By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
After 35 years of guiding student athletes as a coach and educator, Hanna athletic coordinator and football coach Rene Medrano has decided to retire.
After much thought and pondering the decision at times over the past year, Medrano came to his conclusion recently. He informed his offensive coordinator, Rodney Morales, defensive coordinator, Danny Pardo and Hanna principal Dr. Norma Ibarra-Cantu on Monday of his plans.
“It wasn’t something that was decided overnight,” Medrano said. “We came to the crossroads. When you do something for so long with so much passion and drive, day in and day out, it’s hard to get off the ride. We felt this was the time to get off the ride.
“It’s been a heck of a ride, I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it.”
Medrano spent 30 years within the Brownsville Independent School District, including the last four years at Hanna, and somewhere in the middle another five years within the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. He was a teacher, an athletic coordinator and coached football, baseball and even middle school basketball for a short time.
Medrano was a part of several district-winning football and baseball teams over the years, including an impressive postseason run as Pace’s football coach during his final five seasons (2007-2011).
“I remember my first day at Faulk, it was 35 years ago, but it seems like yesterday,” he said. “You blink and there goes the games, the years. When you’re a coach, you’re never looking back, you’re always looking at the next game or the next season, that’s the only thing on your mind. Now I can reflect back and enjoy, it was millions of great times with coaches, with kids, with big games, with big losses and big wins.”
With his impending retirement, Medrano is looking forward to carrying on a family tradition of sorts. He mentioned that his parents were always supportive of his coaching career until they passed a few years ago and wants to do the same for his son, Joe David. The younger Medrano is an assistant football coach at Rockport-Fulton High School and the elder Medrano is excited to be in the stands to support him.
“I thought it was only right to follow him,” the elder Medrano said. “I’ll be at a lot of his games. I thought it would be a good time to do the dad thing.”
The younger Medrano played for his father when he was at Pace and eventually followed in his father’s footsteps.
It was hard for Medrano’s longtime coordinators to actually believe the choice to retire was true. Medrano had told them over the past few years that he was finished one time or another; only he never went through with it, until now.
“It was a surprise,” Morales said. “He’s said he’s going to do it and never does, but he finally did. He’s always enjoyed what he does, he loves kids and loved to work with them.”
Pardo wasn’t convinced either at first.
“We got used to hearing it,” he said. “But it’s one of things that doesn’t really hit you until a day or two later. I’m still expecting him to come back.”
Now that they’ve had a few days to get used to the idea, Morales and Pardo, who also played for Medrano at one time, hope that they can keep things going when he is finished next week. But Medrano, who was known for his organizational skills, already had the schedule for the remainder of the summer planned out.
“Everyone knew a head of time what you were going to do that day, that week, that month,” Morales said. “He was so organized, everything was always in line, everything was planned out. We’re going to stay on schedule, it doesn’t matter which coaches are here.”
Pardo agreed.
“It was no different as a player or a coach, this is the way we do things,” he said. “Medrano tells you exactly what he wants done. Every coach, every kids knows exactly what they need to do.”
Along with organization, Medrano was known for his routine. He didn’t like change much, but he would adapt when necessary. Pardo and Morales said it was made him a great coach to work for. He was a hands on coach that was always around. He wanted to be there coaching his kids, that was his time with them and he valued that time every day.
Medrano told his team on Wednesday that he was going to retire, but reiterated that nothing was going to change because the schedule was set for the summer. It will probably take some time for his players to believe he’s leaving too.
Medrano’s successor hasn’t been chosen yet, but if he feels that either Morales or Pardo would fit the bill.
“I have two of the best guys, words can’t describe what Rodney and Danny mean to me,” Medrano said. “If either of them would want it, that’s what I would want, but it’s up to the powers that be. It’s not my call. Maybe I just want them to have it. They have certainly earned it, but it would be hard to chose one over the other.”
Medrano has no immediate plans upon retiring, but knows that coaching is in his blood and it will be hard to walk away from that.
“When you do something for so long and are passion about it, you just don’t turn off the light and it’s over,” he said. “It’s got to slowly get out of you. I’m proud of so many things over the years. It’s been good. I know we’ve made the right decision, we’re ready to ride out into the sunset.”
The longtime coach wouldn’t have changed a thing about his career even though he knows a part of him will always miss it.
“Coaching, in my opinion, is the best profession in the world,” Medrano said. “The kids that we’ve coached and the coaches that have been around … That’s what I will miss the most.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.