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Denton football coach Randy Patzkowski resigns; AD Purcell: 'We needed a new chemistry, a new face and a new philosophy'

Randy Patzkowski, who failed to post a winning record in seven seasons as the head football coach at Denton High School, has submitted his letter of resignation, DISD athletic director Ken Purcell confirmed Wednesday.

Patzkowski and Purcell had been engaged in talks about the direction of the program that has not enjoyed a winning season since 2002 over the last few weeks.

In his seven seasons at Denton, Patzkowski compiled a 12-59 record with just four district wins and one postseason appearance in 2010.

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“We felt like we had really made some progress [last year], but then this year we went 1-9 in our football season and of course that was a tremendous setback,” Purcell said. “At this point and time [being the] coach that I am, what it comes down to is credibility. If you’ve lost so long and you have so many losing seasons, then you begin to lose credibility with parents, fans and student-athletes.

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“We needed a new chemistry, a new face and a new philosophy to turn the program around. That’s what brings us to today.”

Last year’s playoff appearance was a shot in the arm for the previously downtrodden program and led to a feeling of excitement heading into 2011. Senior quarterback Dentton Hudspeth, who had shown a lot of promise, returned, along with 15 other starters.

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Patzkowski departs after a 2011 campaign that saw Denton go 1-9 and 0-6 in District 4-4A play.

The year was a disappointment for the Broncos, who went 4-6 in 2010 to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Denton lost in the first round to Hereford.

Patzkowski took over at Denton in 2005 after two seasons at Lake Dallas. He got Lake Dallas’ program on track before leaving for Denton in the hope that he could post a similar turnaround with the Broncos.

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Before his first head-coaching job at Lake Dallas, Patzkowski served as an assistant at McKinney and Richardson Pearce after coaching in the collegiate ranks at Oklahoma, LSU and Oklahoma State.

Denton will now look to fill the position by February in time for the UIL’s biennial realignment. Purcell expects there to be a lot of interest in the position.

“We think that we will have a lot of qualified applicants for the job,” Purcell said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we will have qualified applicants.”