Sterling City Names Luker Head Football Coach, Athletic Director

STERLING CITY, TX — Kelan Luker, who quarterbacked Stephenville High School to the 1998 state title, has been named the new head football coach and athletic director at Sterling City.

Luker most recently served as the head boys basketball coach and an assistant football coach at Class 1A Gustine.

He has also had assistant football coaching jobs at Stephenville, where he was part of the 2021 state title, Magnolia and Palmetto (Florida).

As a player, Luker was named Dave Campbell’s Texas Football “Quarterback of the Decade” for the 1990s. He threw for 4,697 yards and 49 touchdowns while leading Stephenville’s offense to a national single-season record with 8,664 yards during his senior season in ‘98.

He went on to play at SMU and Tarleton State.

His father, Alan Luker, was the head coach of nearby Panther Creek during its state-title runs in ‘92 and ‘93.

Kelan Luker will replace DJ Howell, who left to become the new head football coach and AD at Fort Stockton.

Luker will inherit a Sterling City team that went 4-7 last year and reached the playoffs. The Eagles could potentially be heading into their final year of 11-man since leaving the six-man game after the 2021 season.

Luker’s experience with both levels of football should help Sterling City, which currently has its junior high team playing six-man.