After eight years as an assistant coach in the Houston area, Sergio Gonzalez earned his first head coaching job after he was named as the next head man at Houston Chavez on Tuesday afternoon.
Gonzalez most recently served as Pasadena Dobie’s offensive line coach this past season. He replaces Cory Jiles, who stepped down in late January after nine seasons at the helm. Jiles finished with a 30-56 record at Chavez, but he did take the Lobos to the playoffs in 2018 when they finished second in their district with a 6-5 record.
“Being named the head football coach at Chavez High School truly felt like a dream come true,”
Gonzalez said.
“I’ve known since my junior year of high school that I wanted to be a coach. It’s been a journey that has taken me different places, but I’ve learned from many great mentors.”
That journey has taken place almost exclusively in the Houston area. Gonzalez graduated from Galena Park High School, where he was a three-year letterman in football, before attending the University of Houston. While in college, La Porte High School defensive coordinator Dusty McGee, who Gonzalez played under at Galena Park, allowed him to film and volunteer with the La Porte varsity team.
With the experience of volunteering at La Porte under his belt, Gonzalez began his coaching career as a freshman coach at Mayde Creek in 2013. From there, he went on to serve at Houston Austin High School as the defensive coordinator during the 2015 season. He then spent two years each as the defensive line coach at Fort Bend Marshall and Katy Paetow before heading to Dobie this past season.
At Chavez, the Lobos have finished just one game out of the playoffs the last two seasons with defeats to Westside serving as the difference between fourth and fifth place in District 18-6A both years.
Gonzalez said that he believes the key to success at Chavez will be whether or not his team executes both on and off the field.
“Our goals at Chavez are to be a disciplined and sound football team,”
Gonzalez said.
“As a program, we [will] strive to create a standard of excellence on the field and in the classroom. I believe that if you take care of business in the classroom, you create opportunities for yourself on the athletics side.”
On the field, Gonzalez will have explosive running back and slot receiver Banister Shallow, who earned second team all-district honors after a breakout sophomore year, at his disposal. On defense, the secondary also has plenty of talent as all-district selections Don’Tral James and Dalton Green, 54 tackles and an interception a year ago, are back for their senior years.
As Gonzalez embarks on his first head coaching job, he doesn’t have a set number of wins in his mind as a goal. Instead, he believes that if the Lobos play up to their potential every game, the results will take care of themselves.
“Chavez is a unique place with talented young men and women,”
Gonzalez said.
“We plan to fight for playoffs every year and will work to hit our stride once district begins. The goal is to give our best, game in and game out, which will lead to positive results.”
