Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 50
Player’s Rare Homecoming Was Bittersweet • CISD Saves Millions on High School’s Roof • Universal Academy Also Needs New Roof • Irving Aims to Regulate Data Centers
CORRECTION: Players from the Coppell Youth Football Association and the Coppell High School varsity team will share the turf at Lesley Field between 3 and 5 p.m. today, not Feb. 9 as I’ve previously reported. (Feb. 9 is the date of another football game, the Super Bowl.) Admission is free for spectators.
Player’s Rare Homecoming Was Bittersweet
UNIVERSITY PARK – The Stanford men’s basketball team didn’t have a great game on Saturday. In fact, the 85-61 loss at SMU was their worst of the season.
But that fact didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the dozens of friends, relatives, and fans who showed up to watch Coppell High School graduate Ryan Agarwal, the only Texan on the Stanford roster. Most of his cheering section, who were seated directly behind the Cardinal’s bench, lingered long enough to chant his name when he appeared on the court for post-game interviews.
“I wish it was a better turnout in terms of the game and score-wise for them, but I’m proud,” Agarwal said. “I think they’re just happy to see me on this type of stage.”
This was his fans’ second opportunity to see Agarwal play college ball close to his hometown. During his freshman year, Stanford faced the Texas Longhorns at Dallas’ American Airlines Center. But Agarwal was the last player off the bench in that game, when he saw only five minutes of action. He missed most of the ensuing season with a concussion, but he is firmly planted in Stanford’s starting lineup these days. Saturday’s game was his 16th consecutive start, and he has averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds in that stretch.
Agarwal should play in the Dallas area a few more times before he graduates. In the topsy-turvy world of college sports, Stanford and SMU have ended up as rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference, even though neither school is anywhere near the Atlantic Ocean.
Agarwal’s bio on the Stanford website says he “joins a select group of Indian student-athletes to play Division I basketball.” When Stanford recently hosted the Virginia Cavaliers, who include a 6-foot, 5-inch freshman named Ishan Sharma, it was believed to be the first Division I game featuring two starters of Indian descent. That’s according to AMAZN HQ, an Instagram account that highlights Asian and Asian-American athletes.
“It’s been an important aspect of my life,” Agarwal recently told Stanford Magazine. “Having, you know, a lot of kids, younger Indian kids just be, like, ‘Hey, Ryan, really appreciate you doing this; we look up to you’ — things like that. I think something that I’m doing is bigger than just who I am. It’s selfish of me to just focus on me, realizing that I can do a lot for not just me but a culture and heritage, and that’s kind of how I’ve been going about my whole career.”
Former Coppell head coach Clint Schnell remembers a lot of Indian kids idolizing Agarwal during the Cowboys’ summer camps. He also recalls how proud Agarwal was that his games were streamed to relatives in India, where his parents were born.
“He’s a special kid. He was a joy to coach,” Schnell said by phone from Amarillo, where he coaches these days. “The greatest thing about him was that he was never satisfied with where he was as a player or a person. He was always looking to grow and progress.”
Speaking of growth, Agarwal grew 3 inches during his time at Coppell, but Schnell put him on the varsity roster as a freshman because he showed up at 6 foot, 3 inches. That height was unusual in Agarwal’s family. His mom, Rangini, is 5-foot-5, and his dad, Ashok, is 5-foot-7. His older brother and sister aren’t much taller than their parents, so who knows where Ryan’s height came from?
“He was tall right from when he was born,” Rangini said on Saturday morning, as she and Ashok prepared to host a pregame lunch for Ryan’s fans. “Even in preschool, he was head and shoulders above the other kids.”
CISD Saves Millions on High School’s Roof
Replacing most of Coppell High School’s roof is going to cost much less than anticipated.
Coppell ISD’s 2023 bond package allocated more than $16 million to the project. Last month, the Board of Trustees approved a contract for just $5.75 million.
Sid Grant, who manages the district’s bond projects, said he met with the architects and roofers “to have a full understanding of how we are saving so much money.” That led to a visual demonstration during the trustees’ Jan. 13 meeting that Grant jokingly called “show and tell.”