TAMPA, Fla. — High school football games would look a lot different if this man wasn’t on the sideline.

Hillsborough High School Head Coach Earl Garcia is a Friday night fixture. There aren’t too many other professions he can envision himself doing.

“The only other thing I could probably do is sell cars,” he said. “That’s about it.”

Garcia is a natural-born salesperson. He sells his vision to high school football players every season and they always buy in.

“It’s a good way to spend a lifetime. It really is,” Garcia said.

Coach Garcia’s been a sideline staple for 48 years, 29 of those years as the head coach of the Hillsborough Terriers. In that time, he’s become the winningest coach in Hillsborough County.

But that’s not why he does it.

“This is my happy place,” he said. “I get to go on vacation every single day that I’m out here with these kids. They’re my heroes. I get to go on vacation every day at practice, every Friday night.”

Coach Garcia doesn’t know the word "quit." He’s a problem solver. And there is no problem he can’t solve with hard work.

That work ethic can be traced to his upbringing. Garcia learned the value of hard work from his parents and grandparents. His mom and dad were high school sweethearts who met at Hillsborough High. His dad’s parents, Cuban immigrants.

“My father’s parents came from Cuba and it was all about hard work,” he said. “My grandfather had a 3rd grade education and had a dairy farm. He had two of the main concessions at the old Florida State Fair. That generation who came over, came over certainly not for a handout but to make their family better and consequently, it made our country better.”

Family is everything to Coach Garcia. He lost his dad at a very young age. He passed away from a heart attack when Garcia was only 11 and his grandparents stepped up to help fill the void. 

“We had Sicilians on one side, Cuban and Irish on the other side,” Garcia said. “So there was always a lot of family, a lot of food and a lot of whiskey and beer, so. It was a neat way to grow up. Family was always big with us and family has always been big with our football program.”

Over the years, Coach Garcia’s had several opportunities to leave the high school ranks and coach in college. He turned them down every time. Hillsborough High is where he’s meant to be. It’s where his family got their start and where he is carrying on the tradition.

“I’ve been in love with two things my whole life, my wife and Hillsborough High School,” he said. “Those have been the two constants in my life. So, I think the kids need us now more than ever. Sometimes, kids need the most love when they deserve it the least. And you just need to hang in there.”