Padilla returns to Holmes as its head coach
Pete Padilla returns to a familiar place with new role.
Harlan’s defensive coordinator was named the new head football coach at Holmes on Tuesday.
Padilla, 51, previously served as an assistant at Holmes for four years before heading to Harlan.
“That’s the place I wanted to be,” Padilla said. “Talk about hitting the lottery on that one.”
It’s the second head coaching job for Padilla, who led then newly opened Kennedy of Edgewood ISD
for two seasons in 1998-99. He was 2-18 in two years.
Padilla replaces Juan Morales, who in December was named the head football coach at Sotomayor, Northside ISD’S new high school set to open in the fall.
Morales coached Holmes for five years and nearly got the Huskies to the playoffs with a 5-5 record in 2021. Holmes had won four varsity games over the previous four years.
Padilla interviewed for the position at Holmes before it ultimately went to Morales.
Padilla has worked under Harlan head coach Eddie Salas since 2013. He was Salas’ defensive coordinator at Holmes from 2013 to 2016. He left with Salas to Harlan when the school opened in 2014 with a junior varsity program before becoming a varsity program the following year.
At Kennedy, Morales was Padilla’s offensive line coach.
From Kennedy, Padilla worked as an assistant at Boerne, Boerne Champion and Marshall for three years before joining Salas at Holmes in 2013.
After graduating from Burbank in 1988, Padilla played at Missouri Valley College, where he was teammate of current Judson coach Mark Soto.
Padilla then served as a graduate assistant at Northern State in South Dakota. He coached at a high school in Florida before he was hired as Kennedy head coach.
Padilla is happy to return to the head coaching ranks after more than 20 years.
“I’ve been very lucky and blessed,” Padilla said. “Being so young, I thought I knew everything, and then I realized I didn’t. That’s really helped me throughout my career because every new school I went into, I took that head coaching mentality into it. … I’m one of those guys, and I don’t want to say old school, but my mentality is that you just work and work and good things are going to happen.”
Padilla holds no bitterness about not getting the Holmes job before.
“The best thing to be honest with you is that when this position opened up the last time and I didn’t get it,” Padilla said. “Juan Morales got it and I’ve known him for 30 years. It made me a better coach and a better person and gave me the understanding that there was another level. I had to be to be a head coach.”
Padilla said he is looking forward to returning to Holmes. His previous stint there left a big impression.
“One of the administrators told me these kids are going to be loyal, just show them that you love them,” Padilla said. “And that’s what I did. I cared about them and I became personally invested in them.”