Salvador Garcia has coached soccer at Rivera for 24 years, including 18 seasons as the head coach, and he’s learned some important lessons along the way in compiling a 365-101-49 career record.
He said those lessons were influential in helping him and his coaching staff guide the Raiders to the inaugural Class 6A championship in boys soccer and a 28-0 season at the UIL state tournament last month in Georgetown .
Garcia is The Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro coach of the year for 2015.
“Somebody was asking me the other day about the difference for me as a coach between 2005 and 2007 (when we went to state before and lost in the semifinals) and 2015,” said Garcia, who is assisted by Andres Macias, Jose Dominguez and Jimmy Montalvo . “My response was that I have learned so much from my opponents and former coaches. I have tried to learn something by what they do or did best.
“From Eloy Moran (my former coach at University of Texas-Pan American ), I learned that it’s a combination, you mix God and hard work, and the result will be success on and off the field,” added Garcia, a 1986 Hanna graduate. “From Juan de Dios Garcia (my former coach at Hanna and later a coaching opponent), it’s how to be a tactician. He was always reading the game, trying to look for a mismatch. From ‘Chico’ (Jimenez, former Pace coach), it’s readiness. His teams were always ready to play, regardless of how good the opposition was.
“From (Lopez coach) Amadeo ( Escandon), it’s being cool as the other side of the pillow, which is what ESPN’s Stuart Scott used to say. You have to relax, which is something that I need to work a little harder at doing and being more consistent with the team’s performance. From (former Porter and Rivera coach Jose) ‘ Pepe’ Zarate, it’s being the believer. He’s always trying to get to the positive side of things, and always believing that things happen for a better reason. And from (Hanna coach) Reyes (Prado) and Aldo (Brownsville Veterans Memorial coach Alberto Vasquez), it’s energy and discipline, on and off the field.”
All those things went into the Raiders’ 28-0 season and state championship, Garcia said.
“It may sound funny, but I can’t help but believe that every year we’re going to have a chance (to win it all),” said the Rivera coach, who has four starters returning next season. “I already spoke with the players coming back and told them that I really believe it. Yes, it’s not going to be easy, and yes, it’s going to take time. I told them, ‘I expect you guys to be playing to your potential by the end of the first round (of district).’
“In Brownsville soccer, there’s not such a thing as rebuilding,” he added. “Some coaches may want to call it like that, but in my mind, every school in Brownsville has numbers and talent in soccer. To me, it’s just the adjustment period of a player going from the junior varsity to the varsity. The talent is there. Yes, sometimes it takes months, and sometimes it even takes years, but the talent is there, and that’s what I’ve told our players.
“I’m already excited about next year, and so are the players. When you’re coming off a season of winning the state championship, of course, your players are going to be hungry (to do it again). How do you do it? You work. We have talent here at Rivera, and our thing is hard work. You have talent, you (still) work. You don’t have talent, you work as well. We know we’ll have a bull’s eye on our backs (next season), but it’s nothing new. There’s always pressure to play for Rivera, just like there’s pressure to play for any other Brownsville school. That’s what makes it Brownsville soccer.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @ HessRgehess.