Jim Hite
Westlaco High School
What was your Best Rivalry?
Harlingen, Artesia, Alice
What was your Favorite Rivalry
San Benito
What was the best Coaching Staff you faced?
San Benito
What was your favorite Coaching Staff you faced?
Harlingen- Jessie Longhofer
What were the FIVE Best teams you coached?
Weslaco ‘91, Roswell Goddard ‘89, Roswell Goddard ‘88, Raymondville ‘98, Weslaco ‘92
What were your FIVE Favorite teams you coached?
Roswell High ‘86 (DC), Weslaco ‘91, Goddard ‘88 and ‘89, Raymondville ‘98
What awards have you won? (Coach of the year, Hall of Honor, etc.)
Coach of the Year ‘91 and ‘98 Man of the Year Willacy County ‘98
What was your Favorite Coaching Staff you NEVER (Coached Against)?
Edinburg High – Joe Vasquez
Name a storied program you never played & wanted to play against?
Odessa Permian
All Time Team while you were a Coach (1st Team at Every Position) You can have more than one at a Position if you choose.
Receivers – Chris Mann, Noe Serna, Leroy Zaller, Perry Wakefield, Jason Campos
RB – Adrian Gomez, Jimmy Garza-Gerow, Jaime Montemayor, Randy Cassen, Eric Tasby
QB – Sone Cavazos, Rollie Garza, Danny Vigil
TE – Americo Garza, Marco Mungia
OL – Jeff Lara, Ruben Bolanos, Sergio Martinez, Jonathan Austin, Travis Vaughan, Brent Jacques, Matt Flores, Jaime Ramirez
DT – Javier Saenz, Andres Garcia, Corey Magill
DE – A. C. Cuellar, Melvin Bedford, Israel Zamora
LB – Noe Zambrano, Lupie Leyba, Roy Montano, Otis Rodriguez
DB – Andrew Gonzalez, Brian Buffamonte, Peter Sanders, Desmond Ruffin, Dane Kyser
Could you have started or played on your All Time Team?
Good grief no.
Tell us about your sons or daughters that played or helped on your Teams.
None
Tell us about Your Coaching History
45 years total
42 high school 3 college 135 wins as HC 1 State Championship 2 Conference Championships 1 Semi-finalist 2 Area Championships 4 Bi-District Championships 2 All-Star teams
Play-off record – 11-7
Toughest thing about not Coaching once you left the sidelines?
The goal setting and the kids were gone.
Best thing about the School that made you want to stay there?
Weslaco – The players and coaches
Toughest thing you had to face or deal with at this school?
Political junk
Who was your mentor or mentors?
Jim Bradley
Why did you get into the coaching profession and who influenced that decision?
Nobody I knew in 1961 had their parents divorce. My high school coach was Jamie Wade. He was the last single wing tailback at Vanderbilt. Billy Wade was the first QB. He modeled the role, I just kind of followed that path.
Record as a Head Coach year by year & Playoff Round achieved?
I don’t remember all that. It’s mostly included here.
How many players did you coach that became coaches?
23
How many assistants did you have that became head coaches?
8
Biggest win of your career?
There were a lot of them. State Champs – Goddard 6 Lovington 0
Beating Artesia for the first time (21 Years) Goddard 42 Artesia 12
Weslaco 52 Harlingen 27
Raymondville winning first and second playoff games in school history.
Toughest loss of your career?
The Semi-final game in 1988. Ruidoso 24 Goddard 21 last play FG in the snow. We had beaten them by 32 points earlier.
Most exciting game to coach in?
I991 Harlingen game 1991 Donna game
When/How did you & Carl Padilla meet?
1991 at my hiring as head coach in Weslaco we spoke briefly. Superintendent told me I needed to get to know Carl when I got on the job. I did. There’s never been a bigger supporter of high school football anywhere I’ve been. 14 different schools
Any comments about the Padilla Poll or other stories that you might wish to share?
I was there at the start. Carl was MC at our QB luncheon on Mondays in Weslaco. He started the poll with just teams in and south of San Antonio. We’d have lunch and the program and at the end of my remarks, I would call on him to finish with The Padilla Poll.