Mineola athletes Jadelyn Marshall, Gracie Lindley, Braydon Alley and Paul Stanley at the CHRISTUS fall sports media day Monday at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute.

Since the start of the 2008 season, Mineola had two head football coaches.

Joe Drennon led the Yellowjackets from 2008-16, which included two state championship game appearances and winning a state championship in 2016. Luke Blackwell took over and was the head coach from 2017-22, which included five playoff appearances and four postseason victories during the past three seasons.

Now, Aaron Slider takes over as head coach while Blackwell will remain as the athletic director at Mineola. Slider was last a head coach at Maud in 1999-2000 as the Cardinals went 1-19. Slider has also coached at Redwater, Cooper, Canton, Jefferson, Greenville and Eustace. Slider has been at Mineola the past four years and was the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Yellowjackets last season.

“I’ve seen these kids since they were in the eighth grade and how they’ve grown and matured and learned how to lead,” Slider said. “That’s the neat thing. I know where they’ve been, and I know how far they’ve come. And we still have Coach Blackwell to look at everything in the athletic program, and he loves every one of these boys and girls. It’s a great situation and opportunity for myself.

“The expectations are always the same. We always have a high standard for our kids when they step out on the field and put on a uniform for Mineola, so it doesn’t matter where we start, it’s how we finish the season. You take those preseason games and learn and see who grows and can fit where we need them to fit, and by district time it’s about making the playoffs and seeing how far we can go.”

Slider was joined by seniors Paul Stanley and Braydon Alley at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on July 24 to talk about the upcoming season.

“I always like to make it to the playoffs, but I would like to go deep in the playoffs if we could,” said Stanley, who is a linebacker and tight end.

Alley is moving to quarterback for his senior season. He will take on a larger role after the graduation of Dawson Pendergrass, who ran for 7,414 yards and 88 touchdowns in his career and is now at Baylor. Last year, Pendergrass was 30 of 60 passing for 479 yards, carried the ball 358 for 3,184 yards and 38 touchdowns and had eight catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

“I just have to put in the hard work and keep working,” Alley said. “I’m going to do the best for this team as I can.”

Mineola will play at Canton in the season opener on Aug. 25.