The "Churn" is just really getting started...although I'll admit that I've seen a lot of 5A/6A head positions just now/recently being posted that one would think would have been taken care of by TMEA in February.

Anyway...

While it does help to know someone, the "Good 'Ol Boys Club" isn't nearly as strong as it was when I moved to Texas 27 years ago (look up the term "rump state" and you'll get the picture).

Don't limit yourself to any single region of the state unless you have a legitimate reason for doing so...like a spouse that already has a job or a family commitment where you need to be in the area.

Many small schools, especially in West Texas, struggle finding directors. Some people say that we have a "director shortage", but that isn't the case. We have a lot of directors graduating from school every year. The problem is that a lot of the more "prestigious" colleges look down their nose at small schools, and flat out tell their students that any school smaller than 5A or 3C is "beneath" them, and not worth their time applying for. Part of the problem is that these colleges are not training band directors per se, but they are training "specialists" where the kid only knows how to teach their own instrument, and don't know what to do if they were in a band hall by themselves without any help, and the only person who can teach the kids how to play their instruments is the one director for the district. The other part of the problem is that these colleges want to stroke their own egos and say "look at how many of our students get jobs at the big schools".

Don't be afraid to go out to the rural areas...some of our finest and most successful band directors started in small schools and worked their way up.