Roland Gonzalez, left, shakes hands with Victoria Independent School District board members Lou Svetlik, center, and Michael DiSanto after the board approved the recommendation that he be hired as the new Victoria East High School head football coach. Gonzalez was coaching at Cy-Springs.
Facilities don't benefit new coach at Victoria East
Originally published January 19, 2012 at 11:42 p.m., updated January 20, 2012 at 12:30 a.m.
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Roland Gonzalez drove by the Victoria East campus on the way to Thursday night's meeting of the Victoria school district board of trustees.
But Gonzalez did not stop, and that could have been a blessing.
Gonzalez was named the head football coach and boys athletic coordinator at East by unanimous 7-0 vote of the board of trustees.
When he leaves Cypress Springs to assume his duties at East early in February, he will be greeted by talented athletes, a supportive principal, an enthusiastic fan base and a proactive booster club.
He'll also discover facilities that are not up to the standards of most successful Class 4A programs.
East has the athletes and the numbers, the most important ingredients in building a championship football program.
But giving players a chance to develop and reach their full potential requires unfettered access to the weight room and an adequate place to practice in inclement weather.
Football players at East and Victoria West are hindered in these areas.
Even members of the Victoria school district admit the applicant pool for the head coaching position at East was not as impressive as they would have desired.
This despite one district championship and two playoff appearances under previous coach Mickey Finley in the two years the school has been open.
Successful coaches want to go to programs where they have a chance to win, even if they have no intention of staying more than a few years.
A higher salary would have drawn more candidates. A bigger paycheck makes a coaching job more attractive.
But a salary in what Superintendent Bob Moore said is in the $80,000 range, should not be a major stumbling block.
The facilities are another matter. One coach called them some of the worst of any Class 4A program in the state. This is an exaggeration, but the coach has a point.
The Victoria school district has better facilities than Bay City had when it won its two football state championships, the last coming in 2000.
But Bay City has upgraded its facilities and programs that consistently compete for state titles give their players the tools necessary to compete at a high level when the talent isn't at its peak.
You don't have to go far to find an example. Refugio has an indoor facility that makes the weather a moot point. The Bobcats have been to the state semifinals in football the last three seasons and celebrated a state title last season.
Refugio had the talent to win a state title, but the school district did its part to put the players in the best position to succeed.
Gonzalez put a positive spin on the facilities after the board of trustees meeting.
"There's more than one way to skin a cat," he said. "You make up for deficiencies in one area in other areas. This program will be based on the principals of respect, discipline, commitment and work ethic."
Good intentions, but we know the expression the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Victoria school district teams have won state championships in basketball, baseball and golf.
But no Victoria school district football team has advanced past the semifinals and that happened once.
Gonzalez will be expected to have a successful football program.
The question remains what is the Victoria school district's definition of success.
Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361- 580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
Comments
Weddell88 says...
Finally someone calls out VISD, nice article and the truth.
January 20, 2012 at 10:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
xback27 says...
I heard a great High School Principal once say "Facilities and resources are a very good indicator of how committed a district and community are to their kids."
"You must show kids how much you care and in return they will care about what their doing."
I believe there is a lot of truth to this. Look at the very successful programs. They do not take shortcuts when it comes to facilities. They provide their students with every advantage possible to allow them to succeed. VISD can say they want to win, they can tell the public about the wonderful new buildings they just built, they can talk all day long about what they think they are, but at the end of the day they aren't even close. VISD has failed kids for quite some time now. The new high schools are an absolute joke when it comes to being considered properly built and adequately equipped schools. They don't even have enough locker rooms or practice space for the teams and organizations they already have. They have to bus kids to off site facilities just to practice. They even have to clear out the cafeteria on some occassions just to create adequate practice space. News Flash VISD: You can keep hoping for success, because it will not happen if things stay the way they are. This is just completely unacceptable. Awful.
January 20, 2012 at 10:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
okayyeahseriously says...
What should the parents do, to try and make VISD change? Or is that an impossibilty?
January 20, 2012 at 11:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Goinlong says...
Press the board! Demand excellence. E-mail, write, call, make an appointment to see Dr. Moore. It has to be an overwhelming amount of parents that are sick and tired of the sub standard ways that VISD goes about doing things. Vote!
