TLU chooses proven winner to lead football team

It is no mystery that the football team at TLU needed something to reenergize them. With Danny Padron, they feel they've got a spark plug.

"Coach Padron and I have known each other for a long time. We coached together at Judson high school," said Bill Miller, director of athletics. "I know him and I know what he's about; whatever he say's, that's what he is. He verbalized very well what he wanted to do with this program and the principles he wanted to build them around."

Padron, a San Antonio native, spent almost 40 years coaching in the high school ranks. He has been a part of two state championship teams and was voted coach of the year by the San Antonio Express-News in 2003. At his previous job as head coach of Sandra Day O'Connor High School, Padron racked up seven straight playoff appearances and won district four out of his eight-year tenure.

Padron brings passion and experience to TLU, but he also acknowledges that this job has been a long time coming.

"It's a long process to break into the college ranks," said Padron. "It was one of my goals back in the seventies, and I thought I would never realize it. I was close a few times, but it never worked out. With TLU, I was close to Bill Miller, and after speaking to Ann Svennungsen, president, and hearing her vision and her mission, I knew I belonged here. It was the people at TLU who sold me on coming here."

Padron is also joined by his newly-hired staff, most notably Mark Reeve, defensive coordinator, was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007. His son, Andy Padron, will also come to TLU as a quarterback's coach and a recruiting coordinator.

With such an impressive resume comes high expectations and hope for an improvement from last season. Padron has his work cut out for him, inheriting a team that went 0-10 last season.

"The first thing we need to do is to get the guys to trust each other and the coaches," said Padron. "That comes with work and treating each other with respect. We need to find the good in all of our players and then we can be successful." He added, "We want the type of kid that wants a championship as bad as someone who wants air under water. We need to identify young men with good character, someone who is a good student and wants to win a championship."

As well as starting over on the field, Padron wants to make sure there are no off-the-field issues like the ones that plagued the football team last year.

"In this program, we want players to be clean-shaven and not have kids cussing," said Padron. "We want our team to represent the school in the right way and make sure that the coaches as well as the players follow family values and respect one another, as well as other teams."

Mike Slayden, sophomore kinesiology major, had a chance to play with Padron when he was a student at O'Connor and showed excitement to have his old coach back on the field.

"I think it's a great opportunity for our program to grow and become a dominant program. I think Coach Padron is the guy to get us there." He added that, "I played for him in high school and he was a great coach and we did great things. He never settled for anything but our best. I have no doubt in my mind that he'll do the same thing here at TLU.

Others on the team like Chris Reyna, sophomore kinesiology major, are excited to work with the new coach, anticipating a change in the team chemistry.

"He came from a winning program that went to the playoffs almost every year, which gives me confidence that he can help us win." He added, "We really need to establish discipline. There were a lot of guys last season who weren't playing for the team and out there just to get playing time, instead of trying to play together."

The job is nowhere near done, but this hire has given the team and it's fans a fresh start. The pieces are beginning to come together and the future looks bright. Padron seems to be the right man at the right time for this university, but only time will tell.