BY MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
To say that new Lopez head football coach/athletic coordinator Armando Gutierrez had a quick turnaround would be an understatement.
After being officially approved by Brownsville ISD on July 30, Gutierrez, a former Hanna graduate, made preparations to uproot from Denton and report to his new job at Lopez.
“ I literally got my release (from Denton ISD) at 4 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 5), and drove 10 ½ hours,” Gutierrez said. “I have been getting acclimated and trying to get my wife and my family down here. I’ve lived (in Denton) for more than 15 years, so I have a home up there and I’m trying to get situated.”
It was quite a week for the new head coach, but he is happy to be back home and ready to lead the Lobos.
“ I love being home (in Brownsville). These kids are fantastic; they’re a different breed,” Gutierrez said. “This program itself is coming up and I want to keep it that way.”
Coming in right in the thick of things wasn’t the most ideal situation, but with such a motivated program, Gutierrez said the transition has been an easy one.
“ Luckily our offensive coordinator Alberto Leal and our defensive coordinator Hugo Ramirez did a great job keeping the program going along with the other great coaches,” Gutierrez said. “They’ve been preaching it to (the kids), they don’t care who comes in; here’s how we’re practicing. That standard hasn’t really fallen off.”
Lopez’s players came out to the first day of workouts last Monday without their new head coach, but it didn’t seem to faze them.
They planned to look up to their coordinators and go through practice with the same intensity that made them a program on the rise after an 8-3 playoff season in 2017.
“ We leaned on last year’s coaches a lot,” senior right tackle Joel Chapa said. “We came in here with the same routines and gave it 100 percent. Our coaches told us that no matter what coach took over that (head) position, we’re still going to rise up and face the challenges like we always do.”
“ It’s an exciting year for us — really exciting. We’re going to surprise a lot of people this year — guaranteed.”
So far, the Lobo players have begun to buy in to Gutierrez.
Strong safety and running back Leo Ramos said that that their new coach’s knowledge has only made them better.
“ We kept working hard without a head coach,” Ramos said. “Our coordinators believed in us with a head coach or without a head coach. We were good, but now, we’re great having (Gutierrez) here. He’s a good coach, a great coach. He’s working hard out here with us every day.”
Over the course of a week, Gutierrez said he has slowly begun to implement some new things to properly complement the old at Lopez.
“ As far as retention, the team is doing really well because they have been building a system,” he said. “I’ve added a few little tweaks here and there that I want to see to get their football IQ up a little bit. We’re still working on things with the young guys. The kids are pretty quick and developing well. It’s about getting used to the new schemes that we’ve got. It’s nothing drastic, but things that allow us to play to our strengths.”
Another thing that Gutierrez has worked on over his first few days is getting his players’ trust, which he feels he’s gained slowly, but surely.
“ I really have to gain their confidence because I’ve been in their shoes,” Gutierrez said. “I know what it’s like to sit and listen to a new coach. The thing with them is having someone to look to and say ‘here’s our leader finally’; that’s what I’ve been getting from them. They come up, they hug me and I had been here only three or four days. I’m really getting acclimated and the culture is really changing.
“ The greatest thing about it is that these kids have heart like I’ve never seen.”