Armando Jacinto kept getting shut down.
He prepared diligently for the interview process and was certainly qualified to become a Texas high school football head coach having gone from Waco University Middle School coach in 1986 to assistant head coach at University High School (2007) and eventually defensive coordinator at Austin Travis High.
A ‘no’ here or there would have been understandable.
“In some cases I may not have presented myself well,” Jacinto admitted.
But being shut down 24 times without getting an opportunity?
“I knew it wasn’t [because of my experience],” he said.
Jacinto eventually landed that head coaching gig after his 25th interview, becoming the head coach at Austin Travis in 2009. He’s spent the last six years as the assistant athletic director at Spring ISD.
In addition to his current role, Jacinto also serves as the president of the Hispanic Texas High School Football Coaches Association, an organization in its first year of existence which he hopes will keep coaches that look like him from having to experience as many tribulations as he once did.
“I would get feedback and they’d say, ‘Well, coach, you have great qualifications and a great plan to try to establish a program, but you’re just not a great fit for us,” he said. “One or two times, I get it. I understand. Maybe I wasn’t old enough or didn’t have the experience they were looking for. But after a while you could tell something wasn’t right.
“Maybe now [HTHSFBCA members] don’t have to go to 25 interviews.”
The organization was originally started by a group of coaches that thought Hispanic coaches around the state could benefit from a close-knit community of like-minded professionals looking to advance in the workplace.
The founding members include Sharpstown head coach Cirilo Ojeda, Falfurrias head coach Ruben Garcia, Pasadena Dobie assistant coach Sergio Gonzalez, Pearland Dawson defensive line coach Mike Garcia and Buda Hays wide receiver coach Issac Rodriquez.
“Those guys, to me, had a vision and now we have a group of 12 board members,” said North Garland head coach and athletic director Joe Castillo, who also serves as VP of the Hispanic TXHSFB Coaches Association. “We have a constitution, a purpose, a vision, core values, everything that is needed for an association.”
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