Texas high school football has its first female head coach

Daisy Garcia is the head coach at Runge High School, making her the first woman to lead a team in the history of Texas high school football.

Garcia is the Yellow Jackets' interim head coach, a fact she used to try to deflect the honor on Twitter. 

"As of right now I am just helping with all the behind the scenes stuff," she wrote. "We are still searching for and AD. I am the point of contact nothing official! Just want what is right for all of our athletes."

She replaces Stephen Davis, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in 2020 but resigned in May. He led Runge to a 5-4 record and a playoff appearance in his lone season at the helm. A town of just over 1,000 people located in between San Antonio and the Gulf Coast, the Yellow Jackets compete in Class 2A Division II, the smallest 11-man division in Texas.

Garcia joined the staff in 2020 after coaching basketball, volleyball and softball at three area high schools. 

“I always wanted to be a coach and always wanted to be a football coach and everybody thought I was crazy,” she told the Victoria Advocate last year. “I guess I talked a good game on my interview day and they were like, ‘OK, let’s give her a shot.’”

“The biggest thing is her prior experience,” Davis told the paper. “She’s never coached football before but she really fits right in with a bunch of men. She’s willing to learn. When she said she wanted to coach football, you’re not entirely 100 percent on that. A lot of people want to coach football until you have to do it for 50, 60, 70 hours a week and she is.”

Garcia coached running backs and linebackers while serving as head coach of the junior high team, leading them to their first victory in years, according to local observers. 

Runge opens its season next Friday at Flatonia.