Monday Morning Lights

Before Friday Night Lights
Time and a book changed the Permian perspective
BY KEN BRODNAX
Odessa American

The last time Gary Gaines wore the head coaching cap at Permian, it was a simpler time. Oh heck, maybe it's just better to say that he completed his first stint before the "Friday Night Lights" storm hit.

Gaines' Panthers won the 1989 state championship, and he was off to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech before the book turned Odessa on its ear when it was published in 1990.

But that's not to say the new Permian football boss didn't feel the tremors. After all, the best-selling book that became a movie that begat the current television series detailed his 1988 Mojo team and its demise in the state semifinal game against Dallas Carter.

And so Gaines found himself immortalized in a book he loathes and in a movie in which actor Billy Bob Thornton stepped out of character to accurately reflect the coach's quiet persona. Gaines pretty much said it all when asked about the proposed television series and the continuation of the FNL storyline in 2005: "I wish it would kind of die a slow death." His wish has not been granted.

Good story by Ken Brodnax. Click the link above for the rest. Unless you jealous...cuz you from Mitlan!