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A New Era: Hays Hawks welcome new football coach

On Jan. 22, the head football coaching vacancy for Hays High School was officially filled when it was announced that Mark Torres, former Pebble Hills High School head coach, would take the position. Then, on Feb. 9, Torres arrived at Hays High School and kickstarted a new era of Hays athletics. With the arrival of Coach Torres, that begs the question: what should the people of Hays expect from their new coach?
A New Era: Hays Hawks welcome new football coach
013124 mark torres

Author: Mark Torres

BUDA — On Jan. 22, the head football coaching vacancy for Hays High School was officially filled when it was announced that Mark Torres, former Pebble Hills High School head coach, would take the position. Then, on Feb. 9, Torres arrived at Hays High School and kickstarted a new era of Hays athletics. With the arrival of Coach Torres, that begs the question: what should the people of Hays expect from their new coach?

At Pebble Hills, Coach Torres was able to bring success to the program, leading it to multiple playoff appearances. The longtime coach at El Paso has also coached in many big time games, including those that would win district titles. With a coach that has experience in winning and being around top tier players and coaches, fans of the Hays Hawks can have optimism about the future of the program.

In an interview with the Hays High School media team, Coach Torres emphasized one word: culture. He stated that success starts with the culture of the whole athletic department. When discussing his new athletic director position at Hays, Torres described the athletics department at his past school as one unit; there weren’t coaches who specialized in only one sport and there wasn’t a single team that was seen as the “favorite.” In order to carry on the success Hays has seen in years past, the new head coach hopes to translate that same emphasis on building up a universal winning culture among every single player and sport.

Hays High School football has been historically known for running a “slot-T” offense. To keep it simple, the whole goal is to keep the ball away from the opposing team and wear them down by running the ball extensively and managing the time. While the former Pebble Hills coach isn’t against this style, where he coached before, he ran something different. Torres emphasized spreading the offense out, running a “spread” offense that had one goal, which was to get the best players the ball. These two offenses are very different schematically and come from two different eras of the sport.

While the “slot-T” was successful for Hays for a while, changes could very well be made in the near future regarding the primary offense that is brought out by Hays.

After spending nearly a decade at Pebble Hills and his whole life in El Paso, the newly appointed head coach made it very clear when talking to the Hays High School media team that he is very excited to get to know the students, as well as to get accustomed to the area.

Throughout the interview,  Torres repeatedly stated how excited he is to be here, as well as how great an opportunity the position at Hays is.

With the intent to keep what’s made Hays successful in the past, while also bringing over what allowed him to succeed in El Paso, Coach Torres brings an exciting new future for the school’s athletics.

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