New BISD football coaches ready to take on challenges

Brownsville ISD’s three new head football coaches face daunting challenges in reviving programs that finished a combined 3-27 last season.

All three — Jim Helms at Rivera, Roberto Valdez at Porter and Tom Chavez at Hanna — say they are eager to begin the rebuilding process.

Rivera and Hanna opened preseason workouts Monday along with Pace. Porter and Lopez will start practicing next Monday because the Cowboys and Lobos held workouts in the spring.

Porter, Rivera and Hanna each finished 1-9 in 2006. Pace went 3-7, and Lopez, the only Brownsville school to make the playoffs last season, wound up 5-6.

There’s plenty of work ahead for everyone, it seems.

Helms said the first few days of practice are vitally important.

“Since we didn’t have spring ball, our immediate goal is getting everyone in the right positions and making sure our best athletes are out there,” said Helms, who guided a 10-3 Harlingen South ballclub to the third round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs last season. “We have to see where we’re at physi-cally.”

Helms spent the past three years at South and is back in Brownsville after coaching Porter to its best record ever (9-2) and only playoff appearance in 2003.

“Our main problem is a lack of depth,” Helms said. “We might be having certain individuals going both ways. We also want to make sure that our playmakers are getting chances to touch the ball.

“It’s going to be a challenging year,” added Helms, who boasts a 47-22-2 career head coaching record.

Valdez comes to Porter after nine seasons at La Feria, where he led the Lions to the Class 3A play-offs seven times. He has a career coaching record of 81-53.

“I think we’ll be all right,” Valdez said. “I liked what I saw during our spring ball. I think we’ll have a solid offensive line.

“We’re going to concentrate on defense,” he added. “That’s been my forte since I was at La Feria. You’ve got to be able to stop the teams in our district. With the ground attack that Weslaco has, and the air attack of Los Fresnos, you’ve got to be able to play good defense. I think it’s going to be very competitive and that Porter will be able to hang in there with the best of them.”

Chavez brings a 113-82 career coaching record to Hanna as he begins his second stint as the Golden Eagles’ head coach. Previously, he was the head coach at Hanna from 1974-76, and also spent more than a decade coaching the Rivera Raiders (1988-2004) before spending the past two seasons at Donna.

The veteran Rio Grande Valley coach said what is most important for the Eagles right now is develop-ing a new mental approach to football.

“There have been some hard times for Hanna,” Chavez said. “When you win just two games in two years, it’s difficult.

“The biggest challenge for us is getting a different mindset and having the attitude that we can win games,” he added. “There are many challenges, really. With our new offense and defense, it’s going to require a lot of hard work. I believe we’re going to overcome those challenges.”

Helms, Valdez and Chavez are three of 12 new head football coaches in the Valley this season.

There are also new head coaches at Harlingen High (Manny Gomez), Harlingen South (Alan Cherry), Donna (Manuel Moreno), La Joya (Leonel Casas), Valley View (Dave Evans), Roma (Max Ha-becker Jr.), La Feria (Elifonso Esquivel Jr.), Santa Rosa (Joshua Gonzalez) and La Villa (Eugene Garza).

Actually, there are 13 new head coaches in the Valley for 2007 as Joey Casares recently was named interim head coach at Edinburg High for Robert Vela, who is battling stomach cancer. Casa-res was a standout running back at Edcouch-Elsa in the 1980s when Vela coached the Yellowjackets.

Prior to his promotion, Casares was Vela’s offensive coordinator with the Bobcats.