David McHugh wasted no time in challenging his new players after succeeding highly successful Justen Evans as head football coach at Miller High School on May 4.
In his first meeting with the Buccaneers, McHugh stressed the importance of accountability on and off the field and becoming a more physically imposing team.
“We talk every day about holding ourselves to a high standard and being more physical,” McHugh said. “Our first core value is toughness. We talk about being physical and being mentally tough. Our mindset every day at practice is to be the most competitive team we can be all season. I think we’re going to be a tough team to play this year.”
McHugh expressed confidence that the Bucs have embraced the challenge of being consistently
tough on both sides of the ball.
“One thing that’s stood out is our kids have bought in since day one,” McHugh said. “We’re really holding our kids accountable every day, and making sure that we’re doing things the right way.
“I think our kids have bought into being a player-led team. We preach all the time about being player-led, not coach-fed. Our kids have done a phenomenal job. It’s all about setting a high standard in everything we do, on and off the field.”
McHugh’s players like the energy he has brought to the team.
“He came in and had high expectations for us,” said junior defensive end Deion Jones, who already has college offers from UTSA and Texas Southern. “We took his word and we trusted him, and we went to work.
“We want to win games, so we’re going to do what it takes. We’re going to listen to our coach.”
Senior linebacker Espn Cole said the coaching transition from Evans to McHugh has been generally seamless.
“It’s definitely the same, with a little more intensity, trying to pick up where Evans left off,” Cole said. “I like that we’re focusing on being more physical. I’m a linebacker, so the more the better.”
Senior quarterback Gavin Garcia likes how McHugh holds the Bucs accountable.
“Honestly, coach McHugh brings discipline,” Garcia said. “He puts a discipline policy on everybody and he really enforces it.”
McHugh, 32, was also hired as Miller’s athletic coordinator. Born in Phoenix and raised in Ingleside, where was a multi-sport standout in high school, he went 5-6 in his first head-coaching job at Bishop last year.
Playing with two freshman quarterbacks, Miller finished 4-7 last season. The losing finish was the Bucs’ first since Evans went 4-6 in his first season (2017). Miller went 6-4 in 2018, snapping a streak of 15 consecutive losing seasons.
The Bucs went 63-16 in the next six seasons, making the playoffs each year and reaching the regional finals twice (2020, 2023). The 2023 team finished 13-1 and tied the school record for most victories in a season, but fell short of sending Miller to the state semifinals for the first time since 1963.
Evans, who went 77-33 in his nine seasons at Miller, resigned in mid-February to become head coach at Denton Braswell. He left the Bucs as the winningest coach in Miller’s long history.
Applying for the Miller job was a no-brainer for McHugh.
“What drew me to Miller is that it’s kind of been the flagship program in the Coastal Bend the last five or six years,” McHugh said. “It’s an opportunity I didn’t think I could pass up when I got the chance.”
Miller, which returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense, opens its season at Flour Bluff on Aug. 28. The University Interscholastic League dropped Miller from Class 5A Division II to 4A Division I in its biennial realignment earlier this year.
The Bucs will be in the same district with perennial power Calallen, Beeville, Port Lavaca Calhoun, King, Moody and Tuloso-Midway.
“It’s going to be a tough district,” McHugh said. “One thing about 4A football is that they’re going to be physical teams. They may not have the speed that we’re going to have, but a lot of them are going to be smash-mouth, physical football teams.
“We’re trying to buy into matching their physicality. Eventually, I think that will give us the advantage because we’ll not only match their physicality, but we’ll do what we do best. And that's get our athletes in space.”
A 2012 Ingleside graduate, McHugh earned his degree in 2017 at McMurry University in Abilene, where he earned all-conference honors as a wide receiver and punter.
This season will be McHugh’s ninth in coaching. He started his career in 2018 at Texas Military Institute in San Antonio, and coached at Mathis in 2019. McHugh had a two-year stint as defensive coordinator at Taft before moving to Ingleside in 2022. He was the Mustangs’ offensive coordinator for three seasons.
The youngest member of Miller’s varsity coaching staff, McHugh was among 40 Texas high school and college coaches under age 40 spotlighted by Texas Football magazine in its summer edition this year. His twin brother, Matthew, an assistant coach at SMU, was an assistant under Evans at Miller in 2021 and 2022.
Kevin Hendrickson, CCISD senior director of athletics, was familiar with McHugh’s career long before he applied for the Miller job.
“He was someone on my radar because he had a lot of high energy when he coached at Ingleside and took over at Bishop,” Hendrickson said. “With coach Evans going up to Denton, we had to find a splash hire. Coach McHugh had a lot of credibility as a player in this area, and he also had credibility as a coach with various people I talked to.
“Being familiar with the South Texas area, I thought he would be a perfect fit for this position. I know he’s always wanted to come back to Corpus, and he specifically wanted the Miller job. I knew he was motivated and he had high interest in it. If he was given the opportunity, he was going to take care of the program.”
McHugh retained most of Evans’ coaching staff, including highly respected defensive coordinator Eric John, who was a finalist for the Miller job. John was the Bucs’ defensive coordinator throughout Evans’ tenure.
“One thing that I tell my coaches and the kids is that I may be the leader of our team, but E.J. is the heart and soul of our program,” McHugh said. “He has done so much for this program, and I lean on him for a lot of what we do because I trust him. I know he’s always looking out for the best interests of our kids. Ultimately, he just wants to win.”
Hendrickson expressed similar sentiments about John, who strongly considered leaving Miller after being passed over for the head-coaching job.
“Having E.J. stay was huge for the CCISD and for Miller,” Hendrickson said.
McHugh has assembled one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the Coastal Bend.
“We have six guys who have been coordinators at different places and one who has been a head coach,” McHugh said, referring to Ruben Garcia, who headed the program at Kingsville the previous three seasons. ‘I think when you have a bunch of like-minded guys who want to win football games, egos get out of the way and we just coach ball.
“A lot of people on the outside looking in probably thought our staff was going to have a lot of turmoil or that we were going to butt heads, because we have so many coaches who have been in leadership roles. But everyone has bought into the vision we’re creating together. I think that’s been one of the coolest things to see unfold here.”
Garcia, who was on Evans’ staff in 2019, will be McHugh’s offensive coordinator. Garcia was also head coach at Falfurrias for three seasons (2020-22) before going to Kingsville.
The other new coaches at Miller are Ruben Flowers (wide receivers and passing-game coordinator), associate head coach Ernie Garcia (linebackers) and Richard Sanchez (tight ends).
While Miller remains a work in progress after scrimmages against Carroll and Sinton, McHugh has been encouraged by what he’s seen in the preseason.
“There are still a lot of things we need to work on,” McHugh said. “We’re still trying to put a lot of pieces together. With the new coaching staff, it’s always about trying to find guys who are doing the right thing and finding the right positions for certain kids.
“I thought we did a decent job of answering the call physically against Sinton. Now it’s trying to take the next step of being the aggressor rather than having to answer to what the other team is doing.”
McHugh’s wife, Ashley, is girls basketball coach at Sinton. They have two daughters, Riley, 9, and Jordan, 2.
David Flores is a San Antonio-based freelance writer who writes about Coastal Bend sports history.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: First-year Miller coach McHugh setting high standard for Bucs
