Harlingen South head coach Dawn Engleman says that “JD Salinas is a great asset to girls basketball in the Valley.  He knows the game well and definitely deserves having his own program.”

Salinas is a native of Hebronville, Texas.

As a former assistant to Raquel Carmona I am torn by the announcement of her release from coaching duties.

Seven years ago she allowed me to get my feet wet in girls basketball.  I was a northerner; an outsider, and she took a chance on me.

I coached four years for coach Carmona from freshman girls to junior varsity.  Over those four years I saw the good and bad that comes with coaching. I never truly saw eye to eye with coach, but I knew my role as the good soldier.

While other programs were getting hand me down jerseys, Carmona’s teams were always the sharpest dressed, organized and the model of how to consolidate one message through all levels of the program.  As a coach, we were never short of shirts, shorts, or shoes.

She was the queen of head games, although sometimes those games were detrimental to the team, you can’t argue that it helped her reach the sweet 16 four times, and until this year she had made the playoffs every year.

She is not without controversy.  She has been suspended before, alienated players and coaches that did not buy into her philosophy of winning.  But what good coach hasn’t walked that grey area stepping onto the dark side at times?

She has made friends through the years with parents and players alike and also created enemies the same way.  She is the ultimate galvanizing force in Edinburg sports.  You either root for her or against her, seldom is their middle ground.

And through it all, coach Carmona endured and placed her legacy of winning as a beacon for future coaches in Edinburg.  She is the measuring stick of success for all programs, not just basketball.  While I can agree that a change had to be made, by no means am I happy to see her go.

Coach Dawn Engleman (Harlingen South) response to the release:

“I’m stunned at the release of Coach Carmona.  She is a great coach that has shown her love and passion for the sport for years.  She has been one of the leaders in our sport for years.  Coach Carmona has always gone above and beyond in trying to help her athletes, as well as athletes in other programs.”

Willy Brown (Brownsville Hanna) response:

“She is a very good coach. I would feel extremely good if she coached one of my three daughters.”