By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
It was a process that wasn’t achieved overnight by any means.
When Porter coach Tom Campos arrived at the school, he faced an uphill battle. The Cowboys’ football team was more accustomed to losing than winning, and the last postseason berth was more than a handful of years back.
It took a few years — a little over three — but Campos did what he set out to do, establish a new tradition and return Porter to the playoffs.
For his efforts this season, Campos has been named The Brownsville Herald’s 2015 All-Metro Coach of the Year.
“It’s humbling, especially after where we started three years ago,” he said. “It just goes to show you what consistency will do. It’s not just the head coach, it’s everyone throughout, the staff, the kids … it’s a good honor that I will share with everyone here.”
Led by the leading rusher in District 32-5A and the district’s offensive player of the year, Jorge Gutierrez, Porter went 6-5, including 4-3 in district this season.
Gutierrez finished with more than 2,300 yards on the ground and scored 27 touchdowns.
The Cowboys lost in the bi-district round to Edinburg Vela, which earned a trip to the regional quarterfinals this season.
Campos had to turn the program in the right direction, and he did that with honesty.
“I tell them every day I’m going to be honest with you, no matter if it’s good or bad,” he said. “It’s the honest truth, (I told them) exactly what my thoughts are after a game or practice. I believe in being transparent. I think the kids respect that.”
The Cowboys had been long stuck in a mentality that they were going to fail, but Campos turned those negative thoughts and actions into positive messages.
“The attitude has flipped,” Campos said of changing the culture and getting everyone else to buy in. “People started saying positive things again. Instead of talking about how long’s the losing streak, we’re going to start talking about how many times in the playoffs or how many we can win in a row. It’s a different approach now.”
But the Porter coach doesn’t want this year’s playoff run to be, as he called it, ‘a one-hit wonder.’ Campos wants to prove that Porter has established the program, not to be satisfied with one good season.
“Going forward, we want to prove we’ve built something here at Porter,” he said. “To see it come full circle, that’s what we want to do. The conveyor belt of success going through and through.”
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.