Tom Lee named MCISD’s New Athletic Director
Tom Lee is named Mission CISD’s new Athletic Director and will begin his new journey at the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Lee will have some big shoes to fill following the formal retirement of former Athletic Director Leticia Ibarra. For Lee, this will be an opportunity to give back to a community that gave to himself and his family.
From SISD PR department
Up until age 13, Tom Lee and his family lived in the mid-west part of the country. They packed their bags after his father, Dave Lee, was hired for the job as the head football coach for the Mission Eagles. From 1983-1987, Dave Lee coached and revolutionized the game of football for the Eagles, on and off the field. From holding tutoring sessions for his athletes to pass their classes to changing the overall mentality of the fieldhouse, Coach Dave Lee’s legacy lives on even after his passing.
One way that his legacy lives on is through his son Tom. Lee was a multi-sport athlete throughout high school: football, baseball, basketball, golf, and track. Lee would go on to continue his athletic career at the collegiate level. He received a scholarship to Rice University in 1989 and after spending a football season there, he transferred to Texas State University. Lee decided to put his body and school first and sports second after facing injuries, but that wouldn’t be the end of his athletics journey.
Lee graduated in 1994 and received a job as a track coach and defensive backs coach for the Sharyland Rattlers’ football program at the varsity level. Lee would go on to coach the Sharyland golf team and would even move his way up the ranks on the football team up until 2000.
In 2000, Lee made his way back to Mission under the tutelage of head football coach Jeff Dicus. Two years later, Dicus moved on from Mission which gave Lee the opportunity to take over as the Eagles head football coach and to be their Athletic Coordinator.
After five seasons with the Eagles, Lee would make his way back to Sharyland, where he arguably found his most success. Lee led the Rattlers to several district championships and helped his athletes reach All-Valley records during his time as the special teams’ coordinator and track coach.
In 2014, Sharyland ISD split up in two and what emerged was Pioneer High School. What came from that was a new opportunity for Lee. He continued to find tons of success as the track coach and Athletic Coordinator for the Diamondbacks. He would go on to take over as the head football coach for the Diamondbacks in 2018 and was able to get the Diamondbacks deep into the playoffs. After those three years, Lee would take over as the SISD assistant Athletic Director under Ron Adame.
Fast forward three years, Lee will be making his way home to MCISD as he will become the next Athletic Director for the district.
Progress Times got the chance to speak to Lee about his upcoming tenure as the Athletic Director for MCISD. Lee told us, “I’m from there, I grew up there. I played my high school career there and coached there. It’s a really good opportunity for me to come back and give back to the community where it all started for me.”
Progress Times asked Lee about what he has planned for the Eagles and the Patriots, “Keeping up the tradition of Mission and Veterans Memorial. I really want to help them build on that. I’m the type of guy that has coached so many different sports and I’m a firm believer that having success in all of our programs makes us a well-rounded school. Now being in charge of two schools, it’s something I take pride in for all of our programs. All of our programs are just as important as any one program.” Lee went on to say, “I think if you can develop and have all our coaches buy into this: It’s a family and it’s about team unity. They’ve already got a lot of that established, so for me it’s about helping those coaches build and get to where they want to go. It’s a chance for me to give back to the community that was very good to me and my family back in the day, so it’s special. I left a great community and I’m going to a great community.”
Lee has had several incredible leaders, mentors, and influencers that have shaped and paved the way he’s been able to coach and teach. Lee spoke on that, “Coach Dowling, he’s been a big mentor of mine. He coached me in high school and in every step of the process of coaching, I’ve learned from him. Jeff Dicus was another one that taught me about organization and people skills. The one person that has had a huge influence on my whole career as an administrator has been Coach Richard Thompson. He put 41 great years in at Sharyland ISD. He’s been someone that I’ve looked up to my entire career. A lot of what he’s taught us are things that I would like to bring over.”
Lee went on to say, “Coach Thompson always told me, it’s a famous thing that he’s always said: It’s not about X’s and O’s all the time. If that’s all you’re doing for your kids, then you’re failing them. It’s about teaching them what it’s going to be like after.”
Something that Lee made clear was his intentions of growing the community by providing every opportunity to the students and athletes of MCISD for them to succeed in the future. He told us, “I want to make sure that we’re giving our kids the best four years that they can get while they’re in high school. We don’t want them to go to the real world just to look back and say, ‘I wish I would’ve done this. I wish I would’ve done that.’ I want our kids to say that they were able to do what they wanted to do to be successful and have them enjoy their time. I want them to love their coaches and the relationships they’ve built and go on from there.”
From SISD PR department
Lee’s message to the MCISD and the community surrounding it, “You’re going to get a person that’s got a lot of energy and that loves the value of athletics. I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for my coaches and if it wasn’t for the people that influenced me to be a better person. A lot of that comes from my coaches, my teachers, and my principles that I had growing up. They were very big parts of my life that led me to become a coach. For me being a coach and a teacher is the best thing that you can do. You’re not just influencing adults, but you’re influencing your future kids, future leaders and future role models. It’s very important for me to take what I’ve learned and give that to our future coaches and leaders and then really just take care of our kids. I want them to be successful on and off the field.”
Lee capped that off by saying, “Seeing kids graduate college and seeing them become great parents, opening businesses, becoming teachers, anything… Those are the things that are so important and to be able to influence those kids is invaluable. Athletics does that for you. I take great pride in that, and I hope that I can instill that kind of pride amongst our coaches so they can do the same thing for their kids that are in their programs. I’m in a lucky situation to step into something that has already been established by great people before and I just get a chance to build on the legacy that Mission is all about.”
There’s no doubt that Coach Tom Lee will find success as MCISD’s Athletic Director and in his plans of continuing the legacy left behind by people such as Coach Landry, Coach Dicus, Coach Dowling, Coach Ibarra and his father Coach Dave Lee when it’s all said and done.
This is only the beginning for Lee, and under his supervision and intent, MCISD will surely be in great hands. Progress Times congratulates Tom Lee on being MCISD’s newest Athletic Director and wishes him the best of luck on his mission to give back to a community that gave it all to him.