By Jay Hoberecht
Enid High School has turned a page in their football program history. Enid High football, once dominant in the 1960’s, has won four state championships (1964, 1965, 1966, 1983) plus a runner-up finish in 2006. The tradition-rich program has turned the reigns over to Brad Cornelsen. A former college coach that has some outstanding experience.
Cornelson, 48, grew up in Texhoma, Oklahoma as a son of a college and high school coach. He has fond memories of his days in Texhoma growing up in a small town and playing all the sports. After graduating from Texhoma High School in 1995, he attended Missouri Southern State University graduating in 2000.
He has been a student assistant at Missouri Southern (QB’s, 1999), student assistant at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (WR’s, 2000), graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State (WR’s, 2001) Special Teams Analyst at Oklahoma State University in 2001, graduate assistant at OSU, (WR’s 2002). Brad also coached at Illinois State from 2003 to 2007 (WR’s and QB’s), After another stop at OSU in 2008, Brad was the Offensive Coordinator and coached QB’s from 2009-2011.
From there, Brad went to Memphis (2012-2015), Virginia Tech (2016-2021) and Sam Houston State (2023-2024) being the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at each stop. He has coached several outstanding players and was named interim head coach for the New Orleans Bowl this past year. Sam Houston State beat Georgia Southern 31-26 in the bowl game.
Brad Cornelsen brings a wealth of experience to his new position with the Plainsmen. He talked about the importance of building a program culture, discipline, doing things the right way for the right seasons and teamwork. Cornelson talked about the Plainsmen being more consistent, being prepared each day to get better, to be physical and to execute, make positive things happen. Brad talked about being balanced offensively and not being predicable on defense. “Play hard and execute on both sides of the ball” was a commented Brad used several times. That’s a great goal!
Brad is married to his wife, Jaimi and they have two children, a son Wyatt 9 and a daughter Wynn 7.
WELCOME to Enid and Plainsmen Football! I covered Enid High Pacer and Plainsmen sports for over 20 years and I am looking forward to this new chapter!
