“I had teachers in the hall who didn’t even know we had a baseball team,” Tubbs said.
A three-year starter at Prairie View A&M, Tubbs has taken on the role of promoter, builder, and culture-setter all at once.
“I’ve been a ringmaster of sorts, just promoting the program within the walls of Elsik High School,” he said. “My staff is made up of college baseball guys, and we have a plan. We don’t just want to win a few district games and sneak into the playoffs. We want to beat the best teams in this district — Foster, Fulshear, Strake Jesuit — and become a power. I can see it.”
The team’s new rally cry?
“Every time we break out as a team, it’s: 1, 2, 3 — Playoffs.”
Those are lofty goals for a program that has gone 14–68 over the last three seasons — a team without a true locker room, an equipment closet, or a clear identity. Tubbs isn’t shying away from that reality.
“We stripped it all down,” he said. “The first thing was preaching that we can compete with anyone we play. Our staff believes in these guys. We’ve seen tremendous growth during the fall and offseason. We hit the weight room and broke fundamentals down by position. Our pitchers are stronger. Our defense has vastly improved. We’re on our way.”
Tubbs’ baseball journey includes an unexpected chapter. After college, he earned several Major League tryouts, chasing the dream every ballplayer knows.
“I’ll never forget being cut at a Florida Marlins camp,” he said. “I wanted to get to the league That was my dream. I failed — and it hurt.”
Tubbs returned home to Houston and had to start over.
“That’s baseball,” he said. “You’re going to fail, and you have to be resilient.”
He coached briefly at his alma mater and with Perfect Game programs, but for nearly a decade, baseball wasn’t his profession. Instead, Tubbs became a therapist for the Mental Health & Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County.
“I worked with the homeless, juvenile offenders, and people with severe mental illnesses,” he said. “It was extremely tough work.”
That experience now defines his coaching philosophy.
“I learned to compartmentalize,” Tubbs said. “I couldn’t bring the work home. I left it at work, woke up the next day, and tried to do better than the day before.”
It’s a lesson he passes directly to his players.
