This school year, Akins welcomed three new coaches after recently saying goodbye to a few last year.

Akins football, softball, wrestling, and baseball teams have gained new coaches this year and the athletes as well as fans alike are hoping to see the new leadership take Akins to the top of the brackets.

With all of our football teams off to a strong start this year, players are excited about the new staff. Freshman player Trevein Shyne said assistant Coach Lonnie Teal, who is also an assistant wrestling coach, wants the team to be “motivated and tactical.”

“To be successful the players need to be disciplined,” Teal said. “The best teams are the most disciplined.”

Both players and coaches agree that everyone is focused on exercising the hard work necessary to be successful.

While the Akins football program hasn’t been particularly proud of previous performance statistics from years past, players and coaches have much more hope, believing that things are changing for the betterment of the team. Coaches are confident that the players have been making a positive and proactive change with the help of the new coaching staff.

Some new additions to the staff, like Eugene Salazar and Anthony Degelia, have also taken up the positions as assistant football coaches this year.

In addition to football, Salazar is the new head baseball coach at Akins. He brings years of experience to the program after coaching for six years at high schools and 11 years at the college level. Recently, he was the head baseball at Lockhart High School, where he had his best personal coaching record of 75-55. Before that he coached at Texas State University, St. Edward’s University, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and University of Texas Pan American.

“They are more focused and committed than other teams he has coached”, Salazar said.

Degelia also wears another hat as the new head softball coach. He previously coached at every level of softball, including Stony Point High School and also the hitting coach for the Texas Bombers. When he coached at Stony Point, the team made the playoffs every year, he said.

During his two years coaching at college level, Degelia made the playoffs every time doesn’t expect to change his coaching methods at Akins. “I like to motivate and push kids to succeed by teaching them to focus on their strengths,” Degelia said.

The softball team is currently at 2-1 in the fall. “They are all working very hard and doing exactly what we ask of them,” he said.