The state’s largest high school has a new softball coach. It’s someone with nearly 300 career wins.
Kathy Schoettle said Wednesday that she is leaving Trophy Club Byron Nelson and has been named the new head coach at Allen. She replaces Philip Spaniel, who stepped down to be a middle school teacher in Allen ISD.
“I’m looking forward to it. They’re more than twice the size of Byron Nelson,” Schoettle said. “As a head coach, sometimes you just look for new opportunities and a way to be challenged differently. After talking with the leadership team at Allen, I think it’s a great move.”
Schoettle is the only softball coach in Byron Nelson history and spent 11 years at the school. Byron Nelson had back-to-back records of 26-8 in 2012 and 28-10 in 2013, and it reached the regional quarterfinals Class 4A in 2013, when 4A was the UIL’s second-largest classification.
Both Allen and Byron Nelson will compete in 6A for the next two years. But Allen had an enrollment of 6,959 for the UIL’s realignment in February, while Byron Nelson’s enrollment was 2,559.
Schoettle said Allen is losing only two seniors and would have 11 returning varsity players and 26 returning sub-varsity players if everyone comes back from this year’s team.
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