DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
La Joya Palmview defensive coordinator J.J. Leija was approved late Tuesday night as the new head football coach/athletic coordinator at Edinburg High.
Leija is an Edinburg native who coached at Palmview the last two years and was an assistant coach at PSJA North before that. He has also been an assistant at Edinburg High and Edinburg Economedes.
“He’s an alumni and is familiar with Edinburg and that was big for us,” Edinburg CISD athletic director Roy Garza said. “It was important to us that we get an Edinburg guy, and he was above the rest. He’s a professional. He’s a player’s coach and is very organized. He’s a family man who loves Edinburg.”
Garza said administration interviewed 10 candidates for the job. Thirty applied.
Former Edinburg High coach Joaquin Escobar was reassigned last month after going 3-17 in two years at the helm of the Bobcats. Escobar, an Odessa native, beat out Leija, whom Garza said was a runner-up for the position in December 2013.