The Howard Huskies are on the verge of recording their best season in school history in what happens to be Paul Carroll's first head coaching gig of his career.
"Midway through the season, it has been great, it's not about me," Carroll said. "It's about the kids and actually we got a great senior group that has come through the program with coach Hester and now they are coming through the program with me and they have bought in. "
Carroll served as the Huskies defensive coordinator last year under Barney Hester who transformed Howard football over the course of 5 years, giving Howard a taste of the playoffs for the very first time.
Hester took them to the postseason with a 6-4 record. This year, Howard is 5-2, and with 3 games left they are just one win away from matching that win total, and Carroll is hoping they can do much more.
"That's one thing that Coach Hester always talked about, lets taking that next step and that is something that we have been able to do so far," Carroll said. "And we are still taking steps, after steps after steps."
And the first time head coach is hoping the steps can turn into strides, even following a legend like coach Hester.
"I don't have 300 something wins, I have 5 as a head coach and I look it at as not my wins its the coaching staff wins and the players wins," Carroll said.
It's a new era for the Howard Huskies.... but coach Carroll is hoping he can carry on the tradition Hester created.
"We have a standard here, and our coaches have made sure that these kids have lived up to their standard," Carroll said. "And the main one is play hard, play fast, and play together"