Why do you enjoy coaching and why is it important to you?
“First of all, I had some really good coaches when I was growing up through high school. I think I was very fortunate to have probably one of the best high school coaches around. That was a great experience and I think one of the reasons why I wanted to get back into coaching was to give back, for a lot of the things that it gave me. I built lifelong friendships and I think it’s really based on life lessons, everything that it taught me helped me, which I think is why I’ve been successful in my career. We want our guys to have that same experience because I think they’ll look back on Mountain View as a real positive experience for them.”
How has the season changed this year because of Covid-19?
“We had to get used to doing things differently and we have a lot more protocols in place, but we were able to do some conditioning over the summer, which was great for our guys because it got them out of the house. I’ve never seen a group of guys so happy to condition before, it was great. I think they enjoyed the social aspect of being together.”
As of right now, when does it seem like the season may resume and what might that look like?
“Right now we have a schedule in place to start January 8, that’s our first home game and we have light poles up, which is a huge accomplishment after all these years. The only negative thing is we’re not sure we’re going to be able to have people in the stands, so we had this big build up in a big celebration for the lights which is great for the football program but now we might not be able to have anybody there in the stands to help enjoy that experience. But our sports boosters did a really nice thing, they installed cameras in both the gym, and the football field that will display all our home games, automatically and everybody can join in and they can watch remotely. [We will record] all of our games and not just for football but all our sports that are out on the stadium and of course in the gym, which would be volleyball and basketball, so, it’s trying to include everything.”
What are some of your goals for the upcoming season?
“We’ve had a great group of guys and our senior class this year is pretty special class, they are a great group. We’ve been watching them for four years and developing and we’ve got some talent. I think if we can put it all together and a little bit of luck, we’re going to have a pretty good season. We’re in the top division in the DeAnza Division so we’ve got some pretty tough opponents, but we think we can do well, make the playoffs, and ultimately I think our guys have set a goal for themselves to win a CCS championship.”
How have you seen the team improve so far?
I think the biggest thing is our strength and conditioning program has really turned a corner. Rick Esparza, who is our one of our one of our coaches, has done a wonderful job of putting our strength and conditioning program together, and he deserves a lot of credit. Our guys are bigger and stronger, and we had to take some time off there because of the shutdown but we were on our way. Especially our skill position guys are looking really good, they’re fast, they’re strong. I think from a personal development [standpoint] they’ve put together a really good program for themselves to be able to be competitive. I think that’s huge because we’re dealing with some pretty talented opponents so strength and conditioning is big.