Texas Lutheran football adds Smiley native as assistant coach

Texas Lutheran head football coach Tom Mueller has announced the hiring of former Texas Lutheran player and long-time high school assistant football coach Dwayne "Smiley" O'Neal as the Bulldogs' new assistant coach for the defensive secondary.

O'Neal, a graduate of the now defunct Smiley High School, is a 1975 graduate of Texas Lutheran and a member of the Bulldogs' 1974 NAIA Division II National Championship football squad. O'Neal played for head coach Jim Wacker and for Mueller, who was the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator from 1971 to 1975.

"Having played for Coach Mueller and for Coach Wacker on the championship team, I'm just very excited to get back to Texas Lutheran," said O'Neal. "When I think of Coach Mueller, I think of Coach Wacker. I can't wait to get back there. Coach Mueller is a wonderful guy to work for, and I'm looking forward to whatever challenges come forth."

At Texas Lutheran, O'Neal lettered four years in football and three years in baseball. O'Neal later coached as a graduate assistant at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) under Wacker and Mueller.

"I am very excited to have someone of Coach O'Neal's experience and coaching success join our football staff," said Mueller. "He will do a terrific job with our secondary. Coach O'Neal brings a great attitude and work ethic and boundless enthusiasm and energy with him to Texas Lutheran."

"His relationships with the Texas high school coaches throughout the state will make him a great recruiter. He is a people person who will relate well with student-athletes and their parents."

O'Neal has 20 years of high school football coaching experience as a defensive coordinator and secondary coach. O'Neal's high school coaching career has included stops at Edna, El Campo, Pleasanton, Poth, Van Vleck, Pearsall, Killeen and Cuero.

O'Neal will join the Texas Lutheran coaching staff on June 1. He will finish the school year at Edna High School, where he is the defensive coordinator and head track and field coach.

O'Neal's hiring has excited alumni like former Texas Lutheran All-American linebacker D.W. Rutledge, who was a teammate of O'Neal's. Rutledge is the former head football coach of the Converse Judson Rockets and current executive vice president of the Texas High School Coaches Association.

"There is no doubt that (O'Neal) is going to be a great addition to Coach Mueller's staff," said Rutledge. "Smiley was a free safety, and he was a scrapper. He is going to bring a great deal of energy and enthusiasm and a tremendous knowledge of the game."

"The biggest thing is that he is in coaching for the right reasons. He is in it to impact lives and make things better for kids. Kids really respond to his enthusiasm and energy. Of course, it's always nice to have another Bulldog back in the fold."

O'Neal's high school coaching career also has included head baseball coaching jobs at Poth, Van Vleck, Pearsall, Killeen and Cuero. He was a member of Texas Lutheran's playoff baseball teams in 1974 and 1975 and played for the late Ray Katt, an NAIA Hall of Famer.

O'Neal joins a Texas Lutheran football program that returns 52 lettermen (including 19 starters) and 28 squad members from its 2003 season. In Coach Mueller's second year with the team, the Bulldogs went 2-8 overall and 2-7 in the American Southwest Conference, a 10-team football conference in the NCAA Division III.

Coach O'Neal was born and raised in Smiley, Texas. Upon graduation from Smiley High School, he earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Lutheran.

Coach O'Neal has a wife, the former Vicki Barnett of Gonzales, and two daughters, Teresa O'Neal (27) and Randa Gipson (24), along with two sons, Garrett (18) and Tyler (15).

Mayor Bobby O'Neal of Gonzales is a cousin of Coach O'Neal and his mother, Mrs.

Wes O'Neal (Dorothy), still resides in Smiley with many of his relatives. He also has a sister, Mrs. Vernon Pullin (better known as Bennie), who works in Gonzales, however, her home and family reside in nearby Luling.