By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Tony Villarreal III is one of the winningest football coaches in the Rio Grande Valley with 197 victories.
He’s also one of the most colorful.
“I guess you could say that’s accurate,” Villarreal said. “At the end of the day, football is a game, and I always wanted to make it fun. You think outside the box. I admired Muhammad Ali and what he had to say in his interviews. Regardless of whether I was colorful or not, I always wanted to do things right.”
One of Villarreal’s most memorable comments was made about a decade ago while he was the head coach at Weslaco High and coached such standout players as running back Mishak Rivas.
The coach was once asked about his squad after a particular game and said, “We were running the ‘Macarena’ offense and the ‘Chupacabra’ defense.”
He later explained it wasn’t meant to be all that flattering about his team’s play.
“It was the ‘Macarena’ offense because there was a lot of movement, but we weren’t really going anywhere, and it was the ‘Chupacabra’ defense because we just kept disappearing,” Villarreal said.
Villarreal, along with nine other inductees, will be enshrined in the RGV Sports Hall of Fame at the organization’s 31st annual banquet next Saturday at Boggus Ford Events Center in Pharr.
The event begins with an informal reception for the inductees at 4 p.m. followed by a catered meal at 5 p.m. and the program at 6 p.m. Banquet tickets may be purchased through Wednesday by calling (956) 624-5241.
The 2018 honorees, listed along with their hometowns or the city of their accomplishments, include Villarreal of Brownsville, Steve Alaniz of Edinburg, Roland Ingram of Harlingen, Kim Edquist of Los Fresnos, Phil Danaher of Calallen, Rose Marie Lefner White of Lyford, Becky Dube Thomas of McAllen and Sammy Montalvo of Brownsville. Also, to be inducted posthumously are Joe Mancha of McAllen and John Tripson of Mission.
Villarreal spent 27 years as a head coach and 36 years overall (1980-2016) in the coaching profession. He also coached baseball early in his career.
His time as a head football coach was spent at Port Isabel (1990-95), PSJA North (1996-97), Hanna (1998-2004) and Weslaco High (2005-2016). Other coaching stints in sub-varsity/varsity assistant roles dating back to the 1980s included Port Isabel, PSJA High, Alice and McAllen High.
Overall, as a head coach, Villarreal’s varsity football teams captured 11 district titles and went to the playoffs 22 times. He took football teams to the postseason at every one of his head coaching stops.
Villarreal said at Weslaco High he used to have his players go for “job interviews” before the season began, so they could get a taste of what things would be like in the real world. Each player was required to dress up in a shirt and tie and go for an interview before Villarreal, the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator.
At the interview, each player would answer questions about his position and talk about why he was the best choice for the “job.”
Villarreal won four district titles (2010, 2011, 2014, 2015) coaching the Panthers.
Earlier in his coaching career, while the head coach at PSJA North in 1997, Villarreal’s Raiders prepared to face McAllen Rowe for the District 31-5A championship. Both teams were undefeated and among the best in the Valley that season.
Villarreal wanted to motivate his squad, so he bought some green fishnet practice jerseys and wore one to his team’s Saturday morning workout the week before the Rowe game. The jerseys were used by the scout team later that week in practices.
Green was Rowe’s school color and the PSJA North players did not like seeing their coach in their upcoming opponent’s green jersey one bit, but Villarreal’s unpopular fashion choice brought about the desired result in the District 31-5A showdown.
“It bothered them to see me in that jersey,” Villarreal said. “It really fired them up. We beat Rowe 12-7 in like the seventh game of the season and went on to win the school’s first district championship (in football).”
As a coach, Villarreal said he has always considered himself primarily a teacher. His last season as a head coach was at Weslaco High in 2016 when the Panthers went 5-5. He was a consultant for the La Joya High football program last fall.
Villarreal’s overall career record as a head football coach is 197-107-4.
“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being a teacher,” he said. “You can yell and scream, hoop and holler, but at the end of the day, what makes a successful teacher or coach is the fact that you have a good grasp of your material or information that you want to impart.
“I think you have to go beyond the numbers and understand in a deep way the concept or initiative you’re teaching,” he added. “For us (as coaches), we had to have anunderstanding of what made a certain play work and why. And another thing isyou can be (New England Patriots coach) Bill Belichick, but if the players don’t like you, you’re not going to get past first base, so you have to understand the kids, too.”
One of the best coaching jobs of any Valley coach as far as preparation and motivation was accomplished by Villarreal in 1994 at Port Isabel. He guided the Tarpons to a 13-1-1 record and a trip to the Class 3A semifinals.
Along the way, the Tarpons tied Cuero, the top-ranked 3A team in the state, 20-20 and advanced on penetrations 5-3 at a time before overtime. It was a monumental third-round playoff “win” at Texas A&M-Kingsville considering Cuero had routed Port Isabel 63-8 the previous season at the University of Texas-Austin.
Earlier that summer in 1994, Villarreal had subscribed to the Cuero newspaper and soon became well-informed about the Gobblers’ tendencies from reading the stories in the paper. When Port Isabel drove down the field and scored to make it 20-18 in the final minutes, Villarreal knew the Gobblers’ defense was aggressive and quick-reacting. It would take something special to score the two-point conversion and earn the tie.
He had his team snap the ball for the conversion on a staggered count and go on the fourth “hut” instead of the second. The Gobblers reacted to the second “hut” and were just settling back into their stances when the ball was snapped and given to fullback Jesus “Beta” Ramirez on an off-tackle play to the right side of the line. He went in easily and the Tarpons made it 20-20 and held on to pull off the upset.
“Even before the season I knew we would play Cuero again,” Villarreal said. “That was a pretty satisfying win. Back then there was no way to scout your opponent on the internet and do things like that. The articles in the Cuero newspaper were very descriptive and it really helped.
“Cuero was so dominant defensively and they were such a strong team,” he added. “But we realized they hadn’t played a full four quarters because they were almost always ahead by 40 points or so at halftime. If we could just stay in the game through the fourth quarter, we had a chance. It was an amazing win and it was named (playoff) game of the year by Craig Way and Fox Sports (Southwest).”
Also, Villarreal was selected Texas’ 3A Coach of the Year in 1994 by Way and Fox Sports Southwest.
As his induction approaches, “Coach Tony” said there are many people to thank.
“I’m very grateful for this honor and the way everything has worked out,” said Villarreal, whose father, Tony Villarreal Jr., was inducted at last year’s banquet as a standout running back for Brownsville High in the 1950s. “It’s such a team effort. I believe it’s really a culmination of all the successes of the players, their parents and the coaches who have been with me plus my family and all the (school) administrators I’ve had. I appreciate everyone and I am thankful for them.
“Even to be considered (for induction) is amazing,” he added. “Yes, the wins were great, but even more, what I’m most proud of is all the kids we’ve sent on to college. Some of them never even played for me (as starters). I think it’s a combination of all the football successes we’ve had and the academic initiatives that were undertaken. It’s a celebration, actually.
“Assistant coaches (particularly) never get any recognition (but they deserve it). They should have their own hall of fame.”
One of those former assistants for Villarreal is Gabe Pena, now the head football coach/athletic coordinator at Edinburg Economedes. He was an assistant coach under Villarreal at Port Isabel and Weslaco High, serving as an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Pena said Villarreal has been a big influence in his coaching career.
“Tony truly used football as a vehicle to teach kids about life,” Pena said. “He did things the right way consistently and conscientiously day after day whether he was a Tarpon, (Eagle), Raider or Panther. I along with other (coaching) staff members witnessed ‘Coach Tony’ work his magic. (It was) his relentless pursuit of not only perfection, but of what was right.
“Tony was never one who needed to hear it, but I want to thank him for making my journey into coaching and athletic administration a great thing to be a part of,” Pena added. “Thank you, Tony.”
Over the years, Villarreal refined his coaching philosophy and style, which originally came from the “Slot-T” offense he learned under Bruce Bush at Alice in the early 1980s. Along with Bush sharing his football knowledge, Villarreal also credits school administrators Genaro Rodriguez of Port Isabel and Sharon Moore of Hanna among others for mentoring him and helping him learn how to guide and motivate his players and coaches.
He also said wife Arlene and son Anthony have been very influential in his success. Anthony is a dentist who is now setting up a practice in Edinburg.
Villarreal graduated from Hanna in 1976. He attended Texas Southmost College and was the leading batter for the baseball team as an outfielder in 1977 when the Scorpions made their only trip to the NJCAA World Series in Colorado in a bus borrowed from Coach Al Ogletree and Pan American University.
From TSC, Villarreal went on to SMU, where he received his degree in 1980. He made the dean’s list at both TSC and SMU.
Then it was time to coach football and learn from legendary coaches such as Bush, who is already in the RGV Sports Hall of Fame.
A two-time All-Valley Coach of the Year and a past president of the RGV Coaches Association (1995). Villarreal came to be known as a coach committed to excellence and doing the right thing.
“You have to win to make it work, right?” Villarreal said. “That’s the way things work. When you’re winning, you can set your standards for academics. You have to care about the kids all the time. That’s what makes it work. Being a teacher is the key to being successful and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess