Texas Coach Depicted in ‘Friday Night Lights’ Dies at 73

Gary Gaines, the head coach of the Texas high school football team depicted in the book and movie Friday Night Lights, died Monday in Lubbock at age 73 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

“Following a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, it is with great sadness that the family of Coach Gary Gaines announces his peaceful passing this afternoon. Memorial plans will be announced in the coming days. Thank you for remembering our family in your thoughts and prayers,” Gaines’ family said in a statement.

While he coached for 30 years in West Texas, Gaines is most known for his four-year stint as the head football coach at Odessa Permian High School. He would return later in his career for another stint at the helm of Permian. 

The 1988 season, in which Gaines led Permian to the state semifinals, was the focus of the Friday Night Lights book and film. The 1988 team had to overcome the loss of star running back James “Boobie” Miles, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during a preseason scrimmage. 

The book, authored by Buzz Bissinger, became a best-seller and was also turned into a TV series. It portrayed Permian as a program and school that favored football over academics and attributed racist remarks to assistant coaches.

Gaines, portrayed by actor Billy Bob Thornton in the 2004 film, said he never read the book nor watched the film or TV series. He had said he felt betrayed by Bissinger’s work after the author spent the entire 1988 season with the team.

The book depicts Gaines as a compassionate coach caught up in the win-at-all-costs culture of a football-crazed Texas high school program. 

The book described scenes of “for sale” signs being placed in the front yard of Gaines’ home by residents unhappy with the direction of the Permian football program. His record from 1986 to 1989 as Permian’s head coach was 47-6-1.

Gaines led Permian to the fifth of the school’s six state championships with a perfect season in 1989 before leaving to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech.

He later returned to high school football and coached two of Permian’s rivals, Abilene High and San Angelo Central, before returning to college as the head coach at Abilene Christian University.

Abilene Christian paid its respects to Gaines on Twitter.

“The ACU football community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Texas coaching legend Gary Gaines, who spent five years at the helm of the Wildcat program. We are sending our condolences to the Gaines family,” the team wrote.

Gaines began another four-year stint as Permian’s head coach in 2009, serving as a school district athletic director in Odessa and Lubbock.

“I just can’t find the words to pay respects,” Ron King, a former assistant under Gaines at Permian, told the Odessa American. “It’s a big loss for the coaching profession. There are a lot of coaches he took under his wing and mentored. 

“He was a difference maker, like when you are coaching kids, you are trying to make a difference,” King added. “I think Coach Gaines did that.”