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Coach Jason Todd, head football coach of South Oak Cliff football team, sits with his teams UIL state cham-pionship awards. – Photo from social media

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(The Dallas Examiner) – Coach Jason Todd is the head football coach of South Oak Cliff football team, which has become a powerhouse on the field. He has led the team to three back-to-back football championship in 5A-Division II – winning two back-to-back state titles but coming up short of a win on the third season.

In his 10th year of coaching high school football for the Golden Bears, Todd said he makes sure his players stay disciplined on and off the football field, especially in the classroom. During the summer break, he focused on a different type of discipline, nutrition.

Todd revealed on social media that he took on an off-season job as a nutrition coach for local college campuses and grading the athletic department’s food services they feed their athletes.

“Coach Todd is the new nutrition guru,” he stated on X. “I will be rating all the pre- and post- practice snacks. And the cafe, I will be dining in and taking a to-go plate.”

He has evaluated schools such as the University of Oklahoma, Baylor University, Rice University, Texas A&M, the University of Texas, the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University.

“It started out as a joke,” said Todd, a graduate of Texas Southern University, who was invited to a Sooners practice. Oklahoma is known for producing some of the top NFL athletes such as Dallas Cowboys wide receiver C.D. Lamb.

“When I was at Oklahoma’s practice, I got to eat what they were being fed, and I started grading their food. After visiting Oklahoma, I saw some great coaching, but the watermelon was off the chain. The peach mango smoothie was godsend. And the cafe food selection was to die for.”

He stated business had picked up and he’s been receiving several messages from out of state universities. Todd is willing to work with college that are over three hours away. However, his contract will include travel and boarding expenses.

Diet and nutrition are important aspects of an athlete’s life span and key to their game and career as a player.

“A lot of the different services that those kids have, as far as a lot of things that they get to eat, and a lot of things is kind of just giving out to them that you know, a normal person would take for granted. But it’s a lot of great nutrition around you, and a lot of those things where they eat it in the cafeteria, you would probably never be treated the same way again.”

With high school football season returning Aug. 30, Todd’s focus has been on helping SOC make its fourth state title appearance. He said he hopes to have his players in the best shape possible to win another title.

He explained that – along with the strength and conditioning – there are aspects of high school players’ bodies that will continue to change over the course of several years and good nutrition is required to sustain good athletic condition. Which, he admitted, is something that takes a lot of money to maintain.

SOC, located in South Dallas, is known to have several food deserts where the freshest foods and grocery stores may be lacking. Still, Todd said he has a plan to get students to eat healthier.

“We try to provide some things that perform like a basic pill; like encouraging them to eat a healthy sandwich,” he said. “We do the best we can in our situation. To be a football player, trying to relate to a car, you know, if you have an exotic car, which is your body. We try to get the kids to relate to those things and understand what they put in their bodies, talk to them about certain things that they do, leave it on for guys that may need to lose weight, or for certain guys, we just do the best that we can. And we try to get these guys to colleges to have a resource to look forward to and encourage them to not make eating chips and Takis a daily habit.”

In looking toward his future, Todd said coaching teens is his passion and hopes to do so for a long time.

“I just take every day for what it is, not continue to do this for a long time, if not move on to something or some other challenges to impact my retirement to make sure I live a good life once I’m done with working. But at the present time, the only place I really want to be if I ever make a change is to continue to work with students and coaching high school football is where my heart is right now.”

There is still a lot of unfinished business for the Golden Bears football, according to Todd.

“Yes, we won two state titles, but we didn’t get the job done last year,” he said. “It was our goal to win the game so that’s what we’re doing right now, trying to get better so we can get back and win the title. That loss last year haunts you forever and makes you realize that there is still a lot of work to be done. We are not finished yet.”

SOC was given one of the toughest schedules in football this season. They will kick-off the season against North Shore at Galena Park ISD on Aug. 30. Other teams they will face soon after include Duncanville and Longview.

The post Coach Jason Todd prepares to take South Oak Cliff to fourth UIL state championship appeared first on Dallas Examiner.