BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
Former PSJA North offensive coordinator David Duty has been reunited with the Hidalgo Pirates upon being hired as the team’s head football coach Tuesday.
“It’s amazing the amount of congratulations I’ve gotten,” Duty said. “I’ve gotten warm wishes from coaches, friends and family. It’s exciting. I wish I could bottle up the energy you receive on a day like this.”
Duty previously worked for Hidalgo as an offensive line coach before leaving for PSJA ISD where he also served as the girls power lifting coach. Duty left Hidalgo on March 31, 1999, exactly 16 years removed from Tuesday’s reunion.
“16 years of roots is hard to pull,” Duty said of leaving PSJA North. “It’s going to be hard to say goodbye, especially the kids. The PSJA kids are a tough group who do great things and are loyal to their coaches. I’m going to miss them and I’m going to wish them the best of luck.”
Duty, assumes command of a Pirates team that has sputtered in recent seasons. The team has gone 20-32 since 2010, and has only one season with a winning record (2012) during that time. What exactly ails Hidalgo has yet to be discovered by Duty.
“When you coach at the (Class) 6A level, you don’t see a lot of 4A video, because you don’t play them very much,” Duty said. “I haven’t seen them on tape aside from game footage or highlight reels.
Though Duty has yet to scout his new team and piece together 2015’s would-be squad, he will begin assimilating himself today when he meets members of the freshman team.
“I’m going to tell them who I am,” Duty said. “They’re going to see my last name and think I’m a white boy from up north, and I’m not. I was born and raised here in McAllen.”
Perhaps more perplexing Hidalgo’s lackluster results on the gridiron is the program’s recent coaching Carrousel which has seen four coaches come and go in as many years. Duty dismisses any notion of apprehension upon accepting the position.
“What’s happened in the past has happened in the past,” Duty said. “A lot of the coaches they’ve hired have been from out of this area, I literally live about four and a half miles away from Hidalgo. I was born and raised here. I’m not someone that is looking at Hidalgo as somewhere that is going to be a stepping stone. I want to work there. The Valley is my home.”