For undefeated Fulshear, winning is unconventional

Dennis Silva II | 2 Hours Ago

Fulshear football coach Nick Codutti discusses a play call with one of his players during practice this week as the Chargers prepare for Friday's playoff game against Atascocita. / Dennis Silva II

Late November is different in Fulshear, Texas.

On this particular Monday afternoon on Thanksgiving week, it is 83 degrees, bright and sunny. The wind is howling.

Everything and anything plays over the stadium speakers at Fulshear High School’s practice field, from Rich Gang to Johnny Cash.

On the turf, Fulshear’s varsity football team practices. Only 16 teams in Class 6A-Division I, Texas’s largest high school classification, remain in the playoffs. The Chargers are one of them.

It’s their first year in 6A-DI after being realigned from 5A-DI in February.

“It’s changing around here,” senior fullback Zane Smith said.

Fulshear, located 34 miles west of Houston, is in its seventh year of varsity play. In the Chargers’ first three years, they won eight games and lost 22.

Then Nick Codutti arrived.

Since he was hired March 1, 2021, Codutti went to work branding Fulshear as a winner, on and off the gridiron.

In his first season, the Chargers went 5-6, making the playoffs for the first time. Since then, they have won 33 games and lost three, making the regional semifinals two of the last three years, including this one.

After going 5-6 his first year at Fulshear in 2021, Nick Codutti has transformed the program into a Texas power, going 33-3 since the start of the 2022 season. / Dennis Silva II

Fulshear, ranked ninth in Class 6A in the state, plays fifth-ranked Atascocita on Friday. A win puts the Chargers in the regional final for the first time.

“We have an opportunity to do something we’ve never done in school history,” said senior lineman Chance Bryant, a freshman on Codutti’s inaugural team and a University of Houston commit who plays both ways.

And it’s not just that Fulshear is here. It’s how it got here. Why it got here.

In a world of pass-happy spread offenses, the Chargers abide by the wide zone, a run-oriented scheme predicated upon footwork, offensive line play and tedious technique. They eschew extra-point attempts for 2-point conversions. They often go for it on fourth down. They onside kick. A lot.

“This is a social experiment that has worked very well,” Codutti said.

And it all starts with a 41-year-old man, an Italian from Philadelphia, unafraid of the unorthodox, thirsty to do things his way, for what he believes is the betterment of kids and others around him.

At a place he has grown to adore.

“I think a lot of people might have a bad image of us at times, because of who we are,” Codutti said. “But, man, it’s a family. These kids love each other. These coaches love each other. I don’t know any other way to describe it other than you have to be in it to understand it. I’ve never been to a place like this.”

An awakening has taken place for Nick Codutt in Texas

When he was the head football coach at Marshfield High in Missouri for three years in the early 2010s, Codutti’s boys won. But he was miserable.

“I ran into some rough spots because I did things to try and please people instead of the way I wanted to do them,” he said.

Codutti was on the brink of burnout. He wanted to leave the profession altogether, take his engineering degree from William Jewell College and do something else. Anything else.

Fortunately, he had an ally in athletic director Kevin Armstrong. Armstrong was conservative in nature, traditional, but understood Codutti was “a little more out there.” He accepted it, encouraged it.

Armstrong’s belief in Codutti was such that Codutti left Missouri for Beaumont, where he would be offensive coordinator at West Brook, with a sense of renewal.

“I always told myself if I was ever going to be a head coach again, I was going to do it my way,” he said. “Because no matter what I do, I’m not going to make people happy. So I might as well look in the mirror and know I did it the way I wanted to do it and that I did what’s best for my kids.”

A wall in the Fulshear football fieldhouse displays Chargers pride. It's part of Coach Nick Cardutti's plan to brand his team on and off the field. / Dennis Silva II

Codutti, born in Virginia and raised in Philadelphia before moving to Missouri in high school, is the son of an Argentine immigrant.

“My dad was the epitome of the American dream,” he said.

Jerry, who died in 2020, moved to the United States in high school. He did not speak English. But he persevered, becoming an All-American left guard at the Virginia Military Institute, carving out an NFL career with the then-Washington Redskins and becoming president of a stainless steel manufacturing firm.

“I was raised by a man who knew how to work,” Codutti said. “You take pride in the things that you do.”

As a player, Codutti’s football career was all over the place.

He was a 190-pound running back at Willard High in Missouri. Then he put on 93 pounds as a freshman at Baker University to play the offensive line.

“You go to college and realize you’re a dime a dozen as a running back,” Codutti said. “They needed somebody that could block. I wanted to play.”

