Since his passing in 2021, the legacy of Joey Rodriguez has continued around the Arlington soccer community and across the state. Now his legacy will last forever. During an AISD school board meeting on Thursday, the members voted unanimously 7-0 on naming a new junior high school after the late Sam Houston boys soccer coach.
Joey Rodriguez Junior High will open in the fall of 2025.
The school will feed into Sam Houston.
Rodriguez, who spent 12 years with Sam Houston, died in October 2021 after a two-month battle with COVID-19. He was only 43. His wife Lena and three children were in attendance on Thursday night along with several former players, coaches and colleagues. Rodriguez was also the president of the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches, which has since formed a memorial scholarship in his honor.
During his time with the soccer program, Sam Houston made the playoffs every year under Rodriguez – extending its streak to 14 years in a row.
Under Rodriguez, the Texans went to the UIL state tournament in 2015 and 2017. Sam Houston went 20-3-1 before losing in the state semifinals to Katy Cinco Ranch, 2-1, in 2015. The Texans played in the Class 6A state championship game in 2017, falling to Dallas Jesuit, 2-1 in overtime. They finished 22-4-2 that season.
On Thursday, several people spoke in front of the board members, including former and current Sam Houston principals Fernando Benavides and Juan Villarreal, former player Jose Ortiz, Arlington ISD athletic director Eric White, former Sam Houston football coach Anthony Criss and Rodriguez’s two daughters.
