For those that haven’t heard, former La Joya coach Oscar Villasenor is back in coaching. Villasenor retired from the Coyotes after the 2007 season — actually, just before the end of the school year — and headed back closer to home. He ended up as an assistant this past year at Eagle Pass, but he made his return to the head coaching ranks Thursday.
Villasenor was introduced as the new Laredo LBJ coach, as it says here. He was one of 21 applicants for the job, and the full list can be found in this earlier story. As for my thoughts, I covered Oki’s La Joya team for three years. I’ve said numerous times, I always enjoyed going out to Coyote Stadium. It’s one of my favorite stadiums in the Valley. OK, I take that back. For Friday night football, it’s my favorite place to watch a game. But one of the big reasons for that was Oscar Villasenor. He always made it fun. He was welcoming to the media, when you told (or, in my case, wrote) it like it was he understood and he was and still is one of the good guys. Of course, he was replaced with this anti-media guy by the school board in mid-June.
So, with that, let’s welcome one of the good guys back to the top ranks of high school football. For those interested, here’s the final story I wrote on Villasenor, coming minutes after he announced his retirement from La Joya. And true to word, I was the first guy he called when it was official. Of course, I have no way to believing that. But from past dealings with Villasenor, I have no reason to believe he isn’t a man of his word.
Wade Baker, 30, is Sports Editor of The Monitor. He graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C. in 2000 with a degree in Mass Communications and moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 2002 for a sports reporter opening at The Monitor. Baker was promoted to his current position in August of 2007 after serving as assistant sports editor for two years. 