January 20, 2012 at 5:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jasonbourne says...
Are we talking about the same Bay City team? Have you looked at their record since the 2004 season?
The 1983 Bay City team didn't need weights or a gym or a coach, they were giants that just went out and destroyed other teams. The 2000, 01, 02, 03 teams were speed and talent.and well coached. In the last 7 years Bay City has been what? 30 and 50 and in that time their playoff appearences haven't been hard to add up. I bet it's less than 3.
Yeah they got to the big dance and won it and I will definately be the first to congratulate them. But was it the equipment or weight rooms that got them there?
Refugio has been winning since helmets were leather and if you had shown them a weight room they would have laughed at you. They could win without fancy.
Anyone that says we have the worst 4A facility in the state obviously hasn't traveled very far and I say don't let the door hit you in the ars on the way out. You aren't welcome here.
You want to blame the equipment and I think you are wrong.
What is successful? Making the playoffs? Heck 50% of the teams that make the playoffs have no business being there.
The sooner people realize we aren't Euless Trinity, Southlake Carrol, or Lake Travis the better off they will be. It's ok to want to get there but good things come with time, not overnight.
Lake Travis went 15 years getting their butts kicked by everyone.
The best thing we've seen around here is 4A is Calallen and El Campo. That is a picture of consistancy.
Foreman, did you watch any of those state championship games? Have you seen the size of the players Cedar Park has been putting on the field?
That stuff don't happen overnight and while I agree the facilities may help they are the absolute cure.
January 20, 2012 at 8:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
xback27 says...
@jasonbourne, the size of players in Cedar Park didn't happen overnight either. That's just genetics my friend. Probably not going to happen on a real consistent basis in these neck of the woods. Just sayin. Also, if things don't happen over night, then give me a good estimate on when VISD will consistently put winners out on the field? When I say winners I'm not talking about State Championship after State Championship. Just talking about 3 to 4 rounds deep. A consistent threat to win it all, much like Calallen is for the most part.
January 20, 2012 at 11:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mikeforman says...
I covered the 2000 Bay City team that won the state champions hip. You're right, it was an extremely talented team. That team beat Memorial 14-7 earlier in the year and the difference was a punt return for a touchdown by Byron Jones. Memorial played with the Blackcats and it couldn't have done that without talent.
You spoke of Refugio. I said it had talent. But don't underestimate the importance of the indoor facility. When the weather was bad, as it often is during the playoffs, Refugio was having a regular practice while other teams were trying to do what they could in a cramped gym.
When I covered Refugio's state championship game, I also watched Wimberley and Lake Travis play. Their players were not born looking like they are now. They got there through hard work.
Talent, good coaching, and good fortune are the most important ingredients to making a deep playoff run. But having good facilities helps. That's my point.
January 21, 2012 at 3:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hourglass says...
Good article Forman but this should of been written a few years ago when the schools were being built, if you looked at the plans you could see it then. The artidle could be titled "Facilities Dont't Benefit Students". Xback said it best "The new high schools are an absolute joke when it comes to being considered properly built and adequately equipped schools". It is not just the sport facilities but a lot of the school is not up to par. I know this is a sports column so I'll stick to that.
If you really want to be of help, take your pen, paper, and camera and go to East or West and document what is happening during athletic periods on bad weather days. Here are a few of the things you might see happening inside the school while classes are going on: hallways and stair wells being used by a sports team for conditioning, weightroom over crowded with football players, gyms full of other sports players trying to get their work in. If your child has a PE class during an athletic period good luck on them having any physicl activity on any day muchless a bad weather day. I could sit here and go on and on but I think you get the picture.
Yes each one of us could call Moore or a board member but Forman, you have the power to reach a lot of people through the press. Now open some eyes and put some substance behind your article and follow up this one with some pictures and interviews. It would benefit not just football but all the students. You started the ball rolling just follow through with it. Maybe we will find out who really cares. Thanks for writing your column.
January 21, 2012 at 8:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SergeantJiggler says...
Goliad has a great new facility. Not familiar with Calhoun's facilities.
You could say the same for the UHV program here, they are using sub-par facilities.
Maybe it's just the mindset of the "leaders" of education in this town. As long as the facade looks good we have them all fooled.
