55 potential candidates apply for South coach

HARLINGEN — One week after it stopped advertising the job, the Harlingen school district  has released a list of 55 applicants for the Harlingen High School South athletic coordinator-football head coaching job that was vacated when Gilbert Leal was reassigned in late November.

The job was reposted on the school district’s website after the school board on Jan. 10 rejected Superintendent Steve Flores’ recommendation of interim coach Jim Morton.

The job posting closed Jan. 30.

(CLICK HERE to read list of coaching candidates.)

The South football program has been without a head football coach for more than four months.

Flores said a hiring committee will interview “3-4 candidates on Wednesday.”

Any applicant who was interviewed last month will not have another interview on Wednesday. Instead, the candidate’s first interview will be considered when the committee recommends possible finalists to Flores, he said.

“The committee does not select a finalist,” Flores said. “They recommend possible finalists and I make the final recommendation to the board.”

Flores said the committee could make its recommendations by Wednesday evening.

Those finalists would then be interviewed by Flores, athletic director Randy Cretors and South principal Joe Rodriguez, Flores said.

Flores would then make the final recommendation to the board at their meeting on Feb. 14, Flores said.

The list of “3-4 candidates” has not been provided by the school district.

Morton, who runs the Hawks offseason program, was one of several coaches who reapplied for the job.

During the first attempt to fill the position, the school district shortened a list of 49 applicants to 10. Of those 10, only four applied a second time.

Weslaco head coach Tony Villarreal; head coach Malcolm Keith Willis from Marlin, near Waco; and South Oak Cliff, near Dallas, offensive coordinator Hank Willis, have also reapplied.
Of the three coaches who were finalists last month, only Morton reapplied. Corpus Christi King head coach Albert Hesseltine is no longer an applicant.

Former East Texas Baptist assistant Joe Burke had reapplied but was named the new head coach at Bay City a few weeks ago.

“I like the fact that there is continued interest in the job,” Flores said.

The first request for the list of job applicants was made Jan. 30, with four written follow-up requests.

The school district supplied the information Monday, after a written fifth request.

Assistant Superintendent Rosalinda Vargas stated in an e-mail that the school district needed more time to provide the names of all the applicants for the coaching position.

Under the state open records law, public information requests must be fulfilled within 10 days only if the information requested is not readily available. Otherwise, it must be provided upon request.

Vargas stated Monday that the district can take up to 10 days before it provides the names of persons to be interviewed.

“The list for interviewees is not final,” Vargas stated in the e-mail. “It will not be final until the day of the interviews at which time it will be released.”

The South coach hiring committee includes: Cretors; Vargas; Rodriguez; Vivian Bauer, the principal at the new freshmen academy; Yolanda Castañeda, Harlingen South athletic secretary; Dalia Garcia, Coakley Middle School principal; Lupe Garza, Harlingen South volleyball head coach; Manny Olivo, Jefferson Elementary principal; and Art Cavazos, HCISD deputy superintendent.

Some notable new names include former La Villa head coach Gene Garza, former McAllen Rowe head coach Gary Lauer and Weslaco East offensive coordinator Michael Burget.

“Whoever gets hired needs to understand that all athletic programs, boys and girls, are important,” Flores said.