By Ramiro Paez

956sports.com

EDINBURG – Edinburg Vela coach Michael Salinas admits he really has no clue how the community is perceiving the new cat in town.

In Salinas’ defense, he has hardly even had the time to breathe, let alone inquire on a city’s perception of his SaberCats.

“I don’t really know what the response is,” Salinas said Tuesday afternoon. “I hope the product we put on the field and the way our young men handle themselves, not only in school but in the community, speaks for itself.”

That’s about much he knows.

The first-year head coach has spent every waking second building the foundation of a new program, which will make its debut on the football field on Aug. 31. In only 22 days, Salinas will have to assemble a varsity squad, install offensive and defensive schemes and prepare for live-game competition. More importantly, he will have to get his players to believe in the four football priorities written on pillars inside a hallway of the athletic facility: Faith, Family, Academics and Team.

It’s by no means been a walk in the park for Salinas since he was hired to take over Edinburg’s fourth Class 5A high school in January. Even the former Edinburg High School quarterback says people don’t really understand what it entails to build an effective and successful program, but that’s something he, along with his coaching staff, are embracing.

“It’s been an invaluable experience for me,” said Salinas, who brings a wealth of assistant coaching and recruiting experience from high school and collegiate levels in Texas. “It’s been a great opportunity.”

An opportunity at a school named after the late Valley coaching legend Robert Vela. To Salinas, it’ll be more than just representing the city of Edinburg when his players take the field for the first time at Cats Stadium later this month. It’ll be more about the meaning embedded within the four-letter last name.

“We’re an organization and a school that’s going to represent a name that impacted a lot of lives in this community,” Salinas said. “I didn’t have the chance to play for coach Vela, but I’ve known him for a long time, and I would always come through on my recruiting stops and visit with him. I got to share a lot of experience with him. It’s something we don’t take lightly.”

And that’s the exact attitude Salinas is trying to instill in his players, who showed up 180 strong earlier this week. He says the coaching staff won’t be able to fully evaluate each player until they put on the pads on Friday. But despite who makes the varsity roster, it’ll be a great learning curve for those players, who share the same enthusiasm as their new leader.

“It feels amazing to do something for the first time,” said senior center Michael Gomez, an Edinburg North transfer. “To go out there and give it our all with this team. The unity that we have, it’s a great feeling.”

Senior defensive tackle Frank Rodriguez echoed his teammate’s same sentiment and isn’t concerned with rivalries or anything else not directly related to the development of his team.

“We do us. We come, we work hard every practice and that’s how our players are,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not paying attention to (rivalries). We’re just doing what we need to do to get ready. We’re focused on Vela football.”

Sounds like Salinas can take at least one deep breath.