WACO, Texas — UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Saturday evening in the Mark & Paula Hurd Welcome Center Ballroom on the Baylor University campus.
Traylor was one of nine individuals selected for this year’s class, joining Gary Keithley, Pat Thomas, Brad Goebel, John C. Norman, Robert Griffin III, Patrick Mahomes II, David Smoak and Curtis Barbay.
Traylor built his hometown Gilmer program into a prep powerhouse during his 15-year tenure at the helm of the Buckeyes. He posted a 175-26 record (.871) and led Gilmer to state championships in 2004, 2009 and 2014, to two additional state title game appearances in 2007 and 2012 and to 12 district crowns.
Traylor guided the Buckeyes to their first state championship in 2004, capturing the Class 3A Division II title to cap a 16-0 campaign. Gilmer claimed its second state crown five years later, as the 2009 squad went 15-0 to win the Class 3A D-I Championship. In 2014, Gilmer boasted one of the most prolific offenses in Texas prep history, scoring 950 points — the second-most at that time in state history — and averaging 59.4 points and 536.1 yards per game en route to the Class 4A D-II State Championship. The Buckeyes surpassed 60 points nine times, including two 80-point performances. Following his high school coaching career, Gilmer renamed Buckeye Stadium to Jeff Traylor Stadium.
Traylor has received numerous accolades for his prep coaching career including Tyler Morning Telegraph Coach of the Decade for the 2000s, Texas High School Coach of the Year four times and District Coach of the Year a dozen times. He was inducted into the East Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 2019.
In five seasons as UTSA’s head coach, Traylor had led the Roadrunners to a 46-20 record, the most wins among FBS teams from the state of Texas since 2020. Additionally, UTSA is 29-3 at home in the Traylor era, the third-most home wins among FBS teams during the past half-decade, trailing only Alabama (32) and Ohio State (30).
Under Traylor’s leadership, UTSA has captured a pair of conference championships, earned five straight bowl berths with back-to-back bowl wins over the past two seasons and made a combined 23 appearances in the three major national polls. The four-time national coach of the year award finalist and two-time conference coach of the year has led the Roadrunners to 15 All-America accolades and 91 all-conference selections during his time in San Antonio.
This summer, Traylor will be one of five inductees into the Texas High School Coaches Associations (THSCA) Hall of Honor Class. He will join Don Brooks, Brad Davis, Steve Warren and Rodney Webb in the 2025 THSCA Hall of Honor Class which will be honored at the THSCA Hall of Honor Banquet on July 19 during the annual THSCA Coaching School and Convention in San Antonio.
-UTSA-