David Hicks Sr. was named to one of the most prestigious lists for high school coaches in the state, being named to Dave Campbell’s 40-under-40 list, which highlights some of the best young coaches around the state under the age of 40.

Hicks was named to the list after his first full year in charge of Paetow. The Panthers had to rebuild last year and went 2-8 overall and Hicks has an overall record of 4-10 overall as head coach. Hicks has been on the up and coming for a long time and was quite a get for Paetow when Katy ISD hired him originally as an assistant in 2022. He coached at Morton ranch and Allen before coming to Paetow and eventually becoming head coach.

Hicks graduated from El Dorado High School and played college football at Grambling State. He turned that into an NFL career where he played for the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals. Paetow will start the year by playing Langham Creek and Dekaney before opening district against Tompkins.

Hicks was joined on the list by Katy native and University of Houston Running Game Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach Eman Naghavi. Naghavi, a Katy High School graduate who a captain on the 2003 Tigers state championship team has been coaching at the collegiate level for 14 years. He started his career at C.E. King as an offensive line coach before moving to McNeese to coach Offensive Line, eventually becoming a recruiting coordinator for McNeese. He then coached at the University of Louisiana Monroe as offensive coordinator before going to Georgia State to coach offensive line and then Tulane to coach offensive line, eventually moving to Houston in 2023. He was kept on staff after the transition from Dana Holgorsen to Willie Fritz. He earned his degree from McNeese.

During his four years at McNeese, where he was named all-conference three times and led the team to a conference title in 2000, the team led the league in rushing offense twice and scoring offense three times. He was also a part of a Georgia State team that was the most successful in school history with eight wins and helped Tulane to a huge 12-2 season in 2022 that ended with a Cotton Bowl win over USC. He and Fritz hope to bring that same success to the Cougars.