The high school football season couldn’t start fast enough for Holy Cross coach Mike Harrison, who found himself “pulled in a lot of different ways” this summer as chairman of the TAPPS district committee reviewing the transfers of students to Cornerstone Christian.
Allegations that Cornerstone was violating TAPPS rules by recruiting athletes touched off a controversy that ended Aug. 21, when the private school announced it was withdrawing from TAPPS athletics.
The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools governs extracurricular activities for most of the private schools in the state.
Harrison said his role as chairman of the TAPPS Division II / District 4 Executive Committee for football took considerable time from his responsibilities as Holy Cross athletic director and head football coach.
“I felt like a lot of times my focus wasn’t where it needed to be,” Harrison said Thursday. “I feel like it was on trying to make sure we did everything right in regard to following the process (of reviewing transfers) that TAPPS had outlined. Unfortunately, I felt like that took away sometimes from my responsibilities here at Holy Cross.
“A lot of times I was worried about was I being fair to the kids, was I giving the kids everything I had? You feel conflicted. You feel like you’re pulled in a lot of different ways. I think a lot of times when people think that’s happening, you don’t really know if you’re doing everything in regard to your own program. We were really focused on doing things right in regard to the TAPPS process.”
The start of football season has helped give Harrison, 55, a sense of renewal and return to “normalcy” after months of poring over stacks of paperwork related to student transfers.
Holy Cross kicks off its season against Austin Hyde Park at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Wheatley Heights Stadium. To hear Harrison tell it, he’s never looked forward to a season opener as much as this one.
“Oh, man, it’s all right when everybody is playing football,” Harrison said, smiling. “The kickoff to the season is needed by every school. There’s something magical about the kickoff of the high school football season.
“It brings communities together. It’s such an exciting time to see kids, with all the hard work they’ve put forward, get back to playing football. Someone has to win or lose, but I still think it’s a magical time. One thing I always tell our young men is that win or lose, the sun is going to come up the next day.”
Harrison is starting his 13th year as Holy Cross athletic director and ninth season as the Knights’ head football coach. He has built a consistent winner at Holy Cross, which is 68-25 during his tenure. Harris is also a history teacher at the school.
The Knights have won at least seven games each season under Harrison, and have finished with nine victories three times and 11 once. Last year’s team went 8-4 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.
“He puts in so much work,” said Polo Botello, who is in his 14th year as an assistant coach and teacher at Holy Cross. “I’ve never seen a guy work so hard in my life. You just don’t want to let him down. He has a way of drawing people to him.”
Harrison runs the defense and his offensive coordinator is former Knights head coach Angel Cedillo, the senior member of the staff.
“Coach Harrison and Coach Cedillo are my mentors,” Botello said. “They’re a big part of my life and my best friends. Those guys have forgotten more football than I’ll ever know. We’re all so close because we’ve been together for so long. We just take care of each other.”
Harrison was head coach at Antonian for two seasons (1999-2000) and Southside for five (2001-05) before becoming athletic director at Holy Cross in 2006. He was the Knights’ defensive coordinator for four seasons, and succeeded Arnie Martinez as head coach in 2010.
Born and raised in Livingston, approximately 75 miles northeast of Houston, Harrison has become synonymous with Holy Cross, a coed high school with an enrollment of about 200 students. Located on San Felipe Street, just a stone’s throw from St. Mary’s University, Holy Cross opened in 1957 and is surrounded by some of the poorer neighborhoods in San Antonio.
But pride runs deep in the Holy Cross community, where Harrison has found a home after coaching at eight different schools before joining the Knights’ staff.
“It’s a very tight-knit, family-like community,” Harrison said. “It’s a community that loves and genuinely cares about each other. It is made up of people that work very, very hard to give their kids an opportunity to be here. It’s a wonderful place. I feel valued. I think everybody does. The atmosphere is like a family more than anything else. My youngest daughter graduated from here.
Harrison’s players say that Harrison’s passion for coaching motivates them.
“He holds us to a higher standard and keeps reminding us of the bigger picture,” junior linebacker Kalijah Michael said. “He’s there for us. He’s like another father figure when we’re not at home.”
Senior wide receiver/free safety Agustin Barrera said Harrison cares about his players on and off the field.
“He wants you to improve not only as a player, but as a man,” Barrera said. “He’s always talking to us about becoming responsible adults.”
Former Holy Cross president Stanley Culotta was effusive in his praise of Harrison.
“He’s very committed to the kids,” Culotta said. “He’s a good teacher in the classroom. It’s strictly business. He wants to see all his students do their best.”
After months of stress during the flap regarding Cornerstone’s alleged rules violations, Harrison will be back in his element when the Knights open their season Friday night.
“It’s going to feel so good,” he said.