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Medina Valley football coach Soza leaving to take same job at Beeville

Chris Soza went 37-24 in previous five-year stint with Trojans, leading them to the Class 4A state quarterfinals in 2007.

SAN ANTONIO — A familiar face is returning as head football coach and athletic director at Beeville Jones High School.

Chris Soza has resigned at Medina Valley to return to Beeville, where he held the dual position for five years (2004-08). Soza, 57, has been head football coach and AD at MV for the past three years.

The Panthers went 18-14 under Soza, making the playoffs each of the last two seasons. MV went 7-4 last year, losing in the first round of the postseason for the second consecutive season.

Soza succeeds Jerry Bomar at Beeville, which was 21-12 during his three-year tenure. Bomar resigned last month to become head coach and athletic director at Groesbeck. Beeville finished 6-5 overall and 1-3 in District 15-4A-Division I last season, and MV was in 5A Division II. Soza will start work in Beeville next Monday.

“There are a lot of pluses in Beeville and I’m looking forward to working there again,” Soza said Tuesday night. “The hard part, obviously, is that you leave a great group of kids. I had a lot of support at Medina Valley. It was a great place to coach and work at. But in the end, you’ve got to do what’s best for your family.”

Soza’s youngest of two sons, Eric, who has been on his father’s coaching staff at MV the past three years, will make the move to Beeville with him and serve as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator.

Eric Soza, who went on to become UTSA’s first starting quarterback, went 34-17 as Beeville’s starter for four seasons (2005-08). He was salutatorian of his graduating class in 2009 and his wife, Audrey, was the valedictorian.

Credit: David Flores / KENS5.com
Medina Valley coach Chris Soza, with senior running back Caytan Chang, left, and senior defensive end Logan Haby, during the preseason in 2017.

One other member of the Soza family, Felicia Ramirez, who has coached at Hondo the past three years, is joining the Beeville coaching staff. Ramirez, the second of three children born to Colleen and Chris Soza, graduated from Beeville in 2007.

“Two of my three kids graduated from Beeville and got a great education,” Soza said. “We have a lot of great memories of our time there before. I’ve got to give Dr. (Mark) Puig, our superintendent in Beeville, and the school board a lot of credit. They bent over backward for us.

“Coming back to a place where we were successful before, and having our son and daughter there with me, is going to make it special. I’m very grateful and blessed that the district in Beeville wanted us that badly. They made it happen. It was nice to be wanted.”

Soza has gone 168-99 during a 23-year head-coaching career that includes stints at Mathis (1996-2003) and Alice (2009-16). Seventeen of his 23 teams have made the playoffs.

Soza went 37-24 in his five seasons at Beeville, leading the Trojans to the 4A state quarterfinals 2007. Beeville won its district that year and went on to finish 11-3. Soza went to Alice two years later.

A 1980 Alice graduate, Chris Soza was the Coyotes’ starting quarterback when they reached the 4A state semifinals in 1979. Class 4A was then the largest classification in the University Interscholastic League.

Soza’s best two seasons at his alma mater were in 2012 and 2013. The Coyotes went 9-4 and reached the 4A Division II state quarterfinals in 2012 and lost in the second round the next year, finishing 10-2.  

Soza produced 12-win teams at Mathis in 1999 (12-3) and 2000 (12-2). The ’99 Pirates advanced to the 3A Division I state final and the 2000 squad reached the state quarterfinals. Soza’s oldest son, Justin, was Mathis’ starting quarterback both years.

“Those two seasons are what got my career going,” said Soza, a Texas A&I graduate and former Javelinas quarterback.

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