Parkland dubs Leigh McWhorter as new head football coach and athletic director

EL PASO, Texas -- Longtime Borderland coach Leigh McWhorter takes his first ever head coaching job with the Parkland Matadors.

This year will be McWhorter's 24th year coaching. Over the years he's been on the coaching staff at Chapin, Franklin and Andress before spending some time in San Antonio.

His most recent gig was as the OC for Franklin last season. There he stepped in as interim head coach.

McWhorter told ABC-7 that experience gave him the confidence to know head coaching is what he wants to do and he's ready to take on the challenge at Parkland.

"I'm going to invest as much time as possible because I don't want to cheat these seniors out of a season because there was a coaching change. That's not their fault," McWhorter said. "It's going to be a special group for me this being my first year as a head coach, so it's a special group and I want to give them a season they can remember." 

McWhorter said being a head coach wasn't always the dream - instead he focused on making a difference in kids lives and being good at his job, whatever that was. But he said this was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.