After a prolonged search, Texas Southern has hired former Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman as the Tigers' new football coach.
In his playing days, Cris Dishman was a brash, in-your-face, trash-talking cornerback who thought no one could beat him.
He wasn’t just talk, mind you.
A two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro pick with the Oilers in 1991, a season in which he finished second in the NFL in interceptions, Dishman said a lot with his play too.
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When he started coaching, he brought that same attitude to teaching his charges.
RELATED: TSU hires former Oiler Cris Dishman.
Now, though, new head football coach at Texas Southern University says he’ll dial it down.
“As a position coach, I was fiery, as I was as a player,” Dishman said. “But, now, as a head coach I can’t be as fiery. I have to be a communicator. I have to be mentor for these young men, let them know that we are here for them in every way.”
Dishman began his coaching career in 2005 with Berlin in NFL Europe. He worked with defensive backs for several NFL teams, with the longest stint being five seasons with the then-San Diego Chargers.
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He wasn’t interested in coaching when he retired, but as soon as he got a taste, he wanted to ascend to a head coaching position.
The time is finally here.
The job won’t be easy.
The sleeping giant that is TSU, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2000, the year Dishman retired from the NFL, could benefit from Dishman’s unique experience.
What the school has been doing hasn’t worked. An outsider’s touch was sorely needed.
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Now, if only alumni and students get onboard.
RELATED: Andre Johnson withdraws from TSU search.
The roundabout way TSU ended up with Dishman, with infighting among the Board of Regents as to who should be hired for the position, is a sign of the dysfunction at the school.
But that part of the circus is over, and TSU might have accidentally found the right coach.
Dishman says this is no accident.
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“God has a reason to work stuff out and make stuff happen,” he said. “And no one can take away what God has planned.
“No matter what the scrutiny was, who was this and who was going to be there, God had me to be the next head coach, the 18th head coach of Texas Southern, and that's how it was supposed to happen.”
Dishman is focused on recruiting and getting to know his players.
“We have a lot of good players on this team, they just need to be restructured in what we do, our format,” Dishman said. “That's what we as coaches have to do. We have to restructure them into a rethinking, a more of a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. If you have a growth mindset, you can win a lot of games. And if you have a fixed mindset, you can't.”
With a group of players all born after he retired, Dishman says he doubts many on his team know how good of a player he was, and he’s not going to tell them.
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RELATED: Former Oiler Bubba McDowell looks to make impact at Prairie View.
“I have never brought it up,” he said. “I'm sure some of the players have probably Googled me, but I always tell the players, ‘It's not about me, it's about you and your team.’”
Dishman wants his team to play fast, smart and disciplined, but he isn’t giving away any secrets into what schemes he will favor.
“We’re going to run an offense that can score more points than our opponents and a defense that stops opponents from scoring, so our offense can score more points,” Dishman said. “We’ll do what it takes to win.
“Sometimes coaches make football more difficult than it has to be. It’s a players’ game. We coaches direct the way, but if don’t have the players to run what’s on our billboards and our plays, the things that we draw up, they’re not going to work.”
While he is still finalizing the full details of his staff, Dishman is excited about the group he has assembled.
“A lot of the names you may not know, but they are technique-driven coaches, just like me,” he said. “In today’s football, you need technique-driven coaches.
“I didn’t go out and hire all my friends. I hired coaches who can coach. Coaches who understand the college game and who can recruit and have high energy.”
Billy Parker, who spent last season as a defensive backs coach at William & Mary, his alma mater, is the new defensive coordinator. Steve Smith, offensive coordinator for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL in 2022 when Dishman was the team’s defensive coordinator, will man that role at TSU.
Dishman has hired at least one former teammate. Kimble Anders, who played at the University of Houston and went to three Pro Bowls in 10 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, is the Tigers’ incoming running backs coach.
Anders is a Galveston native who has coached mostly in high school since his playing days, including a seven-year head coaching stint at his alma mater Galveston Ball. He and Dishman played together in 1999, in their next-to-last season in the NFL.
“I called Kimble because I know of seeing him play and seeing him prepare,” Dishman said. “I know what he brings.”
Dishman vows to bring winning back to TSU.
“There's a lot of support on campus, you know, with students coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey coach, we're behind you,’” Dishman said.
“I think people on campus just want to win. Once we start winning and win multiple SWAC championships, then we’ll have more support.
“If people describe it as a sleeping giant, we’re gonna wake this giant up.”
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