D. W. Rutledge is a former

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

coach and current executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association. Rutledge is one of the most successful coaches in Texas high school football history, winning four state championships in the state's highest classification. A native of

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Rutledge attended Sam Houston High School and later the

Texas Lutheran University Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a private Evangelical Lutheran university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891 with the foundation of an academy, named Evangelical Lutheran College, by the first German Eva ...

, where he captained the school's 1974 NAIA Division II National Championship team and was a Kodak All-American linebacker for head coach

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

. Upon his graduation in 1975, he made several stops, following his college football coach, James Wacker, from school to school, over the course of five years before finally becoming an assistant coach at

Judson High School Judson High School is a public, co-educational secondary school in Converse, Texas, 15 miles northeast of downtown San Antonio. It was established in 1959 as part of the Judson Independent School District, and is currently classified as a 6A scho ...

Converse, Texas Converse is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States, northeast of downtown San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 27,466. It is part of the San Antonio metropolitan statistical area. History Converse is on Farm t ...

in 1980, serving as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

for the 1983 5A state championship squad. Rutledge was named head coach in 1984, guiding Converse Judson to a 198–31–5 record in 17 seasons. Rutledge co-authored a book titled ''Coaching To Change Lives'' with

Dennis Parker Dennis Parker (born March 23, 1950) is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of North Texas from 1991 to 1993 and at Texas Lutheran University from 2007 to 2009, compiling a career college football r ...

, former

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

at Converse Judson. The Judson football stadium in Converse was renamed in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutledge, D. W. 1950s births Living people American football linebackers Texas Lutheran Bulldogs football players High school football coaches in Texas Players of American football from Houston Year of birth missing (living people)