has led the Vipers to a 131-45 record and they have made the playoffs 11 seasons in a row, 12 out of the last 13 seasons, and made a 6A Div. II State Championship appearance in 2022. Last year’s undefeated district run marked Vandegrift’s sixth outright or shared 6A district title in a row.
As the campus Athletic Coordinator, Sanders has overseen success across the entire athletic department, as Vandegrift HS won back-to-back UIL Lone Star Cups in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 and has been in the Top 10 almost every year since its move to class 6A. But that success isn’t his favorite part of coaching.
“My very favorite part about being a coach is the kids,” Sanders stated. “I love the winning; I love the competitive stuff; the competing every week is just so fun, especially when you win. But the best thing about my job is I get to be around kids every day. Kids brighten my day. They remind me to keep focused on the important things in life. So that is without a doubt the favorite part of my job is just being around young people and caring about them and building a relationship with them.
“I’d say the toughest part about coaching is when you have to deal with the red tape of things to get things done; paperwork and all of those things,” he continued. “Sometimes I feel like, man, I’m just not enjoying this part of it.
“Sometimes an upset parent meeting isn’t the most enjoyable thing,” he chuckled ruefully. “But I have come to learn as a coach now – this is my 27th year of coaching – that parents just want the best for their child. And so, even those meetings can be a positive thing if you look at it the right way and you try to explain what you’re thinking as a coach to the parents so they can kind of see your viewpoint too. And so sometimes, our relationships actually get stronger with parents (with) those meetings as they understand more about what we’re doing, and it is part of being a high school coach. They’re young people and so sometimes they need the parents to talk a little bit more.”
Sanders has been married for 26 years to his college sweetheart, Janet. Together, they have two sons and a daughter, all of whom were or are multi-sport athletes at Vandegrift. One son, Caleb, is about to start his own coaching journey and just attended his first THSCA Coaches School.
“Be the same person every day,” Sanders offered up as advice for his son and the other freshly minted coaches. “Show up every day with enthusiasm and excitement for the ability to change someone’s life on a daily basis. I mean, that’s what we’ve signed on to do. And then everything else will take care of itself.
“If you show up excited and ready to go and understand your purpose in life, then that makes you want to show up early. That makes you want to do a great job. That makes you want to follow through. That makes you want to do things with excellence. So, it all starts with your motivations of why you’re doing this.”
Elected to the Region 8 THSCA Board of Directors, where he served until 2017, and a mentor in the THSCA R.O.C.K. program for two years, Sanders now embarks on a new three-year journey. He’ll initially serve as President-Elect under incoming President John Snelson from Dickinson HS.
“The first year is me, understanding procedures; what are the kinds of events we’re working on now,” he acknowledged. He’ll take over as President in 2025-26 and then transition to Past President one year later. However, Sanders already has his sights set on the THSCA’s priorities.
“I know the hot topics that are around. We’re trying to defeat legislation that allows anyone to transfer, really critical things like that. Texas has amazing rules regarding transfers and so that would be one thing that we’re very concerned about. There are many bills attempting to be passed (in the State Legislature) that they want to turn high school football into college football and allow anybody to go anywhere. And of course, we’re fighting that. And so that would be one example of the great work that the THSCA does.”
As a product of and a coach at a Texas public high school, Sanders is well-positioned to lead the THSCA’s charge to protect and defend public schools.
“I think the number one goal (as president) is to build relationships, listen to our coaches around the state and see what they find important. And then, we’re gonna defend public schools,” Sanders stated. “There’s nothing like a successful public school in a community. They are the front porch of the community. And we’ve been experiencing that (at Vandegrift). You know, the state championship game in 2022, I’ve never seen so many people in a stadium from the same community. I turned around and that was just awe-inspiring. And that’s the kind of uniting power that sports have in the community and the public schools are the root of that. And so, we’ll work really hard to defend that throughout my time as president.”
It would be really surprising if he and the THSCA don’t succeed. In fact, like Vandegrift High School, the THSCA should ETW with its new President-Elect, Drew Sanders.