Corsicana — Brian Mayper sat on the bed of his Houston hotel room last January, staring at his potential wardrobe for the next day.

Would it be a crisp suit or would it be his uniform of the last four years, the red polo shirt and khaki pants of Lamar University?

He was hoping for the former, but he would still be very happy with the latter.

A phone call had him reaching for his tie and dress shoes and he was quickly on the road to being introduced as the new Navarro College football coach.

“I was happy at Lamar, because we had started something really good there,” said Mayper, who will be welcoming his first team on Tuesday, with the first practice of 2012 the next afternoon. “But I was a finalist for the Navarro job before when Nick (Bobeck) got it, so was I still interested.”

But he didn’t initially push for the job. After having every head coach he’d worked for in the past call four years ago when the Navarro job was last open, he didn’t push this time.

Mayper was a finalist when Bobeck got the job and then had an unparalleled four years of success at the Bulldog head coach, posting double-digit wins three times and a national championship in 2010.

Meanwhile, Mayper followed former Navarro coach Ray Woodard to Beaumont to jump start Lamar University’s football program. The Cardinals have had initial success in their first two years back with Mayper serving as associate head coach.

But then Bobeck’s name was linked to alma mater University of Central Oklahoma and Woodard and other coaches queried Mayper about his interest in returning to Corsicana for his potential first head coaching gig.

“I know it sounds arrogant, but I told everyone that (Navarro) knew my number and where I was and if they were interested, they’d call,” he said. “Well, I started getting calls from members of the faculty here and many other coaches when Nick got the (Central Oklahoma) job. I called (Navarro Athletic Director) Roark (Montgomery) and got the process rolling.

“There were a lot of things from outside that were perhaps against me, but I looked at it that if it’s God’s will to be here or to be at Lamar, I would be good with it. Fortunately, the interview with the committee went great. I knew everyone around the table and everything was relaxed. And then the interview with (President) Dr. (Richard) Sanchez was a real casual conversation in which I was never stumped by a question and I was able to explain how I would go about running my program.”

That leads us back to that hotel room where Mayper was waiting anxiously, his clothes hanging in front of him. He finally got the nod and quickly went to work with only two coaches left in place and national signing day approaching quickly.

Veteran coach Cody Crill and Andrae Rowe were holding down the recruiting front and helped the Bulldogs land a solid class of incoming freshmen to go with six outstanding transfers and a deep sophomore class.

Mayper eventually filled in the holes on his staff and had what he termed “excellent” spring workouts. Bobeck had secured a veteran quarterback before he left in New Mexico/Hawaii transfer Stump Godfrey, who immediately took a leadership job and showed off his cannon arm that Mayper will gladly use in his offense.

Navarro will continue to run much of the same offense that has produced prodigious results the last four seasons. Mayper and Bobeck designed the offense in the one year they coached together under Woodard. That 2007 team that went 9-3 and won the Pilgrim’s Pride Bowl ranked third nationally in total offense, was fourth in rushing offense and set a then-school record with 428 points (35.7 per game).

“I came from a background where I ran a lot of run-and-shoot principles and Nick had just been at Texas A&M and we used much of their rushing attack and my passing attack,” Mayper said. “You’ll see a lot of those same principles here this year. We’ve got four or five pretty good running backs and a quarterback who could be the best in the country. We’re going to be exciting to watch.”

Mayper developed his football philosophy starting as a student assistant at Sam Houston State when an injury prematurely ended his career as a punter and undersized fill-in at tight end. After working under Ron Randleman at Sam Houston, he hooked up at with Steve Roberts at Southern Arkansas. Although they weren’t successful his first two years thanks to a severe house-cleaning, Roberts and his staff established a program that eventually reeled off three seasons of 26-5 football.

By then Mayper was off to Howard Payne under Vance Gibson where the team went 71-29 with Mayper helping run the offense. Gibson eventually left for Frisco High School, where Mayper took over as offensive coordinator.

“We had 24 kids on varsity, only 17 of whom played a lot,” Mayper said. “We just prayed nobody got hurt. The great thing was that every one of those kids believed in what we were trying to do from the moment we got there. We got into the playoffs that first year and the whole Raccoon Nation went nuts. The next year we got to the second round of the playoffs and beat a really good McKinney North team when our quarterback rolls off a pile and runs for a long touchdown in the final 30 seconds.

“Although I loved the kids and what we accomplished at Frisco, there was something about coaching high school that was not for me. The bells, the regimen and not being able to talk to mentor the kids like adults were just not for me.”

So he jumped at the opportunity to work for Woodard at Navarro and start at five-year relationship with the larger-than-life Lamar coach.

Boisterous. Gregarious. Just plain loud. Pick your adjective to describe Woodard. But don’t try to apply those qualities to the reserved Mayper.

“That’s probably how we worked so well together,” Mayper said. “Nick and I would take care of all the little things that Ray either didn’t think or care about. But what Ray is great at is getting his kids to play hard. Ray does a lot of things in regards to preparation that other coaches don’t do. I learned that there is not one way to do things to be successful. Ray taught me not to let the little things eat you up and to let some things roll off your back. But what I also learned from him was how necessary it was to motivate and prepare your team.

“Vance taught me how to sit back and listen to your staff and to your players. He taught me how to deal with specific situations. I’ve been fortunate to work some great guys like Vance, Roberts and Ray, although all of them were very different.”

Now it’s Mayper’s turn to run his own program and hopefully keep the Navarro juggernaut rolling. His first team will enter the season ranked No. 12 in the nation and picked to finish third in the SWJCFC by conference coaches. Don’t expect Mayper to be satisfied with either poll.

“We’ve got some outstanding coaches and kids who dedicated themselves this summer to getting better each day,” Mayper said. “It’s exciting to be a part of all this.

“My philosophy is to come together and be a family. We’re going to have our guys give back like Habitat for Humanity, which we’ve already been a part of four times this summer. And we plan to be in the elementary schools as part of a reading program with kids. We’re going to be a big part of the community.

“We’re also going to make it exciting on the football field. We’ve got to win and we’re going to do it in an exciting way. If it’s dull, fans won’t be around. We’re going to make it exciting to be wearing red and being a fan of Navarro football.”