The Coronado coaching connection that’s putting passion back into the program

EL PASO, Texas -- The Coronado Thunderbirds season and the first of the Coach Pry era came to an end on Friday with a 41-35 win over Montwood.

That win saw them finish 3-7 on the season, which is the first time they've secured three wins in a season since 2018.

While it wasn't enough to see them make a playoff birth this season, there's no question the program is trending in the right direction with Mike Pry at the helm. In large part because of another coach.

Juan Orozco was the offensive coordinator of the Thunderbirds on and off for more than 20 years between the the 1980s and early 2000s and during that time he coached Pry.

"If you think about the thousands of kids he's affected in his career, not hundreds but thousands it's astonishing and a lot of people wouldn't be in the places they are if it weren't for Coach Orozco," Pry said.

The now head coach of the Thunderbirds includes himself in that long list of people.

"As kids you learn so much by imitating and watching your parents and as a kid I would watch some of the best role models you could ask for in the coaches at Coronado," Pry said.

Pry is just the fourth head coach of Coronado football since 1965 and while this is only his first season at the helm, it seems like it was always a perfect fit.

"It doesn't surprise me, he's always been a character guy and he does things right and that's the most important thing," Orozco said.

After Pry graduated from Coronado he went on to play at UTEP, before moving out of town and getting out of football all together.

"One day the light kind of went on and it was like hey what am I doing with myself? I was like I'm making good money but I'm not doing anything for anyone else so that's when I decided to move back to El Paso and get into coaching," Pry said. "It's been a dream of mine since to coach here at Coronado because of these coaches." 

And he gets to do it with Coach Orozco by his side, well just a field away as he is now the baseball coach at Coronado.

"It's kind of like a little kid that has his blankie, because he's my safety blanket," Pry said. "I'll ask him questions everyday, coach how do I do this? how do I do that? and he'll come in and say good luck tonight, here's what to watch for. He never stops coaching." 

"I just hope that these kids do well in life and you know he's done really well for us and for himself and for Coronado High School," Orozco said.