By Tim Peterson
(La Mirada) – Joaquin Aguilar, who has been an assistant coach at La Mirada for the last four years, was promoted to head coach the school announced Tuesday.
Aguilar has been coaching for 22 years overall including stops as the head coach Pius X Catholic High School and John Glenn. He has also been an assistant at Glenn, St. Bernard’s, San Bernardino and Salesian.
“I am very excited about this opportunity to lead the Matadores. Most of the staff is returning so the transition should be relatively easy,” Aguilar said. “We will continue to run our version of the West Coast offense and our attacking defense. While we had several key players graduate our returners were either starters or had extensive playing time.”
Aguilar replaces Mike Moschetti who stepped down in December.
What a coicedence Pellum is doing the same thing they did with him back in the day, recruit is the name of the game. Somehow he ends up at Santa Fe only to go on and get bottled up by a hungrier less athletic schurr team.
Santa Fe did beat LM back in 2012. LM made up for that in 2015. Right now Santa Fe is stocking up on all the Salesian kids. Pellum is out there recruiting kids left and right and isn’t even hiding what he is doing. St. Paul should take a page from his playbook.
Lower levels
Beltran was let go in the fall or early winter
Bell gardens interviewed in late December or early January
Beltran was teaching at Whittier 2nd semester
George has been fine not to have program regress
Santa Fe does not have the talent LM has!
Although SF did beat LM a couple times in playoffs
Definitely 1x or was it 2x?
George has done the job well
Pioneer has lower enrollment; but big mistake power play by administrators trading this coach for a bett juarez
@Outside
Good question. However, that would require vision and forward thinking on their part.
This is simply not a heavily talented senior class for LS, I’ve watched their Freshmen play for the last 7 or 8 years, last years senior class as freshmen were the most talented I had ever seen, this upcoming senior class doesn’t have much and there is no stud underclass Frankie Palmer, Anthony Garcia or Matthew Marshall waiting in the wings to rescue the program. You will hear cries of margarito Beltran all the way to BG. Santa Fe should be the favorite however they lack coaching.
@mvs how is San Gabriel still looking for coach when its job opened before this one
The 2017-2018 Del Rio League football season will finish in this order:
1. La Serna – Best athletes and best coaching staff. They play the toughest preseason schedule to prepare them for the Del Rio and playoff run. They have a system in place that they have ran for over 10 years and it shows.
2. El Rancho – Will be a battle between El Rancho and Santa Fe for 2nd. Medrano has the program headed in the right direction. Should be able to build off of what they accomplished last year. From the outside looking in they have the beginnings of a program. La Serna is still 3 or 4 touchdowns better right now!
3. Santa Fe – Can easily be 2nd! Santa Fe has the best athletes in the league/area but for whatever reason they don’t get the most out of them. Finished 2nd last season but beat El Rancho, Whittier, and Cal on the last series of each game. Talent should get them to the playoffs but coaching won’t get them out of the first round.
4. Whittier – Whittier could have easily finished 3rd last year but lost some close games late. Whittier doesn’t have the athletes to compete with La Serna and El Rancho and might be able to out coach Santa Fe into 3rd place and the playoffs.
5. Cal – Cal has been an under performing program for the last two years. Cal has lost some athletes who have transferred out to two other local programs, not a good sign when the athletes are jumping ship. Might be time for a change.
6. Pioneer – Tough to compete in the Del Rio but should not go 0-10, under performed this past season but should not except an 0-10 season again. Might be able to sneak up on a Cal or Whittier in league.
LS should be ok in league but the CIF runs are done. George cant win big games even with the self proclaimed best OC and DC in around
Football fan
Maybe the administration (if they enjoy winning) waited for the second semester; and even a month or so more to see if some teachers were planning to retire
Or switch schools
I don’t know
But maybe
Is the offense line coach returning?
Huge question
Moschetti is way above most coaches
It is very difficult to maintain the level he took the program to!!
No teacher opening for new coach is a big problem for LM!
Prevent LM from hiring a teacher/coach looking for a teaching job!
Too bad for the program I believe!
All of Beltran’s hard work in the off-season of 2015?
Hmm. Well taking a leave of absence right before AND during Spring football cannot be considered “hard work” by Beltran. Prior to spring ball he was not showing up to work, constantly leaving his coaches in the dark, and skipped out on workout sessions with his football players (which were part of his classes).
The kids deserve all the credit for keeping the 2015 season alive. George deserves credit for maintaining the program in 2016. How about we also wait and see how Beltran does at BG while we are at it? He has no where to go but up at BG.
@@FBFan
Why is that hilarious? Under Moschetti, La Mirada gets 4-6 impact transfers a season. The same is not true for La Serna. They play with kids who have been there since their freshmen year.
@DRL, who are the 5 former head coaches you’re referring to? The only one I know of is Setlich. Medrano is a current head coach so you can’t count him. I’m assuming Ledesma joined staff??? Who are the other 2. Sometimes you need more Indians than chiefs.
The system was so good because they were so deep and talented, mark my words, they aren’t as deep and talented as they were under the Beltran era which will make the system ordinary. My money is on Santa Fe. The most experienced and deep staff in the DRL will be El Ranchos at this point they have 5 former Head coaches on staff, however they will be a few players away.
LS may not be as deep as previous teams but they run there system to perfection and I see them running the table in the DRL. SF might give them a run for their money with all their transfers but coaching matters and that is what LS has in its favor.