And that’s where Codutti’s football philosophy was sculpted. Everything he does now, as a head coach, after time spent playing arena football and in NFL camps, is fit around making the offensive line’s life easier.

“I remember playing and making calls on the line when I played center and having to adjust protections and physically getting my butt whooped,” Codutti said. “There are guys who will line up across from us that are just better than us. We have to do everything we can to make our own kids feel confident in what they’re doing.

“We want those kids to feel so strongly about what they’re doing, and they know exactly what they’re doing, that they do it at 100 miles per hour. From passing game to screen game to run game … everything is the same exact combos across the board at all times.”

When he talks football, Codutti references the Fineman theory, which is based upon simplification.

“The idea is to be able to explain something to somebody in just a few sentences so that you can truly say you understand what’s happening,” Codutti said. “And my goal is one of our kids being able to tell you about our offense or a play in just a few sentences. ‘Well, depending if it’s odd or even (defensive front), I’ve got a combo here, my head is here, here’s my feet.’

“For our offensive line kids, you don’t have to be a ‘war daddy.’ You always have help. Always four hands, four feet, two heads on somebody. That’s what makes us so successful. That’s what gives our kids a chance. They’re always working with somebody. As much as I possibly can, we never put you in a situation where you’re by yourself.”

Nick Codutti is unconventionally old school

Derek Jones, Fulshear’s recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach, said Codutti is a genius. Special in the things he does.

“He’s unconventional in things but in some ways he’s old school,” said Jones, a former tight end at Oklahoma State. “Our defense gets better every day going against an offense that does things a little bit different. For opponents, it’s tough to replicate. You need more than two or three days of practice to grasp what’s going on, and even when you get to the game it’s not what you see on film.”

Before Fulshear, Jones was the defensive line coach at Klein Oak. One of his responsibilities was putting together the offensive scouting report on opponents. In early November 2020, the Panthers played Tomball, where Codutti was then the offensive coordinator.

In his prep work, Jones watched Tomball’s offensive line. He was impressed. Codutti’s group was big, physical and nasty. Strong on double teams.

“They looked like they had a good time getting after you,” Jones said.

After the game, a 17-16 Tomball win, Jones did something he said he typically never does. He sought out Codutti to introduce himself.

“We struck it up from there,” Jones said.

Not even eight months later, Codutti hired Jones on his staff at Fulshear. Jones and offensive coordinator Davin Meggett are the lone holdovers from that initial 2021 season with Codutti.

“When we got here, kids were hungry,” Jones said. “They were losing before we got here, and they were eager to listen and hit the ground running.”

That type of personality is what sold Codutti on Fulshear as well.

“You knew they were starving for something,” Codutti said.

This sign in the Fulshear fieldhouse demonstrate's the football program's commitment to the run-oriented Wide Zone offense. / Dennis Silva II

It did not take long for kids to buy in.

“Eighth grade year, I didn’t know much about Fulshear High School football,” Bryant said. “Found out it was really bad. But when I was in eighth grade, Codutti would come and watch our practices and our period there. He’d watch us work out. So I knew he was invested in the vertical alignment of the program, which is huge.”

Any trepidation did not last.

“Honestly, it was just, like, let’s see who he is,” Smith said. “I watched this team when my brother was a freshman and sophomore, and I saw what they had before and who was here. I was really hoping he’d turn this around. That first year, you really saw the program change. First time ever making the playoffs. He did a great job really making it a family here that first year.”

Codutti arrived at the perfect time. Fulshear football had lacked an identity ever since the school opened in the fall of 2016.

Not anymore.

“Everybody called us the Foster rejects coming in, because of the zoning,” Smith said, referencing a district rival school 18 minutes away. “Codutti came in and really brought in a name, a brand. It helped us grow as a program. Everybody knows ‘Da Dirty F.’”

Da Dirty F

During a media photo shoot in the summer of 2021, Codutti and his kids noticed another school making fun of them. Mocking them.

Scoffing. Like, why are they here?

Fulshear now has a population of 42,616. But when Codutti arrived, it was 16,856. To go to a movie or a nice restaurant in 2020, Fulshear residents had to drive to Katy, about 30 minutes away.

Visitors see cows when they drive in. Ranches are everywhere. Fulshear is on the far, far west side of the Greater Houston area. Practically out of sight, out of mind.

“There’s definitely a lot of space out here, so it’s great if you love sports,” said Bryant, who grew up in town. “When my parents moved (here), there was our cul-de-sac and nothing else.”

These days, much has changed in Fulshear, one of the fastest-growing communities in the country. A movie theater is now only four miles away. Fast-food chains are closer. Apartment complexes and neighborhoods are being constructed at almost every turn.

