Industrial ISD taps former assistant for head coach-AD

By Beth Foley

Contributing Writer

What a difference a year can make.

Matthew Luddeke never forgot the impact of one year coaching and teaching at Industrial High School under Jamie Dixon in 2018, even after moving on eventually to coach at Cameron Yoe where he became defensive coordinator, strength coordinator, and head powerlifting coach.

When the opportunity to return to the district arose earlier this fall, Luddeke applied.

Monday night, he was hired in a unanimous vote by the Industrial ISD Board of Trustees to serve the remainder of the current school year and the 2025-2026 school year as the Cobras’ head football coach and athletic director.

“I worked here in 2018, and Industrial School District is one of the top school districts in the State of Texas,” Luddeke said Monday after the school board meeting. “My wife and I enjoyed our time here. (It’s a) phenomenal community, great kids, great place to raise your kids. Couldn’t be happier for this opportunity to serve this community. It’s an impressive place to be.”

Industrial Superintendent Clark Motley said 42 coaches applied for the position, with seven finalists interviewed, but Luddeke best fit what they were seeking.

“He was pretty phenomenal,” Motley said. “Accountability for kids, but also relationship building, organization that came across through the interview process, and a true passion, really, for Industrial. It’s very easy to brag about this place and sell it to someone who wants to come, but everyone in the committee joked that he had more positive things to say about Industrial than we did. It was pretty clear that this was the place he wanted to be and wanted his family to be, so that was very exciting.”

Luddeke and his wife Melissa have a four-year-old daughter and an infant son. Luddeke holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a Master of Education degree in Sports Administration. He taught Geometry during his previous coaching stint at Industrial.

This isn’t his first chance to lead a program.

Luddeke left Industrial in the spring of 2019 to take the head coach-athletic director position at Iraan-Sheffield ISD, where he coached for two seasons. He has also coached as an assistant at Navarro and La Vernia.

What led to his opportunity to return, though, was a different story of a year.

Last year, the Industrial Cobras played three rounds deep into the Class 3A Division I football playoffs, putting together an 8-4 record and a third-place finish in district with a group of talented seniors under Head Coach and Athletic Director Craig Nairn.

This season, the Cobras started off 0-5, with four of the five losses coming against state-ranked teams and two of the losses by three points. Of those first five teams, three (Edna, Tidehaven, and Shiner) are playing in the state semifinals, and the other two (Yoakum and Goliad) lost in the regional finals.

After the fifth loss, Nairn was removed as head football coach and AD and reassigned by the school district to a different role. Assistant Coach Alan Fellers was promoted to Interim Head Football to finish the season, and Head Volleyball Coach and Girls Athletic Coordinator Tara Dunn was named Interim Athletic Director.

The team responded with 35-21 and 28-21 wins over Van Vleck and Rice Consolidated, but lost the remainder of their games to finish 2-8.

During the public comments portion of Monday’s school board meeting, several students and community members spoke in favor of one of the current Cobra coaches, Cody Carney, who had applied for the head coaching job.

Carney is an assistant football coach, assistant powerlifting coach, and strength coach, and serves as the district’s DAEP and ISS teacher.

“We just think the world of him,” Motley said. “He and his wife and family are great for us. What they did and what all of our football coaches did, given a really difficult situation, is very commending and fantastic.”

What’s next for Luddeke will be wrapping things up at Cameron and returning to Industrial as soon as possible, he said.

“I plan to start here in January,” he said. “I want to get here, get to know the kids, build relationships with them, meet the community, meet the faculty and staff, and get to work. Got a lot of work to do.”