On Monday, Howard Payne University announced head football coach Braxton Harris would be leaving to accept an assistant’s position at an NCAA Division I FCS university. On Wednesday, Harris bid farewell to the community during an interview on KOXE.

“It’s been emotional, absolutely, for our family,” Harris said of the decision to leave. “Brownwood’s been an exceptional community for us, they’ve loved our family. From the get-go we talked about Brownwood as community and felt we had to buy in and believe in the community and felt like we did that, and the community loved us back. For every member of our family, from my little boys to my wife, it was definitely an emotional decision. We’re sad to leave because this has been a great home for us.”

Harris stated the decision to leave was the first he, his wife Jennifer, 8-year-old son Brooks, and 5-year-old twin boys Cooper and Fisher, made as a family.

“Brooks had a lot of firsts in Brownwood, the first time he played soccer, the first time he played baseball, and he went to kindergarten here,” Harris said. “When I told him he was excited, then he started to think about all his friends and started to tear up a little bit. We all responded that way. We’re excited about it but absolutely there’s some sadness because we do have to leave our friends.”

Harris is not yet at liberty to reveal where he will be headed for his next coaching stop, but in three years at Howard Payne he posted a 7-23 record – including a 5-5 mark in 2019, which is the best record for the program since 2006.

“I believe the program is going in the right direction and I’m excited to see what happens going forward,” Harris said of the coming year. “There’s a great staff in place, there’s a great set of leadership council guys in place to be able to move this thing forward. We’ve talked to our kids from day one that this program was not about one person, whether it was a player or a coach, and I truly believe that even to this day during this time. When I gave them the news about leaving I told them again it’s not about one guy, we’ve talked about this and this is about a collective group of guys committed to doing this for each other and to set a standard that we talk about in the program every single day, and that standard doesn’t change.”

Harris also expressed thanks for the leadership exhibited by HPU president Dr. Cory Hines and HPU athletic director Hunter Sims.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Hines as the president, you can see things at Howard Payne continuing to move forward and football is going to be a part of that in his vision.,” Harris said. “The things he’s doing for the university, I feel like there’s bright days ahead.

“Under Hunter Sims as the athletic director, I don’t know that I’ll work under a better boss ever. I can’t sing his praises enough. This town, this community, this university need to be very thankful for Hunter Sims because he’s phenomenal. I’m so thankful for my opportunity to be able to work with him. Not only was he my boss he was one of my very best friends.”

Harris did reveal he will be coaching linebackers at his next stop, and is looking forward to the change that comes with focusing on a single position.

“In my mind, at higher levels where you have the opportunity to offer scholarships, it’s intriguing to me,” Harris said. “I’ve only coached at the Division III level so the opportunity to be able to offer kids scholarships to be able to play football, and to focus on one piece of the puzzle and just to coach a position group at a bigger school, that’s exciting to me. To have a really good defense you have to have great linebacker play. Those guys handle the front and handle the back and they’re the connector to both. They’re the quarterbacks of the defense, they connect the pieces and they’re the leaders.”

Howard Payne reports for football practice Jan. 7 with the first workouts set for Jan. 9. The Yellow Jackets’ abbreviated spring campaign – altered from the fall due to COVID-19 – begins Feb. 6 at home against Texas Lutheran. The rest of the schedule features a road trip to Hardin-Simmons Feb. 13, a home date with McMurry Feb. 20, a trek to Sul Ross on March 6, and the ASC playoff game on March 13. Howard Payne will carry a three-game win streak into the season opener.

“We felt like going into 2020 before the season got pushed to the spring that this by far was going to be the best football team we’ve had,” Harris said. “Just the depth and the experience, the junior and seniors with this group, the expectations are high. Those kids have high expectations for themselves, so any outside expectations fail in comparison to what their expectations are for themselves.”

While Harris expects the Yellow Jackets to enjoy success on the field in 2021, he feels the greater impact from those involved with the HPU program will be felt off the field.

“The best part of Howard Payne is the people, and more importantly it’s the kids,” Harris said. “Our kids that come to Howard Payne, that come to Brownwood to be a part of a football program, to get a great Christian education, they’re what’s right in this world. Right now we’re seeing a ton of things that are negative, we’re seeing a ton of things that are wrong with the world, the people making bad decisions are the forefront of things, but we’ve got great young men in this community right here at Howard Payne University that believe in the mission and believe why they’re here, and they’re doing everything right. They believe in hard work, they believe in working together, and they believe in coming together instead of pulling apart. I truly believe everything right in the world is in that locker room.”

In his final reflection on his time at Howard Payne and in Brownwood, Harris said, “I’m thankful for this community, this town and how they loved our family. We never felt like an outsider in this town. We’ll always be thankful for that and I’ll always be thankful for how this town has loved my family. For a coach it’s easy to come in but it’s more important for your family to feel welcome and feel at home. This community has loved us well and we hope we’ve done the same on the other end. It’s been a great experience.”