By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Almost as quickly as former head coach/athletic director Monty Stumbaugh exited Port Isabel, Jaime Infante entered.
Within the span of a month, Stumbaugh was told his contract wouldn’t be renewed and Port Isabel would replace him, and the Port Isabel school board acted swiftly in choosing Infante, the former Lyford head football coach/athletic director, as his successor.
Infante, who was in his previous position for 15 years, is a familiar face to those at Port Isabel. Prior to joining Lyford, he served as an assistant at P.I. for six years, the last of those as the offensive coordinator under Stumbaugh during Stumbaugh’s first season.
“I love the Port Isabel area. I enjoyed working with (Stumbaugh) and have a lot of respect for him; I think he’s done a great job there,” Infante said. “I like the area, the community. I think I can serve that community well. Stumbaugh did that; I think I can follow in his footsteps.
“I’m fond of the kids and I’m looking forward to being a part of that community again.”
The long-time Rio Grande Valley coach has also had assistant coaching stints at Rio Grande City, Alice and Falfurrias.
Infante built Lyford into a postseason mainstay with 11 trips to the playoffs during his tenure. He reached a milestone in his last season, earning his 100th victory during an 8-4 campaign that ended in the Class 3A area round. Lyford fell to eventual state runner-up Yoakum.
Stumbaugh guided the Tarpons to a 123-64 record during his time in P.I., including nine district titles and 14 postseason appearances over 16 seasons.
Infante has kept a home in Port Isabel for over 20 years, so to say he was excited to come back to the area on a full-time basis would be an understatement. And with a playoff tradition long established, it’s one that Infante hopes to continue.
“Coaching is in your blood, but (change is) part of the profession,” he said. “We’re going to go down there and work just as hard as they have been. Our football philosophy’s a little different … but it still comes down to blocking, tackling, throwing and catching.
“It’s a great program to be a part of and they have a tradition there. It was there before Stumbaugh was there and it will be there after he and I’ll both be gone.”
While Infante hopes to return to the playoffs year after year, it will be done from a different offensive perspective.
Infante likes to run the spread formation and many offensive schemes that can be run from it, including a balance between the run and passing games, a scheme certainly different than the run-heavy, ground-and-pound offense under Stumbaugh’s watch.
The defense Infante runs is a 4-3, similar to what the Tarpons ran under Stumbaugh, but Lyford had to use its speed rather than size in an attacking-style scheme.
Regardless of the past and the familiar, Infante hopes to bring a new energy into the Port Isabel program.
“Times change and its time to move on,” he said. “My focus is on the kids that are there and the future. The (offense and defense will be) dictated by personnel, where our strengths and weaknesses are.”
With such staunch tradition, Infante didn’t think Port Isabel set its goals high enough in the past.
“My goals are no different than any other coaches,” he said. “The ultimate goal is winning a state championship. They’ve always had a tradition of playing solid football … Every offense is good and every defense is good, it’s all a matter of execution.
“Our goals is to get to the big house and hopefully we’ll get there.”
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.