By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — Shaun Tarantola has been hired to be the new athletic coordinator and football coach of the Brownsville Lopez Lobos this past week.
Tarantola comes with coaching experience. Tarantola served as the offensive coordinator of the McAllen Rowe Warriors for the past six seasons. Before that, he was a coach in the state of Washington.
“I cannot be more excited about the opportunity,” Tarantola said. “I am fired up. I got to meet the team the other day, and I am excited to work with them and with the community.”
The Lobos will lose a couple of good players on both sides of the ball, but they return some good ones, too, including quarterback Jacob Cortinas, a player for whom Tarantola expressed his excitement of coaching.
“Jacob is a leader, you can tell he is a leader on the team by the way his teammates look to him,” Tarantola said. “They admire him, he is a tough kid.
“I want to thank superintendent Dr. (René) Gutierrez for the opportunity,” continued. “The principal at Lopez, Aimee Garza-Limon, is a fantastic leader. I am excited to work with everyone to help build the culture here with athletics.”
Another person instrumental in the hiring of Tarantola is Brownsville ISD athletic coordinator Gilbert Leal.
“We are so excited to bring Coach Tarantola in,” Leal said. “He is a dynamic leader that is ready to change the sporting culture at Lopez. We wanted to bring someone that understands the Southmost, and Tarantola does.
“The thing that impressed me in the hiring process is that Tarantola has experience in rebuilding two programs in Washington that mirror the socioeconomic realities experienced in the Southmost. He is extremely hungry and ready for the challenge of taking over a team that went winless,” Leal added.
Tarantola comes in with experience against Brownsville schools. Things could change, though, with realignment looming in February.
The Warriors beat three Brownsville schools last season, putting up 155 points during those three meetings. They did lose a close one to Brownsville Veterans. That experience was a factor, Leal said.
The last big reason is Tarantola’s offensive philosophy: ‘foundational offense’ is what Leal called it. Tarantola attributes learning the offense from Mark Speckman, an assistant head coach at UC Davis.
“One thing we do is ingrain the base of the offense at every level, so from Grade 3 all the way to 12, we keep the base the same, and as the players develop athletically we branch out and become more robust,” Tarantola said.