School Spotlight: The Kinkaid School (Houston, TX)

The Kinkaid School is a preparatory private school school located in the Piney Point Village area of the city that competes in the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC). As a K-12 school with 1,423 students enrolled, the school is relatively small compared to some of the larger high school football programs in the state. Coming off of their second straight SPC championship, the school has dominated their conference throughout the last decade, winning 6 championships in the last decade, an incredibly impressive accomplishment. I was able to speak with head coach Nathan Larned and discuss how Kinkaid has been able to sustain this dominant run.

Before accepting the head coaching position at Kinkaid in 2013, Coach Nathan Larned served as the defensive coordinator for Cisco College after a stint at Angelo State University as a special teams coordinator and defensive line coach. At Cisco, Coach Larned worked under legendary Texas High School Football Hall of Famer John Parchman, who taught Larned a lot about the importance of the fundamentals and keeping things simple. At Angelo State, coach worked with three very different minds with different approaches. All of the different discussions and arguments helped him piece together the X’s and O’s and develop his coaching mentality.

“Scheming doesn’t have much value if the guys don’t understand how to do the little things the right way. Lineman assignment, all that stuff, hammering that home, and once you get really good at that, you can expand from there as far as scheme is concerned.”

Nathan Larned, HC
The team marching out onto the field against Episcopal School of Dallas (photo via David Shutts)

With the success the program has had in recent memory, competing for the SPC title every year has become the standard for Kinkaid. After the departure of a very talented and highly recruited 2022 class, this certainly was going to be no cakewalk. Making the task even more difficult were the pre-season injuries to the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart, leaving the team to start the season with no proper quarterback and causing their shift into more of a wildcat style of offense. Consequently, through the first eight weeks of the season, Coach Larned leaned heavily on his defense and implemented a military-level run game. Although they may have decided to be what coach called “the boringest team on the planet to watch,” they became really good at making opposing teams impatient and grinding out victories in this manner.

Coach spoke about the game against Archbishop Shaw in Marrero, Louisiana as a major turning point for the team. Coming back to the team meeting after the game, the team acknowledged their strengths being their running game and their defense. They discussed dismissing the notion of being miracle workers and scrapping points from unrealistic scenarios and instead focusing on the plays that consistently worked such as the power run to the right or the counter run to the left. Taking chances on defense without the explosive offense they had become accustomed to in years prior was also discouraged, and this greatly helped limit mistakes throughout the season. After a 3-3 start, Coach Larned noticed a major shift in the confidence of the players, as they were able to witness how they were able to stay competitive in any game despite their playbook limitations. Their identity was starting to develop and the players all really bought in.

Adjusting from the junior college scene to the preparatory high school football level was a welcoming challenge for Coach Larned. He spoke about the incredible amount of depth available even at a junior college, a luxury not afforded at a small private school like Kinkaid. With two or three players maximum per position on the depth chart, there is no room to selectively bench players for little mistakes. Coach spoke about how this has helped make him a better coach, since it is necessary to really focus on the player development when working with a limited pool of players.

“I’m a stickler for the little things. We define everything we do in our program. Our finish is three yards through, what is three yards through? That means I’m going to go above and beyond the next man, that means I go beyond the finish line. It’s emphasized on a play by play basis, a drill by drill basis, it’s not ok to be skipped. If you make a mistake we won’t ignore it and move on, we’re gonna come back reset and do it again before we move on to anything else.”

Nathan Larned, HC
Notre-Dame commit Micah Bell running the football (photo via David Shutts)

With a self-proclaimed obsession for emphasizing the details, Coach Larned has developed a very demanding training regimen that sometimes even surpasses the workloads of a college athlete as former students have let him know. With multiple guys on the team often having to play on both sides of the ball, Coach Larned prioritizes conditioning and making sure his guys are well prepared for having the stamina to play out entire ball games. Consistency is also very big for the team, and coach made clear that he does not tire of doing the same things over and over to yield results. The price of boredom to him is a small price to pay for success on the field.

As a K-12 school, many of the guys on the football team often have grown up together from a very small age. Described as a small-town community in a big city, the group is very close and tight-knit. Coach Larned asks all of the coaching staff to at least once a month do something with their position groups and help continue to build the bonds between the players. The seniors are asked to make sure the freshmen players feel welcome and always are asked to make sure they have rides home. There is no irritating rite of passage with the younger players as is common with football programs and the players all have a deep respect for one another. To Coach Larned, true leadership starts with servitude, and the school offers leadership councils and unity events over the summer to help all students fortify their skills in this area.

The entire team consists of multi-sport athletes, and a lot of them are around each other in different settings throughout the year. Being able to also interact with new groups of people and athletes helps avoid a fatigue of the sport and helps them come into the new season refreshed and once again excited about football.

Coach Larned was able to discuss a few of the prospects for the 2023 fall season that he believes are poised for major roles on the team.

Miles Roeder is a defensive back and running back in the class of 2024. A very dynamic player, Miles has an important role on both sides of the ball and will continue to play a big role next year after finishing the year on the SPC all-conference team.

Nico Gomez is a defensive back in the class of 2024. Also described as a player who can play both sides of the ball, Nico will build on the SPC all-conference selection he received in his junior year.

Will McMackin is a defensive end in the class of 2024. Another SPC all-conference selected team member, he averaged double digit tackles every game and will build on a phenomenal year next season.

When speaking of the future of the program, Coach Larned spoke about emphasizing a reset every year for the team. Telling each group that although they may have been a part of prior championship teams, they have yet to win any games or championships themselves as a unit. He spoke about his program’s kids relishing the challenge to maintain their status as a dominant force in SPC football, noting that they have become accustomed to having that target painted on their heads. Outworking everyone else is the standard for the program, and that’s something they will continue to maintain moving forward.