There will be a new coach roaming the sidelines when the Dickson Comets take the field this fall.
Mitchell Crittendom was recently hired by the Dickson Board of Education to be the school’s new football coach. He will replace Keith Garrett, who left to be the defensive coordinator at Plainview.
Garrett coached the Comets for four seasons and led them to a playoff appearance in 2005.
Crittendom, originally from Stroud, coached last season at Commerce, where he led the Tigers to an 8-3 finish and an appearance in the playoffs. He comes to Dickson with 24 years of coaching experience.
Prior to being at Commerce, Crittendom served as an assistant at Glenpool. He had also worked stints on coaching staffs at Del City, Bristow, Okmulgee, Konawa and was the head coach at Maud for two seasons in the mid-90s.
With Dickson competing in Class 3A, Crittendom said he saw the position as an opportunity to move to a larger class. He has also found that he loves south central Oklahoma.
“I never lived here, but I traveled through it and been around it and the people are great and friendly,” Crittendom said. “I’ve been here for just a short time and I’ve already had people open their homes to me, my wife and my family, and that was a big part of it. I wanted to get to a school system with some stability in the administration and that fits the bill.”
Crittendom’s plan is to get Dickson back in the playoffs quick and often.
“They’re (the Comets) kind of what I call ‘club football,’” the new coach said. “They will finish around .500 and just occasionally make the playoffs and I have bigger aspirations on that. I’m used to being in the playoffs and eventually, I want to get to the point where Dickson is one of the teams they talk about and they’re going to play for the gold ball. So right now, my first challenge is to try to get them to win a district title as soon as possible.”
Since he was hired last month, Crittendom didn’t get to coach spring football, but he did get to go to team camp.
“We had 36 young men attend. It was kind of a learning experience. We looked really good at times and we looked really poor at times. But that is to be expected,” he said.
Crittendom plans to keep using the 3-4 defense that the Comets have been using in the past.
As for offense, more passing will be implemented. Crittendom plans to institute a balanced attack.
“We’re going to try to balance it as much as we can,” he said. “To me, balance means whatever it takes to get it done. If we can run 50/50, we’ll do that. If it’s 80/20 run to pass or vice-versa, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Dickson relied more on the run in the wishbone set under Garrett’s direction,
Meanwhile, Garrett is excited about being on the Indians’ staff.
“I’ve been pretty good friends with (Plainview) coach (Corey) Cole through the years and I think it would be a good opportunity,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been at Dickson for a long time — for seven years, and did everything I felt like I could do there and felt like it was time to move on.”
Garrett came to Dickson in 2001 as an assistant under Brad Odom. He took over as head coach in 2004 after Odom left to coach at a 6A program.
“We won a lot of close football games during my time at Dickson,” Garrett said. “Winning with a couple of seconds left against Pauls Valley at home (2005) and beating the Sulphur Bulldogs (2006) for the first time in school history is what I consider my most memorable moments while I was over there.”
Garrett replaces David Gilliam, who left Plainview to join former Indian coach Jeremy Dombek at Edmond North.
“I’m very excited to get Keith Garrett,” Cole said. “Coming from Davis, he is been part of a championship and he’s been a head football coach. He has got great rapport with the kids. He has a tremendous passion for football and for kids being successful.
“We’re trying to build an atmosphere that is conducive to the championships and he has been a part of that. He has a lot of great intangibles that he is going to bring to the table for us. We’re very excited about the opportunity.”
Quick Hit
n Crittendom is currently conducting summer workouts for Dickson football and is encouraging young men who intend to play for the Comets to come out and participate. They run Monday through Thursday, 8-10 a.m. and 6-8 p.m.
