Hickman looks to mold winning team at Palmview

When La Joya High School gave birth to Juarez-Lincoln and Palmview high schools two years ago, Coyote Basketball Coach Charles Hickman decided to leave his first head coaching position and start completely fresh at Palmview. The calculated move was seen as an opportunity to start anew and put his “stamp” on the young program.

Two years later, the Fort Worth native is feeling the ups and downs of the transition.

While last year's team benefited from having veteran experience with the LJHS Coyotes, this year's team is young, inexperienced and far from their potential. However, Hickman has no regrets and likes what he sees in this year's team.

“We are in the process of building our program. Last year, we were blessed to have veteran transfers from La Joya when the schools split. Now we have a lot of younger guys. This is the year we are building the program. (But) we have competed hard.”

Being a part of a successful program is ingrained in the coach's heart. Growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Hickman played his high school ball at Dunbar High School and went on to play at St. Mary's in San Antonio. He then was able to find himself as an assistant coach at his alma mater. While there, he saw success at its best as Dunbar has been to the final four of the state tournament four of the last six years, and has won a state title.

In order to have the success he is used to, Hickman wants his team to first learn to have a “sense of urgency and competitiveness.” He realizes that being a young team means “mistakes will be made.” However, he feels his team has a chance to get to that fourth spot in District 30-5A.

To make the playoffs, Hickman is counting on players like sophomore wing Danny Rios-Morin who he says has developed very fast as a basketball player and gives 100 percent effort. Ricky Salinas is another sophomore who has developed “into one of our better post players.”

Playing the point is Juan Garza, who though naturally is a wing, has moved to point guard to keep the team low in turnovers. Of Garza, Hickman says “he is a leader by example and brings a fight to the court with his defensive intensity. (Our guys) respond to him.”

While Garza leads by example, Danny Barajas “has become one of the vocal leaders. He has developed into a really good post player.”

These four, along with the other eight players, have bought into Hickman's coaching style which consists of transition offense and “in-your-face man to man defense.”

“Offensively, we look for transition and to get easy layups. We want to put pressure on the defense. However we look to be disciplined and under control.”

Time will tell if the Lobos are successful and whether Hickman's “stamp” is leaving a mark.