Former Princeton head golf coach Beau Dodson, left, pictured with his son, Dominic, was hired to the same position at Wylie East on Thursday, June 5. Submitted photo
By David Wolman
When it came to scoping out his next coaching job, word of mouth proved to be a big factor for Beau Dodson.
Dodson heard a lot of positive reviews about Wylie East, and now, he will be working there as their next head golf coach and physical education teacher. His hire was made official by Wylie ISD on Thursday, June 5.
“I know some people over at the school and other people in the district,” he said. “They raved how much they loved the kids and all of the people that were there. It looked like an appealing opportunity.”
Dodson mostly recently worked at Princeton, where he led the boys’ and girls’ golf program for three years, and the previous year as an assistant coach. Prior to that, Dodson held coaching positions at Royse City, Lone Oak, Breckenridge, Farmersville and Carrollton Creekview.
While at Princeton, he coached his son, Dominic. Dominic was a regional qualifier during his junior season. As a senior, he finished in 15th place in the District 6-6A Tournament. Dominic graduated from Princeton last month and will play men’s collegiate golf for the University of Texas Permian Basin.
“It was pretty awesome to be able to coach my son,” Beau said. “I’m a coach’s kid myself. It is really special when you get to coach your own son.”
Golf is a family affair for the Dodson’s. Beau’s grandfather, Jack, played golf, baseball and football at the University of Central Oklahoma. His father, Ross, played football at Central Oklahoma.
Golf started as a hobby for Beau. He coached football for 16 years, several of them coaching Dominic. But as Dominic got better, he decided that golf was he wants to play in college – a decision that changed Beau’s coaching career.
Beau stepped away from football and took up golf, which allowed him to be around Dominic more often and it also gave his son a better opportunity to succeed in athletics.
Now entrenched at Wylie East, Beau is excited for the new chapter in his coaching career. He met with a couple of the players on the Raiders’ golf team three weeks ago. He told the squad that it is his goal for them to get as much playing time as possible this summer before the new school year begins in August.
“We talked about it,” he said. “We talked about when they were able to get to the golf course. There are several that will play in tournaments in the North Texas PGA Junior Tour. They already had a pretty good plan amongst themselves, which was pretty nice to see.”
Beau will look to help Wylie East build on some recent success. In 2024, the Raider boys played in the regional tournament for the first time in school history. Both the Wylie East boys and girls will look to qualify for regionals next spring after coming up short this year.
“From what I’ve seen, we’ve got some great kids,” he said. “There is a lot of potential coming back. We have kids that want to put in the work. We have kids that have a chance to be special.”
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