Football is simply a way of life in the Lone Star State.

Need proof? Look no further than the Gomez brothers.

Juan, Luis, and Andres Gomez moved to Texas from Mexico in 1989 as young boys and quickly immersed themselves in a game that would shape the rest of their lives.

ANDRES

Andres, the youngest brother, has been the head football coach at Houston’s Northbrook High School since 2020. The path he’s walked to get to this point has been paved by perseverance.

Coming to the United States as a nine-year-old boy was just one event in Andres’ long list of circumstances.

“We didn’t really have a lot of friends. We always stuck together. We did many sports like little league soccer and baseball.” Andres said. “I had to communicate with other kids, so it forced me to figure it out.”

The language barrier forced Andres and his brothers to work through some tough conversations with their peers until communication became easy.

“It forced me to figure it out,” he said. “I believe this is where my perseverance comes from. In times of adversity, I take pride in being a problem solver.”

Those skills have aided him well in his coaching endeavors, which have included stops at the following Texas high schools: Chavez, Tomball, Aldine, Nimitz, Klein Oak, College Park, and Klein Cain.

His goal has always been to connect with athletes who need guidance.

“I try to develop relationships with them, so they can trust me in times of trouble,” Andres said. “I wasn’t the strongest when I played football, but I worked on my weaknesses so they could become strengths. I try to let my players know that you may not be genetically gifted, but if you work hard at what you do and continually grow yourself as a person, you’re gonna see results.

LUIS

Luis, just like Andres, fell in love with the game after seeing oldest brother Juan play.

“After that, I fell in love with the sport on my own,” said Luis, who is currently the defensive tackles football coach and assistant soccer coach at Brenham High School. “I loved the coaches and my teammates. I was never the biggest. I just loved being part of a team.” 

Also like Andres, coming to Texas from another country was a huge adjustment for Luis as a ten-year-old.

Much like his little brother, coming to Texas from another country was a huge adjustment for Luis, who was 10 when the Gomez’s made the move.

“It took me a while to learn English,” he said. “I was really shy and didn’t like talking to people because my English wasn’t as smooth as other kids.”

Although he had a hard time adapting in the beginning, Luis was able to persevere through his problems and he credits a lot of his tenacity to the sport of football. He hopes his student-athletes can glean some of that tenacity from him.

“I want to be a good role model for all of my players.” Luis said. “I try to teach them to be responsible and to work hard.” 

JUAN

When it comes to role models amongst the Gomez brothers, there’s no better example than older brother Juan.

He was the one that first started playing football a year after the transition north.

Juan started his coaching career in 2002 as an assistant softball and basketball coach at Anderson-Shiro and then in 2004 at Katy Morton Ranch High School as the girls’ softball and basketball coach. 

In 2020, he joined his younger brother Andres at Northbrook as an assistant coach for three years. 

“It’s no accident that even though Andres is the youngest, he was the first one of us to have his own program as a head coach,” Juan said. “Even though he’s my little brother, I’ve learned a lot from him.”

This year, Juan will be starting his first year as the quarterbacks coach at Fort Bend Travis High School where his goals aren’t simply confined to the gridiron.

“My priority has never been to prepare a kid to go to play college football.” Juan said. “My goal is always for them to be the best they can be. I want them to be men of integrity.

“I always tell my players to focus on the infinite goals and if you have an infinite mentality, those finite goals will come.”

Juan’s main goal in his career as a coach is to reunite with his brothers and be a part of the same staff.

“Hopefully we get to meet again, either on the same sideline or be across from each other on the field,” he said. That’s the ultimate goal.”

THE CORPS

The Gomez brothers attribute a lot of their fortitude and perseverance to their athletic upbringing and early experiences, but they also think their membership in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M has given them strength; the Corps of Cadets is a student-led military organization at Texas A&M, which is where all three brothers graduated from.

“The main lessons I learned from the Corps of Cadets were the importance of unity and relying on others to accomplish your goals as well as the value of paying attention to detail,” Andres said. “We trained to work as a team and to overcome obstacles by taking care of the finer points of any task.

Added Luis: "“The Corps was very instrumental in helping me become a leader. It helped me develop my voice as a leader by learning from others, leading by example, and developing others as leaders.”

For Juan, his time in the Corps of Cadets mirrored his brother's journey from Mexico to Texas.

“The most important lesson I learned was the unifying power of shared experience.” Juan said. “There is no better way to bring a group together than through overcoming adversity. I firmly believe that the strongest units are forged when its members have to rely on each other and help one another to overcome a challenge. Obviously as a coach, one of the foundational principles for success is team unity and my time in the Corps was pivotal in establishing that principle as one of my core coaching values.”