Midland head coach Thad Fortune facing a friend and familiar foe
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Midland High head coach Thad Fortune faces off against a familiar foe once again Friday in the Bulldogs' regular-season finale, the Permian Panthers. Fortune coached at Permian from 2014-2021 and has led the Bulldogs ever since.
"In 2014, I went to Permian and I was at Permian through the 2020 season and then came to Midland High in February of 2021," Fortune said.
Fortune served as the offensive coordinator in his last three seasons under current Panther's head coach Jeff Ellison. "I learned a lot working with him and the last three years working for him he does a lot of good stuff I still carry with me to this day. We worked together for so long, and now to be competitors in the same district is special."
In those seven total years that Fortune coached alongside Ellison they grew a lifelong friendship. "I'm grateful for what Jeff means to me personally as a friend and what he did for me, career-wise, and just the ability to be his offensive coordinator for three years. We don't call each other every week but when we see each other you can pick up right where you left off."
There were many things that Coach Fortune was able to pick up from Coach Ellison, one of those being the importance of building a great staff. "A lot of that starts with having a great staff of guys that care about their kids that work hard that want to get better at coaching football every day, and I was able to experience that at Permian and I feel like we are doing that here at Midland High."
Permian and Midland High run a similar type of offense with a big focus on the run game, but Fortune and the Bulldogs have their own variation. "I get accused of copying Permian, and I don't ever take that as an insult. I think when you've been around something that works and it's worked for a long time and you've seen it from the inside you'd be crazy not to try and replicate that."
And in this final week of the regular season, coach Fortune will seek his first win against his former program as the Bulldogs' head coach.
Midland and Permian kick off at 7 p.m. at Astound Broadband Stadium.
