Benny Rodriguez recently completed his 16th season as the head men’s and women’s cross country coach at Texas A&M International University.
In 2021 the women’s cross country program finished 3rd at conference and recorded their best NCAA South Central Regional Championships finishing in 12th. The men also had it must successful run in the Lone Star Conference with a 5th place finish and 20th finish at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships.
In 2017, he coached Hernandez to All-Region honors for third time in her career with a top-10 finish at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Canyon, Texas. She would later go on to finish 113rd at the NCAA Championships. Renee Contreras and Karla Resendez also earned All-Conference honorable mention honors as the women’s team finished fourth.
During his tenure at TAMIU, Rodriguez has coached 36 student-athletes to all-conference honors 41 times. Among the all-conference performers he has coached at TAMIU is Rebekah Hernandez who won the Heartland Conference individual title as a freshman in 2014.
2011 was the best year in program history for the men’s team with a runner-up finish with the women finishing third. Roger Rueweler was the top finisher in fourth with Daniel Alfaro earning conference freshman of the year honors with a 12th place finish. Crystal Dickinson paced the women’s team earning all-conference honors for the second time after finishing 5th.
In his first season in charge, Eddie Gonzalez, Mark Vela and Anetra Matthews earned All-Red River Athletic Conference honors before advancing onto the NAIA National Championships. Matthews’ 50th finish at the national meet is still the top finish in program history.
Rodriguez was a standout runner for Nixon High School leading the Mustangs to a district championship as a senior bringing home the individual title. He would later qualify for the state meet. He moved on to Texas A&M-Kingsville where he was a two-time All-Lone Star Conference performer. He graduated from TAMUK in 2000 with a degree in Kinesiology.
He began his coaching career at United Middle School in 2000 before moving to Memorial Middle School in 2002 where he coached track & field, football and basketball for two years.
Rodríguez and his wife Melina, reside in Laredo and are the proud parents of their daughters Alexa and Milani.
