BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MISSION — The Sharyland ISD school board decided Monday night on an in-house candidate for the football coach opening at Sharyland Pioneer.
Six of the district’s seven board members confirmed current Pioneer athletic coordinator Tommy Lee to be the next coach of the Diamondbacks. One board member abstained from voting.
“I appreciate the support from the school board and the community,” Lee said. “It’s a nice situation for me. I’ve probably coached about 95 percent of these kids in some capacity over the last four years at Pioneer through football, basketball or track. It’s time for me to take on a new challenge and do something different.”
Lee takes over the spot vacated by Jason Wheeler, who had coached Pioneer since its inaugural season in 2014. Lee is a familiar face in Mission’s coaching landscape. In addition to assistant stints at Sharyland High, Lee went 24-37 and made two playoff appearances over six seasons as the head coach of the Mission High Eagles from 2003-08.
“I’ve been around some good coaches at Sharyland,” Lee said. “When I came back (to Sharyland) in ‘08, I got to work with (former Sharyland High coach) Fred Sanchez, and then I got to work with (Sharyland High) coach (Ron) Adame for three years. When you surround yourself around good coaches and good people, good things are going to happen, and you’re going to learn a lot of good things.”
Lee experienced a serious health scare two years ago when he underwent double bypass surgery to unclog two arteries in his heart. He said he will continue to serve as the Diamondbacks’ athletic coordinator and boys track coach in addition to leading the football program.
“I met with my doctors and they told me, ‘You need to get back and do what you love to do,’” Lee said. “I’ve coached football for 20 years, and I’ve been in the coaching ranks for 24. These last four years have been important for me to grow as an administrator and to learn different things that I probably didn’t learn in my first job: how to deal with coaches on a daily basis and develop a staff.”
“Anyone’s health is always a concern,” Sharyland ISD school board vice president Melissa Smith said. “We know that he had a very successful surgery. Tom keeps himself in impeccable physical condition. I believe that he’ll be able to handle the demand and the stresses of those jobs. He coaches from a sense of passion, motivation and love. If Tom didn’t feel up to the job, I don’t think he would have applied.”
Lee will be tasked with building on the success of the program’s back-to-back playoff appearances.
“Our motto this year was, ‘We didn’t come this far just to only come this far,’” Lee said. “That’s what was instilled into all of our kids in all of our sports, academics and everything we do. That’s a motto that our principal put in at the beginning of the year that defines who we are. We haven’t done what we’re set out to do yet. There are going to be a lot of great things in the future of Pioneer.”