Twelve college or pro head coaches that graduated from Texas coaching ranks

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It seems to be a growing trend that college football coaches are mining into the high school ranks when assistant coaching positions become available.

New Baylor head coach Matt Rhule last month added to his staff three Texas high school head coaches: Cedar Hill's Joey McGuire, David Wetzel of Reagan (San Antonio) and Shawn Bell of Cedar Ridge (Round Rock).

Climbing the ladder from high school head coach to one day becoming a college head coach, or perhaps even an NFL coach, is a difficult one. But a few former Texas high school coaches have done it.

Here are 12 former Texas high school head coaches that went on to become head coaches -- in the past and present -- at the college or professional level.

1. O.A. "Bum'' Phillips
Long before his 10-year NFL career in charge of the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints, Phillips made Texas high school stops at Nederland, Jacksonville, Amarillo and Port Neches-Groves.

2. Buddy Ryan
His work as a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears led to a head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Ryan cut his teeth as a high school head coach for Gainesville in 1957.

3. Hayden Fry
The College Football Hall of Fame coach orchestrated turnarounds of programs at SMU, North Texas State and Iowa, but began his career as a head coach at high school alma mater Midland from 1956-58.

4. Art Briles
Before resigning last summer, Briles went 65-37 at Baylor on the heels of a successful run at the University of Houston. As a high school coach he guided four Stephenville teams to state championships after previous head coaching tours at Hamlin and Georgetown.

5. Spike Dykes
Dykes became the Texas Tech head coach in 1986 and compiled an 82-67-1 record in 13 seasons. Before coming to Lubbock, Dykes for four years was head man at Midland Lee.

6. Emory Bellard
Generally credited as the creator of the Wishbone offense while an assistant at Texas, Bellard went on to take that offense with him when he became head coach at Texas A&M from 1972-78 and at Mississippi State from 1979-85. Bellard learned his craft in 15 seasons as a high school coach at Ingleside, Breckenridge and San Angelo Central. His final seasons as a head coach were spent at Spring Westfield (Houston).

7. Abe Martin
From 1953-1966, Martin guided TCU to a 74-64-7 record. Before making that jump he had high school head coaching stops at El Paso, Lufkin and Paschal (Fort Worth).

8. Todd Graham
The current Arizona State head coach quickly scaled a college ladder that began with Rice followed by Tulsa and Pittsburgh. From 1995-2000, Graham helped turn Allen into the juggernaut status it enjoys today.

9. David Beaty
Since 2015, Beaty has been trying to reverse the fortunes of the Kansas Jayhawks. His high school resume includes head coaching stops at North Dallas and MacArthur (Irving).

10. Mike Jinks
After leading Steele (Cibolo) to a state title and a runner-up finish, Jinks moved on to become a college assistant at Texas Tech. He recently went 4-8 in his first season as head coach at Bowling Green.

11. Chad Morris
His high school stops included Eustace, Elysian Fields, Bay City and Stephenville before winning a state title at Lake Travis. Morris moved on to the college ranks as an offensive coordinator at Tulsa and Clemson. He was named SMU head coach in 2014.

12. Harvey N. "Rusty'' Russell
In the 1930s and 40s Russell won fame as the innovative head coach of the Masonic Home (Fort Worth) Mighty Mites. He also served as Highland Park head coach, leading to college stints at SMU, Schreiner and Howard Payne.