I agree with the xback27's earlier post, it's not just athletic facilities that are lacking in this town, but that is for another story.
January 21, 2012 at 12:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
xback27 says...
@Mr. Foreman, I appreciate the insight. I agree with hourglass though. A follow up story would be terrific. For nothing more than possibly motivating the board and those administrators that make these types of decisions. VISD has run out of excuses. When you don't build High Schools to reflect and support "general high school activities" well then like the old saying goes........Houston you have a problem! I'm not even talking about indoor practice facilities or mega weight rooms. I'm merely suggesting just enough lockers and locker room space, and adequate gymnasium space. A real novel concept. Possibly a field house, bigger weight rooms. Enough space for the dance teams (which is a joke), cheerleader lockers, PE classroom space with enough locker space for those kids who must take PE, rather than participate in athletics? Mr. Foreman has anyone ever explained to you why they were unable or refused to do this? Especially the Cheerleader situation? What's up with that? No lockers, no dedicated area, not even a closet? Did the new High School's administration not expect to have cheerleading? Why are there only a handful of lockers for the dance team members? Did they not expect that a 100 girls might be on the dance teams? VISD needs to be called out for nothing more than getting people off their butts to rectify these problems. It's for KIDS and for the community!
@Sgt. Jiggler agreed! Not sure about Calhoun, but the new facility in Goliad is UNBELIEVABLE! We have two sets of very close friends who live in Victoria that send their kids to Goliad. One of which has a son who is an excellent baseball player and very good athlete, and I think he plays football as well. He plays on travel teams and in the Houston area. He "should" eventually go to West. It's a shame we are losing good kids like this to Goliad. My wife's very good friend also has a son who is a terrific athlete who also would go to West however he's at Goliad, and yes plays football. The starting Varsity QB at Goliad is also from VISD and he's only a Sophomore. Build it and they will come!
January 22, 2012 at 10:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weddell88 says...
I have heard that the East Football booster club looked into raising money to improve facilities and the school board shut them down. From what I have heard the reason was that they will not let one school have something the other doesn't. Mike maybe you should investigate that.......
January 22, 2012 at 3:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SergeantJiggler says...
Yet the district builds a pool that is used by relatively very few students compared to more gym space and knowing what a backyard pool costs to operate I can only imagine what a money pit that is for VISD, despite how nice it is.
Was the pool part of the original bond plans or was it added after it was passed? What ever happened to the competition gym that was supposed to be built at the old MHS campus?
January 22, 2012 at 6:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jasonbourne says...
@Weddell88
I think what you are referring to is the Easts attempt to get a local car dealership to come on their campus and promote vehicle sales by allowing test drives there. I probably have this brief description a little wrong but that's the jist of it.
Anyway the school board did stop the activity but despite the whinings of a few folks it had nothing to do with one school getting something and the other not. it had everything to do with looking like a big money deal to benefit one school and not VISD as a whole. The truth is VISD doesn't allow a company or school to make those kinds of decisions.
I think VISD stated the auto dealer was welcome to discuss a program like that with VISD School board representatives.
January 22, 2012 at 8:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weddell88 says...
I am aware of the car dealership fund raiser that VISD shutdown, but from what I understand there was a directive from the board on raising funds for facility improvements for one side and not the other ..... anyone out there with any details on this?
January 22, 2012 at 10:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
d6975 says...
Wow, definately the buddy system here. Not by previous success. It's like, "hey bud, you need a job? Sure, but I don't know how to win.... Who cares, come on down."
January 23, 2012 at 3:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
aironeout says...
I all boils down to POOR planning the VISD administration and Board of Trustees. Two new schools that were inadequately built and are already at almost full capacity. You can't tell me that they didn't know anything about the Caterpillar plant coming in and the Eagle Ford Shale activity. Both of these will definately bring new families to the area thus creating a need for bigger facilities. Mr. Moore and his "equality" vision is a complete farce and a disservice to the students, and can never be accomplished. He reminds me more of a politician than an educator. The $19,000,000 spent on the Fine Arts Center and Aquatics center is a complete misappropriation of funds. $68,500 for a reconditioned Steinway Grand Piano is absurd.
January 24, 2012 at 10:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )