El Paso Bowie defensive coordinator Eric Pichardo has been hired as the next head coach at El Paso Austin. The move was first reported by Matt Stepp and confirmed by TexasHSFootball.com.
This will be the second coaching stint at Austin for Pichardo. He was on the same staff with current Bowie head coach Robert Padilla at Austin in 2000 and came over from Austin when Padilla was hired at Bowie in 2008.
Pichardo comes in trying to turn around an Austin program that has struggled in recent years, going 3-37 the last four seasons and on a 20-game losing streak.
This will be the first head coaching job for Pichardo and Padilla is excited for his now-former defensive coordinator saying, “I wish Coach Pichardo the best and will be cheering for them every week except one. I think Austin got the best coach possible to turn things around.”