Coach Kevin Atkinson's Family Fights PSP After Decades Coaching North Texas Football

For decades, Kevin Atkinson built programs, shaped young men, and showed up — sometimes just two days after his children were born. Now his family is the one showing up for him.

Atkinson, who retired from Marcus High School in 2023 after a long career coaching football across North Texas, has been diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, or PSP — a rare, terminal brain disease that has gradually taken away his ability to dress, eat, and care for himself independently. His wife and three adult children have become his full-time support system, managing both the physical demands of his care and the mounting medical and medication costs.

The family remained private for some time after his retirement, but has now chosen to share their story — not just to seek help, but to turn their experience into something larger. They want other families facing PSP to know they are not alone, and they want people to remember Atkinson as the strong, resilient coach he was for so many athletes throughout the DFW area.

"I might not be able to save my dad's life," one of his children said, "but I might be able to save someone's life in the future."

Above all, the Atkinson family is asking the community to remember the man behind the whistle — one who preached character, discipline, and selflessness long before those words became coaching clichés.