Villarreal returns to PI-ISD as new head coach, athletic director

By Gaige Davila
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com

Editor’s note: This article will be updated as more information becomes available. 

Tony Villarreal, who coached football at Port Isabel High School in the early 1990s, is returning to the school as the new athletic director and head football coach. 

Villarreal was elected unanimously by the Port Isabel Independent School District board members during a May 13 meeting, PI-ISD superintendent Theresa Capistran confirmed to the PRESS.  

In 1994, Villarreal, then the head coach, led the Tarpons to the State 3A Semifinals in 1994 against Sealy High School. He became head coach of PIHS’ football program in 1990. 

Villarreal has held head coaching positions and assistant coaching positions at PSJA North, Brownsville Hanna, Weslaco High, McAllen High, PSJA High and Port Isabel. Villarreal was inducted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. 

Villarreal had retired from coaching in 2016, according to a report by the McAllen Monitor, after coaching the Weslaco High School Panthers for 11 years.