South Oak Cliff's Jason Todd on legacy, loss and the price of success

If you listen closely to Coach Jason Todd on the practice field at South Oak Cliff High School, you'll hear his past in his present. To the ear, he's asking his assistant coaches quite a few questions. Todd said he did the same thing to his coaches as a student-athlete.

"Because I can't think of just one moment where I was like this – I want to be a coach," he said. "I just always asked a lot of questions, did a lot of research, and it was just something that kept my attention and kept me focused a lot."

Teammates, he said, treated him like a coach. Perhaps the prophecy of a winning coach was taking shape. Todd is said to be the first Black head football coach in Texas' UIL to have a three-title run in five years.

"It's about the kids, and do we want to be legendary? And I can say pretty much, you know, we're gonna be legendary," he said.

Titles built on sacrifice 

The titles at South Oak Cliff are three that came the hard way, through sacrifice beyond the rigors of practice.

"It's built on the back of a lot of those guys' shoulders who had a vision for South Oak Cliff when all we had was a rundown building across the street," Todd said.

An incoming team of freshmen would reach and win state titles in 2021 as juniors and 2022 as seniors. Todd said the environment was challenging to coach and play in.

"We went through a lot of stuff that a lot of people don't understand from being moved to a temporary school," he said. "You know, the kids not being in a normal flow, no place to really practice, no true weight room."

A third title, then tragedy

The third state title came in December 2025. Todd's SOC Bears became the talk of football legacy and a dynastic program. The victory, the joy, and the entrance to the elite doorway were all marred within hours.

"There's always going to be choices and consequences, and when you make those decisions, good or bad, you got to live with the consequences," Todd said. "We still going to love you no matter what, but at the same time, sometimes it affects other people's lives, and that's where it gets tough."

A shooting that shook the program 

Dallas police got a call for a shooting on Knoll Ridge Drive on Dec. 20, away from the game site at a home. Investigators said Xavier Mayfield had accidentally shot his friend and teammate. Mayfield was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is out of jail on bond.

His teammate was later identified as Nathaniel Coleman in a family fundraiser that said the football player survived the critical shooting as a paraplegic. Todd described it as a tragic mistake between two friends.

A coach grappling with the highs and lows 

He said the position coaches are like fathers to the players. He considers himself more of a grandfather to the team. There he was, the coach recalled, driving to the hospital, wondering how the highest of highs became such a low.

"If I could go back, the one thing in that (pregame) meeting that I would tell them was that I know we're going to be successful," he said. "I know we're going to win tomorrow, but with success comes a price to pay that you don't think you're invincible and don't do things that bring the success that you've accomplished down."

While the students attended a Dallas ISD school, the incident happened off campus on a weekend, so the school district has chosen not to comment on the shooting.

Lessons from past tragedies 

Todd is different. As a coach, he recognizes that trouble can happen to athletes away from the institution. He remembers it when a 16-year-old, Patrick Hill, was killed at a party in Arlington in 2005. The Lincoln High School football player was projected to have a promising future.

The coach said people on the street kept him and his friends out of trouble because they were athletes, even though the advice-givers were doing wrong.

It was the scandalous Carter High School case, Todd says, that really cemented his choices to stay out of trouble. In 1988, the Carter High Cowboys dominated the football field and won a state title. The next year, police said six players pulled a string of armed robberies that got the teens prison sentences. Accusations of ineligibility and grade-fixing led to the Cowboys being stripped of their state title.

"And yeah, so I was actually in the courtroom, and that probably was the biggest thing that kept me out of a lot of stuff," he said.

A family legacy at SOC 

Todd came to South Oak Cliff in 2015. His family's DNA ran deep in the school. His grandfather, a well-respected Dallas ISD administrator, had been a strong principal at the school. However, the 49-year-old had his own pages to fill.

"I think I played this movie that I'm living in my head, but I didn't know I would be able to actually write the script out," he said.

Loss fuels his drive 

It brings tears to his eyes that his mother, Cheryle Todd, is not in the stands or on the sidelines to witness his success. She was an accountant who died from multiple sclerosis in 2013.

"My grandfather, grandmother, mother, they all died like in a 15-month, you know, window, you know, so, you know, it was tough," he said. "At the end of the day, you know, like life don't stop, time don't stop ticking."

Building toward another run 

He's working on building the next team for possibly another title run. Mantras change with teams to fit the players, but the Bears, he said, don't make excuses. They work hard because – as an assistant coach told him – the impossible has become an expectation.

"In our mind, we still the underdog. We still hungry," he said.