It soon became clear that Lake Travis’ second leap at a coach with college experience wouldn’t fare well. Parents, some of the same ones who lauded Sadler’s hire, saw the struggles of a coach accustomed to dealing with players of a certain, more fundamentally sound, background. Glenn Pollard, Justin’s father, thought that Sadler had been too long removed from the high school game when he returned to Austin, and as the coach at Lake Travis he never adjusted.

“Here he had to teach the kids,” he said. “In college they had already been taught. I don’t think he could go back to the fundamentals. I’m not cutting him down, I just think that…when you’re coaching college and you’re in college, you have a scholarship and you’re expected to do this, this, this and this. Well, these young kids didn’t have the fundamentals.”

To say that Sadler’s Lake Travis teams struggled doesn’t do struggling justice.

It showed quickly on the field. With a team that included Skaggs and the future NFL offensive lineman Turner, the Cavaliers lost their first five games under Sadler, beat Lockhart to open district play and didn’t win again.