Apparently, having a soccer coach with a 437-206-66 overall win-loss record who is a member of the Matamoros, the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame, and the RGV Sports Hall of Fame wasn't that good of a fit for the athletic coordinator of Brownsville's private St. Joseph Academy.
Juan de Dios Garcia had been hired to succeed Tino Villarreal at St. Joseph's last July. Villarreal was named athletic director at the same time.
“We feel Juan de Dios Garcia is a perfect fit for us,” said Villarreal, also SJA’s head football coach, at the time.
That was then, and this is now.
Following this year's soccer season, De Dios Garcia said his goodbyes to the academy and resigned, citing personal and professional differences with Villarreal, his friends said.
Garcia retired as coach of the Hanna Golden Eagles after the 2012 school year following 30 seasons and a 437-206-66 career record.
The highlight of Garcia’s coaching career at Hanna came in 1990 as the Eagles went 19-3-1 and advanced to the UIL state tournament semifinals in Class 5A before falling 4-3 to Tyler Lee on a 22-player shootout. While Garcia coached at Hanna, the Eagles advanced to the playoffs 20 times and reached the regional tournament in San Antonio on seven occasions.
Four of Garcia’s former players at Hanna, now coaches, have taken teams to a UIL state final. Three of them have brought home state championships.
One of the most highly decorated coaches in all of the Rio Grande Valley, as well as in the state of Texas, De Dios Garcia led the Golden Eagles to the playoffs for 20 years and had seven trips to the regional tournament as well.
In 1990, De Dios Garcia and Hanna finished the year with a 19-3-1 record and advanced all the way to the UIL State Semifinals while losing an instant classic to Tyler Lee by a score of 4-3. The game went into a 22-player shootout with Tyler Lee finally pulling out the win.
Besides coaching at Hanna, De Dios Garcia had stops at the University of Texas at Brownsville where he was an assistant coach for the women’s team in 2007 and became head coach of the program in 2013.
So why wasn't De Dios Garcia a "perfect fit" as Villarreal said when he was first hired?
Juan's friends say that penny-pinching Villarreal insisted that when De Dios Garcia and his Bloodhound soccer team were to play in a tournament out of town, that the team depart from the city aboard a bus at 4 a.m. to save money on their hotel bill. Despite the protests of De Dios Garcia that the players – after spending hours aboard a cramped bus – would not be in condition to put on their best performance, Villarreal insisted he do as he was told.
"When you take a team out of town you want them to get a good night's sleep, to wake up and have a good breakfast in the morning and then a light practice before the game," said a longtime Brownsville high school coach. "You don't put them on a bus at 4 a.m. and then have them play the game when they get off the long ride. That was chintzy and insulting to a veteran player/coach like Juan. It's St. Joe's loss. Villarreal is penny-wise and pound-foolish."
12 comments:
So what?!!!!! Who do your write this for? What does it mean to me??????
The guy was a football coach, he doesn't care about the soccer
St Joe only worries about football and basketball
What was the norm with the track team compared to the soccer team? When meme was the coach they stayed at hotels...
Never heard of this Bum. Maybe they'll hire an Anglo now!
Pues no que muy chingones y adinerados en SJA?
This guy is important why? I haven't seen his ass on CNN!
Im going to agree with the "So What" guy on this.
So What Juan!?!???
Is it hurting your bloodhound pride? I didn't know you went to St. Joe.
If your trying to defend the coach, why don't you defend every other person in Brownsville who was unjustly dismissed?
St Joe is all about $$$$$$. The student tuition is high, teacher pay is low and yet they still want a winning team to ride a bus all day and they play a soccer game. Would they do this to the football team...probably not.
Juan are you going to write about the bird that stood on a wire at the intersection of Paredes and 802?
Who give a flying fuck!!!
Juan de Dios Garcia is a good coach. Not a great coach, but a good coach. A. Escandon and S. Garcia were his pupils and THEY brought State Soccer championships to Brownsville. Something Mr. Garcia never did.
He is a good person, a good individual and someone with his own private business aside from the fact that he still gets his retirement pension so at the end of the day it was St. Joe's loss and I am sure Juan de Dios Garcia will find a better coaching job to entertain his retirement days from public education. St. Joe is nothing more than a breeding ground for the future mayor and/or city commissioners "fresitas" wanna be Brownsville "riquillos".
Coach Juan De Dios should be placed as head coach at school like Porter, Pace or Hanna, he would help all sports especially soccer and not focus on football all the time. Pace is also open for new head coach because Previous head Coach Deen or Dean was told to go help out Porter before the new guy hired (ureste) destroys what was kind of a good start of a program with well liked Tommy Campos. Brownsville continues to hire from within trying to save a penny here a penny there but programs and athletes are paying the price with hires like ureste who has no clue, no experience, no wins, no campos to hold his hand, he will run that program to the ground in one year. Moving head coach from Pace helps Porter a little but hurt Pace a lot, now looking for new hire at Pace. BISD hire right guy for Pace or return Dean, hurting two schools to cover messed up hire at Porter. If good head coach would of been hired at porter Pace would keep Dean. Head Coach can be a Soccer Coach, a basketball coach. Why always a football coach. Juan De Dios, apply for the openings, experience and good morals all in one. Time for smart change.
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