Athletics History 2 of 2

Laredo Morning Times | lmtonline.com | Sunday, May 10, 2020 | E3 50th Anniversary head coach Tarvish Felton (28-64), who coached all three years for the program in the NAIA. He is currently the assistant coach at Divi- sion I Fresno State. After that, the group had some serious bumps in the road as it broke into Divi- sion II. Curtis Condie helped the program recover from a four-win campaign as the team went 12-15 during the 2006-07 season, but he then left for DI Louisiana Tech. And Stephone Leary took over guiding the team to a 10-16 year in 2007-08 and a 9-18 season in 2008-09, but the latter was wiped out completely as the program had to forfeit its entire sea- son due to playing ineligible players. Fortunately at its low point, the school made a de- cision that turned around its next decade. TAMIU hired the duo of head coach Shane Rinner and associate coach Bryan Weakley as both came from Alaska Anchor- age. They took the team to 12 wins their first season be- fore guiding the program to a regular-season and tourna- ment title in 2010-11 and an- other regular-season cham- pionship in 2011-12 – with Rinner winning the Heart- land’s Coach of the Year in the latter. Rinner (54-33) moved on after his third year, and Weakley stepped in to be- come the winningest coach in program history over his next six years. Weakley (98- 76) went on to claim two more league titles of his own, giving him a hand in all five of the school’s cham- pionships in its history. “The TAMIU and the Laredo community helped change my life. They helped me grow up as a young in- experienced coach to a sea- soned one,” Weakley said. “The accomplishments that we achieved were very spe- cial because in the beginning as the associate head coach. I did it with one of my best all-time friends and mentors Shane Rinner. The champi- onship memories we shared together along with our great players were priceless and deeply meaningful.” Weakley stepped down prior to the 2018-19 cam- paign citing health concerns, and associate coach Joel Taylor took over. But Tay- lor’s squad went just 6-21, and after starting 2019-20 at 2-11, Taylor (8-32) was removed from the position. Assistant coach Jeremy Es- pinoza took over on an inter- im basis as the team finished the campaign losing 14 of 15 ending their worst season in history at 3-25. Those struggles led to the hiring of Ronnie “Mac” McConnell this offseason. He has nearly two decades of experience coaching with the past three seasons serv- ing as the associate head coach of fellow Lone Star opponent Tarleton State. Evan Matteson is the lone Dustdevil to win the Heart- land’s greatest individual honor as he took home the Player of the Year award in 2011-12. Jordan Clark earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2013- 14. Previous first-team All- Heartland Conference hon- orees included Will Faiivae in 2010-11, Matteson and Ryan McLucas in 2011-12, Matthew Culliver in 2013- 14, and Denzel Bellot in 2016-17. “Every coach knows it’s really the players that get it Courtesy of TAMIU The 2011-12 Heartland Conference Player of the Year Evan Matteson.