Published: January 17, 2008 11:44 pm      

Fairfield hires Valley Mills’ Piske as head football coach/AD

FAIRFIELD — Trying to get back to its winning tradition, the Fairfield football program has a new leader — Darrell Piske.

After getting only two wins in the last two years and not making the playoffs in the last three years, the Fairfield Independent School District announced the hiring of Piske as the new Fairfield head coach and athletic director.

“We felt like we were not providing the kind of athletic program the community is used to,” Fairfield ISD Superintendent Tony Price said. “Our athletes only have a limited time here so we wanted to give them the best opportunities as possible.”

Piske replaces former Fairfield head coach and athletic director David Haynes. In his two years at Fairfield, Haynes was 2-18 with only one win in each season.

Fairfield has not made the playoffs since 2004 under former head coach David Armstrong.

Price said he was looking for a candidate who has not only shown he could win, but has turned a program around. Piske did that at Valley Mills, a Class A school near Waco. When Piske took over at Valley Mills in 2003, the Eagles had not made the playoffs since 1995.

Piske, who spent time as an assistant coach at Llano, Bartlett and Kennedale, took Valley Mills to the Class 1A, Division I state semifinal game in 2006 and the regional finals this season.

In the last two years, Piske has a record of 17-8.

“We were looking for someone who could put a football team in a position to win and make the playoffs,” Price said. “When we interviewed coach Piske, he had a great attitude about the kids and that is what I liked in him.”