Boyd coach Clark Oberle has led the Lady Jackets (35-9) to their second straight 3A Division II state championship match appearance. Boyd will face Clifton in the 3AII title match 1 p.m. Friday at Garland’s Curtis Culwell Center. Oberle announced in August that he plans to retire at the end of the 2025 season. MICAH MCCARTNEY | WCMESSENGER
With one game remaining on their 2025 schedule, the Boyd Lady Jackets are hoping to accomplish two of their preseason goals — bring home the program’s first state title and send coach Clark Oberle into retirement with his third gold medal.
Oberle’s final game in his 32-year coaching career will be Boyd’s 3A Division II state championship match against Clifton 1 p.m. Friday inside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. The coach announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2025 season in August, bringing his 4-year run with the Lady Jackets to a close.
“It’s special knowing we’re playing for a state title in my last game with these girls,” Oberle said. “My wife and I have talked about how up until this point, I didn’t know when my last practice and last game were going to be. Now it’s definitive — this is my last week of practice, and Friday will be my last game. It’s pretty awesome knowing we’ve got an opportunity to go out on top and do something really magical.”
Standing in Boyd’s way, Clifton (42-6) earned an unbeaten District 17-3A title with a 10-0 run. The Lady Cubs have won 20 straight matches dating back to a 2-1 tournament loss against Pearl City (Hawaii) Aug. 30 — 25-20, 20-25, 17-15.
“They’ve got a couple of really solid hitters and they’ve got some size in their block,” Oberle said. “We’re going to have to play with great defense, serving and serve-receive. If we do those things, I think our offense will run off, and I like our chances.”
The chance to end his final coaching chapter with a state title at Boyd would be a crowning achievement, according to Oberle.
“It gives me chills just thinking about it,” he said. “I said it back in August, and I’ll say it again — if that happens, it’s absolutely a dream come true. It’d be the perfect way to finish and walk away as a state champion with this team.”
Oberle has built a bond with the this year’s Boyd squad, and believes the team’s attitude all season has the Lady Jackets poised for greatness.
“The kids are just a joy to work with every day,” he said. “They’re so much fun, and they work really hard. It’s really tricky to do both at the same time — sometimes one can be a distraction from the other — but it’s a special blend. We love going to practice and getting after it every day. It’s just really worked out for us.”
After a 2-year stint at Frisco Liberty, Oberle took the reins of the Lady Jackets’ program in 2022 to replace former coach Dusty Crafton. Boyd has claimed 30-plus wins in all four campaigns during Oberle’s tenure.
Oberle’s time at Boyd has resulted in a 137-33 overall record, as of story publication Tuesday. The Lady Jackets won their first unbeaten 10-3A championship this season, while also claiming a share of the league title with Ponder in 2023.
The coach said accepting the job as the Lady Jackets’ leader was the right move for his career.
“It’s been one of the best things I’ve ever done, honestly,” Oberle said. “I’ve loved being here — the community has embraced us, my teams have done everything I’ve asked [and] we’ve built the culture I envisioned. The success we’ve had together has been great, and it’s just a great place to end my career. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
The trip to this year’s state tournament is Oberle’s seventh, having previously punched his ticket with Argyle (2012, 14, 15, 16), Decatur (2018) and Boyd (2024).
Last season, Boyd’s 37-5 season ended in heartbreak after suffering a 4-set loss to Stockdale (29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21) in the 2024 3AII state final. Despite a UIL all-conference record performance by Stockdale’s LeAnn Wise (47 kills), Oberle said one of the obstacles the Lady Jackets were unable to overcome was the loss of middle blocker Shay Abernathy, who suffered an ankle injury on the first point of the match.
“We honestly learned to be ready for anything, and I’ve learned to be a little more prepared for things like what happened last year,” he said. “I’ve played kids in positions they don’t normally play during practice so that they will have some reps, in case that happens again. As a team, we’ve learned to be resilient, and we’ve proved that even if bad things happen and calls don’t go our way, we still have to fight with what we’ve got at that time.”
The Lady Jackets have stormed their way back to Garland this season. Boyd is riding a 19-match win streak dating back to its 3-set loss to 4AI Region I finalist Springtown Sept. 2 (25-15, 25-21, 25-13), and has collected sweeps in four of its five postseason contests.
“Based on the strength of schedule that MaxPreps has in their rankings, we’ve played the hardest schedule of any 3A team this season,” Oberle said. “I always like playing tough schedules, but I don’t necessarily like playing the toughest one in our division. But the way it’s worked out, it really prepared us for a tough district. Besides us, there were two other teams reach the regional final, and one of those reached the state semifinals in 3AI. Our non-district schedule really prepared us and made us battle-tested.”
Boyd’s only match that wasn’t won in straight sets was against rival Paradise in a 3AII Region II final showdown Nov. 11 at Chico High School. The Lady Panthers held a 13-9 lead in the fifth set, but the Lady Jackets sparked a 6-0 run to claim the 3-2 win — 25-20, 25-22, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13.
“I don’t know if the Paradise match was a wake-up call, but it made us realize that we better play our best every point or our season will end before we want it to,” Oberle said. “Out of all of the matches I’ve ever coached in, that was one of the most intense games.”
Boyd then punched its return ticket to the state championship match ticket by knocking out Wall 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-17) Nov. 15 at Wichita Falls Legacy High School.
“We played about as well as we could’ve played,” Oberle said. “We executed our game plan and worked really hard on defense. I really think we played some of our best volleyball of the season in that match, and that’s a great thing knowing that our final game of the year is coming up. I don’t have any reason to believe we won’t do the same thing at the state final on Friday.”
Starting his career with a 1-year stint at Killeen Ellison, Oberle came to North Texas and coached at Petrolia for four years. He then started the volleyball program at Argyle in 1999, and won the 2015 4A state championship by sweeping Bushland (25-17, 25-23, 25-16).
Oberle then took over the Decatur program for three seasons (2017-19), amassing a 97-39 record with the Lady Eagles. He led the program to its third state title with a 3-1 win over Needville (25-12, 11-25, 27-25, 25-18) in the 2018 4A state title match.
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