RH's Coach Cavazos Hired @ PSJA Mem. [Archive]

Johnny 5

02-13-2008, 08:35 AM

PSJA North, PSJA Memorial name new coaches

The Monitor

Feb 12, 2008 7:32 pm

PSJA North hired veteran coach Bruce Bush to fill its vacant head football coach position, and PSJA Memorial tabbed former Rio Hondo coach Gus Cavazos as its new head football coach. The announcements came at the PSJA ISD school board meeting Tuesday night.

Bush, 59, was out of football last season but coached part-time at George West in 2006 after retiring from coaching following the 2005 season. Bush, who counts PSJA High and Donna among his stops, has compiled a 233-94-8 coaching record.

Cavazos was 34-9 at Rio Hondo and led the Bobcats to the District 32-3A title in 2007 and an 11-1 record and 27-2 the last three years.

footballgal

02-13-2008, 04:49 PM

http://www.rgvsports.com/sports/cavazos_1532___article.xml/psja_rio.html

Rio Hondo coach headed to PSJA Memorial
Cavazos ends successful stint with Bobcats
By ARMANDO GARZA | Valley Morning Star

Feb 12, 2008 11:23 pm

PHARR — At the rate Gus Cavazos’ teams were winning games, it was bound to happen sometime.
And that time is now.
With a successful run at Rio Hondo cementing his status as a hot coaching commodity, Cavazos was hired Tuesday night as the new head football coach/athletic coordinator at PSJA Memorial.
Rio Hondo was the first varsity head coaching job for Cavazos, who is now the third coach in Memorial’s history, and the decision to leave the Bobcats was not made overnight.
“I put a lot of thought into it,” Cavazos said. “On one hand it was an easy choice because of the challenge football-wise (at PSJA Memorial) and the chance to create another program.
“But it’s extremely difficult to leave my boys at Rio Hondo behind,” he continued. “I want to thank the community, the administration, the coaching staff and most importantly the athletes at Rio Hondo for the past five years. They’ll always be a part of my life.”
Cavazos replaces Joe Sanchez, who was recently hired at Mission CISD as its athletic director.
Cavazos coached the Bobcats from 2004-2007 and compiled a 34-10 overall record, including two District 32-3A championships, and playoff wins in ’06 and ’07. Rio Hondo took the district title last season en route to a second consecutive berth in the Class 3A area round playoffs.
The Harlingen native arrived at Rio Hondo in 2003 as the defensive coordinator under former coach David Robledo, whom he succeeded as head coach the next season.
Cavazos is part of a new-look PSJA coaching circle, where veteran coach Bruce Bush (former coach at Alice, PSJA, Gregory-Portland, Donna and San Marcos) was hired at PSJA North also at Tuesday night’s PSJA board meeting. Bush replaces Orlando Garcia, who is now the athletic director for PSJA ISD.
Under Cavazos, Rio Hondo won its first district title since the early 1970s in 2005 and won a school-record 11 games last season, including a 10-0 regular season mark. Over the past two seasons, the Bobcats went 21-3.
Statistically, the Bobcats led the Valley in yards and points allowed. They also had one of the area’s top scoring offenses in 2007 and started the year 11-0 after beating Lyford in bi-district.
Meanwhile, PSJA Memorial went 3-7 last season, including a 1-6 mark in District 31-5A. The Wolverines began play in 1997 in Class 4A and have only been to the postseason once.
That challenge with the Wolverines, not necessarily jumping to the 5A ranks, was the determining factor for Cavazos to take the job.
“The ‘As’ don’t matter. Football’s football,” Cavazos said. “It’s about the challenge.”
With the Wolverines, Cavazos said he is ready to bring the same winning tradition he developed at Rio Hondo to Alamo.
“My expectations will be extremely high,” he said. “We want the kids at PSJA Memorial to have the same success and the same sense of pride that we had at Rio Hondo. They need to want to win more for their teammates than themselves.”
Cavazos could be in Alamo as early as the end of this week and would begin the evaluation process soon thereafter.