BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
Roma ISD is close to naming a replacement for head football coach Max Habecker Jr., who left the school for the linebackers coach position at Edinburg North earlier this month. A source within the district told RGVSports.com that Roma ISD has whittled down their search to three coaches: Edinburg Economedes’ Esteban Flores III, Freer’s Andre Willie Jr. and Roma’s Francisco Villanueva Jr.
Flores has coached both sides of the football throughout his coaching career. Since joining Economedes, he worked as the program’s passing coordinator and wide receivers coach before switching to secondary coach for the 2016 season. Flores’ previous coaching experience also includes a two-year stint as the special teams coordinator and running backs coach at PSJA Memorial in 2013 and 2014.
Willie has spent the last two seasons as the offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and strength and conditioning coordinator at Freer. Serving under former Oklahoma Sooner, NFL quarterback and now-former Freer head coach Rhett Bomar, Willie helped the Buckaroos to a 2A Division 1 bi-district championship while coaching up the most improved offense in all of Texas high school football (+27.1 point average improvement) in 2016.
Villanueva was a major contributor to Roma’s turnaround from unsuccessful to respectable football program. He was Habecker’s defensive coordinator when Villanueva led the Gladiators to District 31-5A’s No. 1 ranked defense in each of the last three seasons. Villanueva was named the interim head football coach shortly after Habecker resigned his post.
Thirteen candidates applied for the opening, according to a public records request received by RGVSports.com on Thursday afternoon. The remaining candidates, in alphabetical order, were Donna North defensive coach Joaquin Ayala, former La Joya and Mercedes coach Leonel Casas, former Economedes offensive coordinator Darren Earhart, former Brownsville Porter offensive line coach Greg Fortner, PSJA Southwest offensive line coach Juan Galvan Jr., Hebbronville head football coach R.J. Montalvo, PSJA North offensive line coach Jose Ponce, former Creekside (Jacksonville, Fla.) coach Jeff Schaum, Alice High co-offensive coordinator Ryan Ueckert and former Weslaco High coach Tony Villarreal.
Roma ISD could select a coach from the three candidates as soon as next week when a June 29 school board meeting is tentatively scheduled.