Odessa is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Ector County with portions extending into Midland County.
Friday Night Lights is a 2004 American sports drama film co-written and directed by Peter Berg. The film follows the coach and players of a high school football team in the Texas city of Odessa. The book on which it is based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream (1990) by H. G. Bissinger, followed the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team as they made a run towards the state championship. A television series of the same name premiered on October 3, 2006, on NBC. The film won the Best Sports Movie ESPY Award and was ranked number 37 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Best High School Movies.
The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) is a public university in Odessa, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTPB was authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1969 and founded in 1973. UTPB is now home to over 7,000 students and 250 teaching faculty.
Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of two high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book Friday Night Lights, which in turn inspired a movie and TV series of the same name.
The Astound Broadband Stadium is a 15,000-seat stadium located in Midland, Texas. The stadium plays host to the American football and soccer teams for both Legacy High School and Midland High School, plus the West Texas FC franchise in USL League Two, which is the fourth tier of American soccer. Additionally, the West Texas Drillers adult tackle football team of the Minor Professional Football League (MPFL) as well as the West Texas Pride Minor League Football team of the Rio Grande Football League (RGFL) call the stadium home. The stadium also serves as an alternate home stadium for the Texas–Permian Basin football team, serving as the team's home venue for the 2020 season as Ratliff Stadium, the team's primary home stadium, was being used as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site.
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream is a 1990 non-fiction book written by H. G. Bissinger. The book follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas, as they made a run towards the Texas state championship. While originally intended to be a Hoosiers-type chronicle of high school sports holding together a small town, the book ended up being critical of life in the town of Odessa. It was later adapted into a short-lived 1993 television series, a 2004 feature film, and a second 2006–11 television series.
KFZX is a radio station located in the Midland/Odessa, Texas market which plays a classic rock music format. Its studios are located at the ICA Business Plaza on East Eighth Street in Odessa, just east of downtown, and its transmitter is located in far west rural Ector County, Texas.
KHKX, branded as "Kicks 99 Country", is a radio station that serves the Midland–Odessa metropolitan area with country music and live high school football for Odessa High School and Permian High School. They are a former affiliate for the Dallas Cowboys and broadcast the #1 rated country morning show in the Midland-Odessa area with Mike and Dana.
KMCM, branded as "KMCM 97 Gold", is a radio station that serves the Midland–Odessa metropolitan area with classic hits by broadcasting the Classic Hits satellite feed from Westwood One. Its studios are located at the West Texas Radio Group Building on Midkiff Road in Midland, south of Midland Park Mall, and its transmitter is located in Gardendale, Texas. Previously they provided the most live sports in West Texas with high school football for Odessa High School and Permian High School, rotating them each week with sister station KHKX, Central Hockey League games of the Odessa Jackalopes, the Indoor Football League Odessa Roughnecks, and NCAA Texas Tech Red Raiders football and basketball games, which they got from KCRS (AM), and Houston Texans football. During the 2007 season they let go of the Texans rights, in 2009 KFZX acquired the Odessa Jackalopes contract from them also transferring the Monday talk show Hockey Talk, and in 2010 the Roughnecks games were transferred fully to sister station KQRX, leaving only High School Football and Texas Tech sports on KMCM.
The UT Permian Basin Falcons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Texas Permian Basin, located in Odessa, Texas, United States, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in Lone Star Conference for most of their varsity sports since the 2016–17 academic year. A UTPB Falcons football team was added for the 2016 NCAA Division II football season to bring the total number of varsity teams to 16. UTPB previously competed in the D-II Heartland Conference from 2006–07 to 2015–16; in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1998–99 to 2005–06; and as an NAIA Independent from 1995–96 to 1997–98.
The UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represents the University of Texas Permian Basin in college football at the NCAA Division II level. The Falcons are members of the Lone Star Conference (LSC), fielding its team in the LSC since 2016. The Falcons play their home games at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas while Astound Broadband Stadium in the neighboring city of Midland, Texas serves as an alternate home stadium.
The 2017 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented University of Texas of the Permian Basin in the 2017 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by second-year head coach Justin Carrigan. The Falcons played their home games at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas, with one home game played at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland, and were members of the Lone Star Conference (LSC).
The 2016 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2016 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference. The program's inaugural season, the Falcons were led by head coach Justin Carrigan; Carrigan previously served as the offensive coordinator at Tarleton State.
The 2020 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2020–21 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The Falcons were led by fifth-year head coach Justin Carrigan.
The 2023 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2023 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). They were led by first-year head coach Kris McCullough. The Falcons finished the regular season 10–1, going 8–0 in LSC play to win the conference title for the first time in program history. The Falcons received a bid for the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time in program history, being selected as the third seed in Super Region 4.
The 2021 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2021 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The Falcons were led by sixth-year head coach Justin Carrigan. The Falcons played their home games at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas, with one home game played at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland.
The 2018 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented University of Texas of the Permian Basin in the 2018 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by third-year head coach Justin Carrigan. The Falcons played their home games at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas, with one home game played at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland, and were members of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The team matched its record from the previous two seasons, finishing with a record of 2–9 and went 1–7 in conference play.
The 2022 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2022 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). The team played its home games at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland, Texas while Ratliff Stadium in Odessa hosted two home games. The Falcons were led by seventh-year head coach Justin Carrigan. On November 28, Carrigan announced that he would be stepping down as the program's head coach. The following day it was announced he would be stepping into an administrative role, being named the university's deputy athletic director.
The 2019 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team represented the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in the 2019 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Justin Carrigan. The Falcons played their home games at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas, with one home game played at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland, and were members of the Lone Star Conference (LSC).
The 2024 UT Permian Basin Falcons football team will represent the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) in the 2024 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC). They will be led by second-year head coach Kris McCullough. The Falcons will play most of their home games at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland, Texas while Ratliff Stadium in Odessa, Texas will host one game. UTPB will enter the 2024 season as the defending LSC champion.