@Lower Levels, years of hard work can easily be diminished by a poor coach in a span of less than a year. Prime example, the Lopez/Hiatt transition or the Maine/Hughes transition. A bad coach can screw things up quick. At the very least, George has maintained a solid program so far. Can you at least give the man some credit for that????
Hawkins has great athletes. Not great coaching. Do not confuse the two. he would get ate up at LM and the comp they face
La Serna kids gets out of the area because parents want to send their kids to a nice school. Yet La Mirada gets kids because they recruit..
Hilarious!!!!!!
You people are incredible
This upcoming LS senior class as freshmen didn’t win league, they finished 2nd whereas the last 2 senior classes rolled the DRL by 50 points in every game while freshmen. Maybe things change over 4 years, but this class simply not as deep as the ones they had in years passed. Santa Fe might be the team to beat, El Rancho will continue to steadily climb but has to build things from the Freshmen team up, haven’t had a successful freshmen team in years.
I must correct FBFan: George does not have two years under his belt; 2015 was Beltran’s doing entirely, with Andy stepping in after all the offseason work had been done by Margarito. The La Serna administrators wanted to make George look tremendous, so they let Beltran do all the leg work, canned him at the last possible moment, and chalked the successful season up to their super coaching decision. Andy has two more years of living off the proceeds of Beltran’s labor before we see what he can do by himself.
People were saying the same thing about La Serna last year. They’ll still roll the DRL. El Rancho lost their best players and Santa Fe is a one trick pony with D-1 Thomas.
La Serna gets kids from out of their attendance zone but not because they’re recruiting. They get them because parents want to send their kids to a school in a nice neighborhood.
La Mirada on the other hand recruits. I’ll be interested to see how Aguilar does.
El Rancho did pass a $200 million bond, the entire campus is getting knocked down and rebuilt, supposed to be done in 5 phases with the stadium and athletic facilities in phase 2. They won’t just compete to keep their own kids but likely draw from its surrounding cities. El Rancho is quietly building a very deep and experienced coaching staff and starting to get the Pico Rivera Dons pipeline restablished, hopefully the TC Wolverines start sending more kids. ER definitely on the brink of a monster run.
I do not predict a fall off at La Serna. George has done a fine job. While they may face some stiffer competition due to an upgrade of coaching at El Rancho, La Serna will dominate in the Del Rio. The school itself is an attractive place to go for kids from all over Whittier, Hacienda Heights,Santa Fe Springs and Pico Rivera. The players will go not just for football but for the campus and its locale. El Rancho I understand is getting a complete campus make-over plus a new stadium so they will compete to keep their players. Another playoff win for El Rancho then who knows? Del Rio getting tougher in my opinion.
Kids and Coaches are leaving La Serna with more to come. Andy isn’t a leader doesn’t know how to communicate with his kids and especially his coaches. He’s a know it all who probably needs to learn some more. He’s just fortunate he plays in the Del rio El Rancho could threaten them this year for sure passes them up by next year and will not look back. Here’s the deal… LS is so good because they get 20 kids every year who can play most public schools get 3-8 kids every year who’ve played. It’s not Xs and Os is jimmys and joes in this case. well jimmy is going back to ER or back to St Paul it’s over
Big drop this year for LS, just wait and see.
In 2 years with George as head coach, La Serna has shown no signs of slowing down. I’d say that he’s doing a pretty good job. I’m not comparing the 2 guys but a team will show some sort of slow decline when they fall off, La Serna has not.
If George had become coach when La Serna was down in the dumps, and proceeded to build it to a Beltran-like level, I would give Andy the benefit of every doubt. Since George is not the creator of this program, however, but only the present custodian thereof, we must wait three years to see what he can do on his own.
It’s also not correct to assume that the “new guy” has nothing to do with the team’s success. Those who have even modest knowledge of how high school sports operate would know that.
It is not correct to assume that Andy George is responsible for the continuing success of La Serna football. Those who have even a modest knowledge of how High School sports operate will understand that today’s lower level players are tomorrow’s varsity guys, which means that George is merely working his way through Margarito’s leftovers. The same dynamic will soon be on display over at La Mirada, causing the brain-dead among us to declare that Aguilar has maintained Moschetti’s momentum. The best time to evaluate the new guy is in three years, when the previous guy’s recruits are all graduated.
Any coach inheriting a very good program has a daunting task at any level. It will be next to impossible to keep the status quo. From Monrovia, Bonita, Glendora and on and on all the programs that have lost effective HC”S have struggled to maintain form. I would expect the same at West Covina, Los Altos and La Mirada. There are exceptions to every rule though and La Serna still seems to be humming along nicely after Beltran’s dismissal.
Mi’von has the requirements that arcadia wants as well
Mi’Von James sounds like a perfect candidate for Cathedral high school
You will have to ask the school administration why it took so long. In the case of LM, from an outsiders perspective, district involvement and a history of indecision by the current administration probably led to the delay.
Mil’von James is Former the head coach at Hawkins high school. We recruited a lot of kids there and got most of the team a scholarship
Who is Mi’von James?
I know nothing about the hire. not saying it’s good or bad but why did it take them and West Co so long if they were going to stay in house?
The transition, if it is to be easy, needs to be infused with an attacking style of recruiting, the kind on which Moschetti holds a patent. If the transfer well dries up, look for LM to start resembling some of Aguilar’s John Glenn products.
Im guessing walk on long time get back coach?
Mi’von James to San Gabriel