But the perception of Fulshear as, well, nothing still exists. Codutti admits the football program was irrelevant when he arrived. He’d never even heard of the town.

Many people today still haven’t heard of Fulshear. They can’t tell you where it is or what the school mascot is. But they don’t like that Fulshear football has a substantial presence on social media.

Players post highlights with music. Videographers consistently follow the program. Codutti holds popcorn reviews on TikTok, rating the snack on a 1-10 scale at different stadiums he visits.

And that doesn’t even begin to get to the play on the field.

Fulshear football celebrates with a team photo after a recent playoff win, as players flash "Da Dirty F." / Dennis Silva II

“People don’t like us. At all,” said senior defensive lineman Sheldon Rice, a freshman on varsity during Codutti’s inaugural year and University of Houston commit. “We don’t do anything conventional. We don’t pass a lot. We run the ball down your throat. People don’t like it when you’re physical with them. When you’re getting hit so many times, you can back down or keep fighting. We like to keep fighting.”

So, when those kids from that school made light of Fulshear on that hot summer day three years ago, a bell rang for Codutti said.

“‘We could work with this,’” he remembers thinking. “Fulshear needed a swagger to it.”

‘Da Dirty F’ was born.

A purple and black ‘Da Dirty F’ logo was created, depicting the letter ‘F’ made by three fingers. The name was put on the school’s athletic apparel. It was plastered all over their social media.

“When Codutti came in and saw what everybody thought of us, he used it as motivation,” Rice said. “He changed our whole program around it. And as he did, we all started believing.

“Yeah, we’re physical. Yeah, we might be all the things you call us. But we’re going to keep going and it’s going to keep working. You can’t stop it.”

The name induced the image and self-assuredness Codutti desired.

“When we got here, the kids were different,” Meggett said. “They weren’t the biggest. They weren’t the fastest. They weren’t the strongest. But we were going to work the hardest. We were going to compete.

“We play a brand of football that our kids can get behind, and they want to be different. It meant having success and being proud of having an identity.”

‘Da Dirty F,’ which players said stands for family, first and foremost, and #WeAreFu1shear, another battle cry inscribed all over the fieldhouse and social media, go hand-in-hand with the wide zone, a gritty, physical, tough and resilient offense.

If ‘Da Dirty F’ is the heart of Fulshear football, the wide zone is the soul.

“It’s just what’s taught,” Bryant said. “None of us ever think about why we don’t pass-set or anything. This is what we know, what we’re going to do and now we just have to execute it. Now it’s proven successful, why would you not buy in? Obviously, it’s working.”

Cobra is the bread and butter of the Fulshear offense

“The offense is about the bond, the family, the culture of what’s been built here,” Jones said. “Everyone can have their X’s and O’s, but it’s what’s behind the X’s and O’s that makes Fulshear what it is.”

During that Monday practice, players chide each other persistently if mistakes are made. Expletives fly, implying a sense of urgency and disdain for mistakes and sloppiness.

“It’s holding each other accountable, and that love to come out here and play with your brothers,” senior defensive lineman Caleb Augustus said.

During one of his first interviews for a head coaching job, Codutti was asked: “If it’s 3rd-and-1, what are you running?”

Codutti asked who the opponent was. What’s the defensive front?

He was told it didn’t matter.

Codutti said he didn’t know.

“He said then I don’t have an identity,” Codutti said. “That stuck with me.”

Meet Cobra. It’s Fulshear’s base play since day one under Codutti. Wide zone strong to the right. It has converted many a third- and fourth-and-short over the last four years.

Codutti installs Cobra on the first day of practice every year. The offense runs it until it gets four yards four times in a row. Every time the defense gets a stop, Codutti buys one pizza.

“If they stop them five times, they get five pizzas,” Codutti said.

If it feels like the offense is winning too much, Codutti puts 14 players on defense and tells them where the ball is going and when.

“What it teaches the kids is this is how we do this,” he said. “This is what we do, no matter what’s in front of you or how many are in front of you. We’re going to get four yards every time we do this. We’re going to run this so much that you can’t screw it up.”

In 2022, the Chargers averaged 338.9 rushing yards on 8.1 yards per carry, going 11-2. Forty-eight of 74 offensive touchdowns came on the ground.

Fulshear averaged 337.4 rushing yards per game, on 9.6 yards per carry, en route to an 11-1 record in 2023. Forty of 60 offensive touchdowns via the run.

This season, the Chargers are averaging 421.2 rushing yards per game, on 10.6 yards per carry. They are 12-0. Sixty of 80 offensive touchdowns via the run.

