On Tuesday, Ross Rogers will be in the Bryan field house for the first time as the head football coach of the Vikings.

He'll be home.

"I was two weeks old when my dad started two-a-days in Agua Dulce, Texas," Rogers said. "I've been around a field house my whole life. Some things look different, but they're not really different. The kids still expect you to come with a good attitude, and I still expect them to give 100 percent."

Rogers' five-year retirement from coaching came to an end Monday when the Bryan school board unanimously approved him as the new football coach and athletic coordinator at Bryan High School.

"I thought about this job when I was 27, 28 or 29 and it just didn't come around," Rogers said. "When I came to College Station, it wasn't my dream job. This was my dream job. At 59 years old, I've got my dream job and I'm excited."

The other finalist was Pflugerville Connally head football coach Howard McMahan, who has posted a 30-24 record in five years with the Cougars.

Rogers' career coaching record is 211-87-8 and he is a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association's Hall of Honor, inducted by his fellow coaches in July. Six months later, he won out over 109 candidates who applied for the Bryan job.

"Every place that he has been, he has been a winner," Bryan schools Superintendent Thomas Wallis said in recommending Rogers. "He can bring an energy to our football program, to our athletic program at Bryan High School and get Bryan High School back on the track that it needs to go on."

Bryan athletic director Harry Francis agreed.

"Ross has never been one to want to wait for success," Francis said. "His idea is to get it going immediately. That's the experience he brings to the table. So much of today's culture in high school athletics isn't just the football field. It's across-the-board winning.

"That's what I like. In just about every place Ross has been, it's not just the football team that wins. He's found a way to have that staff to grow and develop and get all of the kids engaged in all of the sports."

Rogers' break from coaching, when he sold Riddell equipment, has him more enthusiastic than ever.

"I'm rested up," Rogers said. "It's like I told Dr. Wallis, you're going to get the best of me. It's been fun, visiting with coaches all over the state. Talking with them, always on the chalkboard and watching it from a different perspective.

"I don't know if I was born to do it, but I was born in it."

There was no talk of a rivalry between Bryan and A&M Consolidated, where Rogers coached from 1988 through 1999.

Rogers had a 6-4 record against Bryan while coaching for Consol in the Crosstown Showdown. His earliest coaching opponent in the game, then-Vikings coach Merrill Green, was one of the board members who voted to hire Rogers.

Rogers' career has included rebuilding and building jobs. In his first season at A&M Consolidated, the Tigers were 2-7-1. A year later, they had a 14-1 record and played for the Class 4A state championship. That began a six-year string where the Tigers had a record of 78-10, winning the 1991 4A championship with a 14-2 mark.

"It's actually a dream come true, because we've had so many great places we've been -- the Hempsteads, the Wallers, my time at Southwest Texas," Rogers said. "Coming back to Consolidated was a great time. Harker Heights was a lot of fun, and I just expect the same thing here."

In 2000, Rogers returned to Killeen ISD, where he played for his father, Gene, at Killeen High, to become coach at the newly opened Harker Heights High School. The Knights were one of the state's biggest surprise teams, with a 10-3 record. Two years later, they went 11-2.

Rogers said he plans to finish his career with the Vikings and finish it well.

"I have high expectations," Rogers said. "We're going to believe in greatness and we're going to work with attitude, academics and purpose."