MISSION — Danny Longoria, a long-time assistant coach with numerous stops across the Rio Grande Valley, has been tapped as the next head football coach and athletic coordinator at Mission High.
Longoria, who reached out to The Monitor to confirm the development Wednesday evening, has served as the Eagles’ special teams coordinator for the last five seasons and was promoted to the position during a Mission CISD board meeting Wednesday.
He takes over for former Mission High star quarterback and head coach Koy Detmer, who accepted the same post at Somerset High School near San Antonio on Jan. 11.
“I want to thank the Lord for keeping us here during this tumultuous time. It’s been rough and I want to thank my family — my wife, my kiddos, my brothers and my sister,” Longoria said. “It humbles me to be given an opportunity to be a head coach. To me, the big thing was that I was embraced by the Mission community. For them to give me the opportunity is such a blessing and an honor. I’m very humbled that they took a chance on me.”
Longoria hails from a football family with three brothers who also coach throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
A Hidalgo alumnus, Longoria got his start in coaching as the Pirates’ track coach before eventually becoming an assistant coach on the gridiron.
He made football coaching stops at Hidalgo, Progreso and La Joya High before accepting a role at Rio Grande City in 2008 as the Rattlers’ girls strength and conditioning coach, the girls track and field coach and an offensive assistant for RGC’s football program.
He then made the jump to Mission High with Detmer, who saw value in Longoria’s experience as a strength and conditioning and track coach, in 2016 and has been coaching the Eagles ever since.
This will mark Longoria’s first football head-coaching position, an opportunity he thanked both Mission CISD and Detmer for affording him.
“I wouldn’t be here if Coach Detmer would have never given me the opportunity to come on board,” he said. “Both of us clicked when we started working together. We worked hand-in-hand and the rest of the coordinators have been there too. I think we’ve done a good job of getting these kids prepared and working hard and developing athletes here at Mission.”
Longoria also said he’s excited to take over an Eagles program that’s been steadily on the rise for several seasons now with three consecutive trips to the Class 6A state playoffs and continue to build upon what the program has been able to accomplish since the beginning of Detmer’s tenure.
“I want to continue what we started when Coach Detmer came in. The program did really change and I felt that I was a big part of that,” Longoria said. “I think the big thing is the continuation of building kids and creating a good culture and a positive environment for our kids. We want to continue the education process of kids through athletics (too). That’s a big thing to me. … We’ve done a great job of establishing ourselves as a good football program, but we’ve got to continue to take it to the next level and continue winning games, but also take it to the next level in the classroom with the kids. That’s going to be a big focus for us.”
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
