The Hispanic Texas High School Football Coaches Association continues to make inroads as it celebrates the growing influence of the  Hispanic coaching community in Texas.

The organization was initially started during the pandemic in 2020 by a group of coaches who thought other Hispanic coaches across Texas could benefit from learning how they advanced in the workplace. 

They were right. The organization has ballooned to well over 1,000 members with upwards of 75 new members joining each month.

It’s been an encouraging sight for Armando Jacinto, President of the HTHFBCA.

“I speak for myself, but it’s kind of prevalent amongst our organization and amongst our Hispanic ethnicity coaches that some of those jobs in the past, we wouldn’t even apply because of our name, because of our ethnicity,” he said. “Even though we felt qualified and would be qualified, we meet all the criteria, we felt we wouldn’t even get an interview.”Jacinto, who currently serves as Spring ISD’s athletic director, went to 25 job interviews before becoming a head coach. By and large, current coaches aren’t having to do that. 

“I saw the need where we could help them and get them where they don’t have to go to 25,” Jacinto said. “Now, we’re not just getting interviews, but we are acquiring these jobs. In the past, we wouldn’t even apply, much less get the job, so I know we made some inroads there.”

Pasadena Rayburn head coach Sergio Gonzalez found his way in to coaching after two years of business in college and being around La Porte’s program. 

La Porte defensive coordinator Dustin McGee said he should come out and watch one of their practices. From there, Gonzalez found himself hanging out with the coaches, and soon enough, he was filming their games. 

“For me, I would always hear the ‘Hey, we need to get a guy like you in here to help recruit the hallways; we’ve got too many Hispanic kids walking around,’” said Gonzalez, who serves as the HTHFBCA’s Director of Public Relations. “So at times, I would feel like, ‘Do you want me for me? Or do you want me just because I happen to be Hispanic.’”

When Gonzalez was a younger coach, those kinds of comments rubbed him the wrong way. But as he matured, gained more knowledge and even spoke to some of those guys, he realized they didn’t know they were being offensive about it.

“I’ll tell them, you know, you don’t want somebody to ever feel like you’re hiring them to meet a quota or help with the small demographic of kids in the hallways,” he said, “You want people to feel like they're hired off of their own merit.” 

Now, Gonzalez has noticed that more Hispanic coaches are assistant head coaches, head coaches, or coordinators at larger programs that, in the past, a person would not typically see.

“The growth has been amazing,” Gonzalez said. “I think we’re bringing to light that we have a lot of qualified coaches in our profession.

“This is something that means a lot to people, and the fact that you get spotlighted for just little things that you do, you know, it goes a long way. This profession at times can be a thankless job, you know, the thanks you get will probably be ten years down the road, when a kid comes back and says you changed their life, you change the trajectory of their life.”

The association helps prepare its coaches through Zoom clinics and promotes jobs on the website job dashboard. The association also has a “toolbox” drop-down section on its site, where members can look at articles and playbooks. 

In the future, the HTHFBCA would like to host a satellite clinic in metropolitan areas like San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. The association is also in the works of starting to structure a mentor program. 

The Hispanic TXHSFB Association is free to join and open to all coaches. Those interested in becoming a member can register here.