The University of Texas Permian Basin is pleased to announce Blake Feldt as the Associate Athletic Director for Advancement.
Feldt joins the Falcon Family with over 40 years of experience in athletics, including time as an athletic director and head football coach. He was most recently the Director of Client Relations at Burford/Caudle Family Capital since January 2024.
Feldt has a unique insight into how the Odessa-Midland community has grown. A member of the community since the early 60’s, he played football for Midland High before graduating in 1979. As an individual who played for Midland High and then spent a portion of his coaching career at Odessa Permian, Feldt has been on both side of one of the most well-known high school rivalries in the nation. In his time there and on the collegiate level, he understands what it takes to be successful and create an environment meant to foster that success.
Feldt, a 1979 graduate of Midland High School, served as the Midland ISD Executive Director of Athletics from July 2018 to January 2024. The school district upgraded several athletic facilities, which include artificial turf surfaces and lights at Legacy’s Ernie Johnson Field and Gene Smith Field, and Midland High’s Zachery Field and Martin Field.
Feldt started over 30 games as an offensive lineman at Texas Tech and was a team captain of the 1982 Red Raiders football team. Feldt then got his start in coaching when he was hired as a graduate assistant by then head coach Jerry Moore in 1984. Feldt followed former Texas Tech head coach David McWilliams to the University of Texas in 1987. It was in Austin where Feldt met his wife Kathy, who was working in the Longhorns athletics office.
Feldt later served as an assistant under Moore again during a six-year stretch at Appalachian State before becoming an offensive line coach at SMU. At Appalachian State, Feldt was part of building a football program that would eventually become an NCAA Division I-AA powerhouse under Moore.
After the coaching staff got dismissed at SMU, Feldt and his wife, along with their three sons, decided to make the switch to high school football, first as an assistant at Midland High and then as a head coach at Breckenridge from 2000-05.
He was known for replacing coaching legends.
He took over for G.A. Moore at Pilot Point in 2005. At the time, Moore was the winningest head coach in the history of Texas high school football with 426 victories.
Feldt led 15-0 Pilot Point to the 2009 Class 2A Division I state championship with a 35-18 win over Kirbyville, a moment made more special because two of his sons were on that team.
Feldt replaced Texas High School Football Hall of Famer Bob Shelton at Hays in 2010. Shelton had been the school’s only head coach from 1967-2010 and had 313 career wins when Feldt took over.
After almost 30 years of coaching around the country, Feldt finally returned home to West Texas, but not to his hometown of Midland. Feldt replaced famed Friday Night Lights coach Gary Gaines at Odessa Permian in 2013, a career-long dream of his.
Feldt went 38-18 with the Panthers and led the team to one district title and three bi-district titles from 2013-17. He hung up the whistle after the 2017 season to return to his hometown and serve as the MISD Executive Director of Athletics.
In his time at Midland ISD, Feldt had a hand in the hiring of Midland football coach Thad Fortune, who led the Bulldogs to a historic 2023 season including their bi-district championship since 2010.
Feldt said the time was right to finally retire from his post after he’s seen both Midland and Legacy have much athletic success in the past five and a half years. He also wanted to see to it that MISD’s bond proposal for brand-new high school campuses passed.
Feldt earned his Bachelor of Science degree in history and political science from Texas Tech University in August 1983.
