By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — The Valley View Independent School District board of trustees voted unanimously late Monday night to have Julio Martinez as its next athletic director and Carlos Saenz as its next head football coach.
According to sources, Joseph Garcia, Martinez and Frank Reyes interviewed on Monday for the A.D. opening previously occupied by Baldo Peña, who resigned in November. Peña spent two seasons at the helm, compiling a 3-17 record as the head football coach.
Martinez, who was the offensive coordinator at Valley View, was named the interim A.D. and interim head football coach following Peña’s resignation. Saenz was an offensive line coach at PSJA North this past season. He’s also the school’s head softball coach.
Martinez and Saenz did not immediately return requests seeking comment late Monday night.
Peña resigned from his post in November after Valley View finished this past season with a 1-9 overall record (1-5 in district). Valley View ISD listed the opening on its website on Nov. 10. On Dec. 5, it posted the head football coaching vacancy, as well, spitting Peña’s former position into two jobs.
Martinez served as an offensive coordinator under Peña, who went 3-17 in two seasons as the head football coach. Though they were 1-8 heading into the regular-season finale last year, the Tigers were in contention for a playoff spot before losing to Roma, which earned the final berth in District 31-5A as a result and wound up advancing to the area round.
After that Nov. 7 game, Peña said he was uncertain about whether he would return for a third season. Days later, he resigned.
Garcia, who applied for the A.D. post, served as the offensive coordinator at Edcouch-Elsa last season. Reyes, a one-time athletic director and head basketball coach at Valley View, is the boys basketball coach at Dilley High School in Dilley, according to the school district’s website and Maxpreps.com.
Robert Bocanegra and Jeff Woodruff applied for the head football job, according to sources. Robert Bocanegra, a former defensive coordinator at McAllen Rowe, was the D.C. at Sharyland Pioneer last season.
Woodruff last coached in 2013 after two seasons leading traditional Southern California powerhouse Oaks Christian, where his team finished 8-3 each year.
From 2004 to 2011, Woodruff served in a variety of coaching roles at the University of Texas at El Paso. Before that, he was the head football coach at Eastern Michigan University from 2000 to 2003, leaving with a 9-34 record.