“Watching teams not be able to stop the run has been special, for sure,” Bryant said.

To run the wide zone, a team has to be tough, physical, disciplined. Tireless.

During the offseason, the Chargers take bars and plates from the weight room out to the track and carry them around. They do mat drills. Any time a particular song plays over the speakers, they do pushups or situps.

During in-season practices, they go “1s versus 1s” (starters versus starters) often, more than most teams. They practice with contact, again, more often than most.

Players are not allowed to wear slides or sleep in class. No headphones. Disrespect, of any kind, is a no-go.

Any infraction of those rules, and the perpetrator is forced to stand up in front of the team in the weight room and do up-downs. And then run 400s.

For repeat violations, the punishment doubles.

“If you have to do a bunch of up-downs and 400s, it’ll put you in your place,” Bryant said. “Great way to get people from doing dumb stuff.”

Family matters

Smith’s entire outlook changed at the end of his sophomore year.

His older brother, Seth, a terrific, beloved player affectionately known as “The Viking” during his Fulshear days and now a professional rugby player, had just graduated.

Smith was at a crossroads.

“Always growing up, I was behind my brother in everything,” Smith said. “He played rugby, I played rugby. He was a freshman on varsity, I was a freshman on varsity. It was always like I was just following in his path.”

But Codutti needed Smith to find his own way. Success, personal and team, depended on it.

“I didn’t want him to be Seth. I needed him to be Zane,” Codutti said. “I wanted him to have an identity for who he is. We’re really lucky to be where we are. A kid like that who genuinely cares as much as he does, it’s hard to find.”

Smith is a do-it-all for the Chargers. No one’s voice is louder or more demonstrative on the practice field. In games, he plays fullback, is often under center at quarterback, covers returns on special teams and is a devastating blocker for his fellow ballcarriers.

Smith has 1,328 yards and 22 touchdowns rushing, with 114 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches this season.

And it all started with that sit-down with Codutti two years ago.

“It meant something special to me,” Smith said. “It changed me.”

Codutti’s focus, contrary to what anyone on the outside might think, has always been building relationships. And when doing so, finding out what people need.

It goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, he said.

“Kids have to feel safe, and the people around you have to feel safe,” Codutti said. “Once they feel you’re a good person and that you genuinely care, kids will do whatever you want. Make somebody feel safe, and they’ll go to the ends of the earth for you.”

After practices, many kids go up to Codutti and share a personal handshake.

“Because those are the ones that need physical touch,” he said.

Others spend their free time in his office.

“Those are the ones that need quality time.”

Codutti allows others to have ownership of his program. Dictatorial, he is not. It’s what he learned when he was at Tomball for six years under head coach Kevin Flanigan, now the athletic director at Tomball ISD.

“He taught me a lot about being a good man,” Codutti said. “It was a big win for me to find a guy to take a chance on a guy from Missouri.”

After 3:30 p.m. every school day, coaches’ kids, ages 2 to junior high, take over the fieldhouse. For the next few hours, the place is a madhouse.

Codutti would have it no other way. Family matters.

“What makes this place special is everyone is very positive,” Meggett said. “It’s not just about the success. It’s the kids feeling good, the coaches feeling good.”

Codutti is analytical by nature. Just watch his team. But he can also be emotional and empathetic.

He is a believer in the five languages of love—words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service and receiving gifts.

“I think it’s very useful when it comes to coaching kids and building relationships with people,” he said. “The gut feeling of the game comes from what a kid may need in the moment, and getting to know those kids is when you figure that out.”

Codutti said the Chargers’ MVPs are two women: Micah Kowalski, one of the few females to serve as one of the few directors of football operations for a high school program, and Tara Smith, the head cheer coach.

“Those women are the glue that holds this thing together,” he said.

It’s an all-inclusive, free-thinking manner that endears Codutti to those around him.

“When there’s change or something different, and someone doesn’t understand it, they box it,” Jones said. “They have to label the way it has to be and label what’s going on, because they’re not in the circle. We want to keep a semblance of sanity here as much as we can in a world that’s so judgmental. Love on people, treat them right and give them respect and dignity. It’s what makes Fulshear different, and that’s why you need a guy like Codutti, who thinks outside the box and doesn’t conform to the way things used to be. He can bring in a new style and new way and still keep decency that makes people feel good about themselves.”

An undefeated season, with a shot at school history on the line, being a part of that is all the better.

“This is a special time at a special place. And we’re in the right place at the right time together,” Codutti said. “When you get this dynamic of people all on the same page … man, it’s fun.”