San Jose High will be on its fifth head coach in the past decade, but this time it will be a familiar face for the Bulldogs.
Bruce Jones has taken the reins at San Jose, after spending the previous three years as an assistant in the program. Jones served as the varsity defensive coordinator in each of the last two seasons, and is looking forward to the fact that he will have some familiar faces back on the field in 2018.
“We were really young last year, and that should help give us a bit of an edge this coming season,” Jones said. “Right now, we are just focused on molding guys into better athletes.”
One big challenge facing Jones is that the Bulldogs currently have no weight room for off-season workouts. Facility renovation resulted in a new field last fall, and the weight room will not be complete until May 1 at the earliest. The new staff is meeting the challenge head on, however, seeking other ways to focus on strength and conditioning, while also implementing offensive and defensive schemes.
“I’m very excited about this, and I expect it to be a smooth transition,” Jones added. “These seniors are the group I started with when they were freshmen, so they are excited as well.”
San Jose, of course, faces more challenges than the weight room issue. Aside from a 9-1 season in 2012, in which the Bulldogs won their first nine games before falling to Lincoln in the annual Big Bone Game, San Jose has struggled to achieve consistent success on the field in recent years. And success has been even more elusive against its end of the season rival, losing 20 straight games to Lincoln. Jones will be relying on some more familiar faces to make the transition.
He is retaining a few assistant coaches, most notably Jason Winters. Winters has helped on both levels, including being the head junior varsity coach last year. He will call the offense, while Jones will call the defense. According to Jones, Winters got experience calling the plays at the varsity level last season, sharing those duties at times.
Jones would love to open his season like the Bulldogs started last year, which was a 34-6 win over Mills.
Minor excited for opportunity at Encinal
When Ricky Rodriguez left Encinal after four years and back-to-back league titles, the Jets acted quickly to search for a capable replacement. What they found was Keith Minor, who has previous successful head coaching stints at Balboa-SF and Saint Mary’s-Albany. Minor built Saint Mary’s into a small school powerhouse during his time, and now he takes over an Encinal program looking to build on recent success.
“Most of the time you take over a program, it is down. This is an opportunity to take over a great program, close to home,” Minor said. “The administration here understands the value of a great football program, and they get the purpose of having that on this campus, for these kids.”
Encinal went unbeaten in the regular season this past season, and raced past Analy in the NCS Division III playoffs, before falling to Cardinal Newman in the quarterfinals. The Jets graduate a tremendous senior class, but do return a handful of athletes who can continue the success level, most notable junior Tommy Dinh and sophomores Teddy Oliver and Isaiah Smith. But it is the acquisition of Minor which could prove most beneficial for the Encinal program, after he refreshed his head coaching batteries during a one-year stint as an assistant for Berkeley last season.
“There is an old saying that you can’t turn a firehouse horse into a milk man horse, and that is what this decision came down to,” Minor said. “I had a great time at Berkeley, and CJ (Johnson) does a great job there. But I had to get back to my purpose.”
Minor will bring with him some Saint Mary’s flavor on the coaching staff, including long-time line coach Steve Moore and former running back-defensive back Trestin George, who was also a standout jumper on the track and field team at Saint Mary’s. George played at San Jose State, before moving on to the Canadian Football League and a stint in the Arena Football League. George has also been an accomplished actor.
“We are bringing in great coaches who were also great players,” Minor added. “Kids are kind of in awe of Trestin. He brings a lot of credibility with him.”
Encinal will receive a new challenge next season, having been promoted from the Shoreline to the Foothill Division of the West Alameda County Conference, which places them alongside Bishop O’Dowd, San Leandro, Castro Valley, and Berkeley.
Around the coaching carousel
Now-former Santa Clara coach Hank Roberts has gone back to his native state of Nevada, and taken the head job at Galena in Reno. With Roberts at the helm, the Bruins went 9-2 in 2015 and 8-4 in 2017, beating Independence in the first round of the playoffs last season.
“The (Santa Clara) program is in a great place for whoever takes it over,” said Roberts, whose wife was also born and raised in Northern Nevada. “The kids get it, it’s a great culture, and we have kids getting into four-year colleges who would have been previously laughed at.”
Freedom and James Logan are still seeking new head coaches, after the retirement of 16-year head coach Kevin Hartwig, and the move of former Logan coach Zac McNally up to Whitney-Rocklin, where he is the new head coach.
Castlemont has hired James Barnes as its new head coach. Barnes has previously been a head coach at Berkeley and Arroyo, and was the assistant head coach at Contra Costa College.
Skyline has hired Jordan Seiden to be its new head coach, after Joe Bates moved out of the area. Seiden had been taking a break from coaching, while his son Jordan played his varsity football, first at Valley Christian-Dublin and then at Moreau Catholic, where he was the MVAL Defensive Player of the Year in 2016.
After resigning as head coach at Gilroy, Jubenal Rodriguez took the head job at Monte Vista Christian, which had fired Bruce Dini at the conclusion of the 2017 season.
College Park and Mt. Diablo have not yet named new head coaches, and neither has Piedmont.
