De La Garza named Jaguars’ boys basketball head coach
BY BRYAN RAMOS
STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Edinburg Economedes will have a new face leading its boys basketball program after Romeo De La Garza, a 1989 graduate of Mission High and longtime coach, was named the team’s head coach in late May.
De La Garza, who is entering his 29th year teaching and coaching and 20th as a boys basketball head coach, played basketball for Texas Pan-American from 1991-1993.
The Economedes boys basketball head coaching position opened last month after former head coach Carlos Ramos took the same position at Edinburg North.
De La Garza previously served as head coach at Edinburg North during the late ’90s and early 2000s before returning to his hometown of Mission in 2002 to become the first head coach at Mission Veterans until 2018. After a four-year stint as an assistant coach at PSJA North, De La Garza is back at the helm of a program as the Jaguars’ head coach.
“I waited patiently for the right opportunity,” De La Garza said. “Edinburg, back when I was there for five years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, they treated me great. It’s a community that makes you feel like family and a school district that does the same. To have the opportunity to go back and be the head coach at Economedes is something I’m really excited about.”
While at PSJA North, De La Garza helped the Raiders reach the playoffs in three of their past four seasons. He’ll take over a Jaguars basketball program that has qualified for the playoffs in four of its past five seasons, but returns just one varsity player next season after graduating 10 seniors.
“They’ve had some success but lost a lot of players from that particular team. We’re going to be starting fresh,” De La Garza said. “We’ll have one returning player, Sebastian Lopez, with varsity experience. Then we got a group of young kids that played sub-varsity that I’m excited about. Of course, I”m looking forward to coaching my son, who will be coming with me from PSJA North. I’m excited to continue to build the program and look to get it to another level.”
De La Garza’s son, sophomore guard Nathaniel De La Garza, also will be joining the Jaguars program. He averaged 7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 29 games as a freshman with PSJA North.
“(Taking the program to another level has) always been my goal as a head coach and I’ve been fortunate wherever I’ve been, I’ve been successful, and of course it’s a tribute to the young men in the program and it’s a tribute to them buying into the philosophy and the system,” he said. “That’s my plan for Economedes. I take a lot of pride in the job I do. I’m a student of the game and always looking to get better. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I still have that enthusiasm to help kids reach a level they don’t think they’re able to reach and give them everything I’ve learned as a coach and as a player.”
