EDINBURG — Edinburg North boys basketball head coach Rudy Garcia has heard many final buzzers throughout his 30-year coaching career.
But when the final horn sounded in Edinburg North’s 60-37 win over Mission High on Saturday, it was a special one.
The victory marked the 500th win of Garcia’s head coaching career, and he soaked in the moment by celebrating with his family, his current Cougars, and a few gold balloons in the shape of “500.”
“To be part of achieving that milestone, that 500th win, is pretty exciting,” he said.
Garcia had discussed the potential of notching win No. 500 with his family beforehand, so his daughter made the trip from San Antonio. While he never mentioned it to his team, they found out after giving Garcia win No. 499 a night earlier.
“I hadn’t told the team. I guess somebody told them, but they knew. And according to them, they were working really hard to get it. My daughter had come down from San Antonio on Friday. She told me, ‘You got to win Friday so it can be the big game on Saturday,’ and actually that’s what took place,” Garcia said with a chuckle.
Garcia, who has been a high school head coach for 27 years, began his career at Sharyland Junior High, followed by Edinburg North as a junior varsity coach in the early 1990s. Garcia then became the head coach at Sharyland High, where he stayed for 12 years before becoming Edinburg North’s head coach for the past 15 years.
Garcia’s 500th win also happened to be Edinburg North’s seventh straight win in District 31-6A this season. After starting district with an 0-3 record, the Cougars have turned things around and now hold a 7-4 record, good for fourth place in the 31-6A standings. Their winning streak came to a close Friday night against first-place La Joya High.
“Myself and my assistant coaches sat down and discussed what we need to improve on and get better. Every day, we made sure we were working on those things and the biggest thing was defense,” Garcia said. “We have the saying, ‘From defense comes offense,’ and the kids have bought into it. All along, they’ve been working really hard. We just weren’t where we needed to be. We still have a long way to go, but as of recent, the guys have come together. They’re playing harder defensively, playing together and playing as a team.”
It’s been an all-hands-on-deck approach for the Cougars on both ends of the floor. While North doesn’t have one player averaging double-digit points, they have eight different players scoring more than four points per game. Defensively, the Cougars allowed just 47 points a game to opponents during their seven-game win streak.
“We have 14 kids on the team, all the kids know their role, and they all know how important their role is, even if it’s just in practice. We don’t have one superstar. We have several kids that contribute every night on a different basis, and that’s a good thing for us,” Garcia said.
Next up for the Cougars (11-7, 7-4) is a District 31-6A rivalry game against the Edinburg High Bobcats. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Edinburg North High School.