La Salle HC Russell Gordon stepping down was just one of 21 head coaching changes on the local front.
By Tim Peterson
There have been no less than 21 head coaching changes since the 2017 season came to an end. And that’s just on the local front. All but four have been filled.
Here’s what we have so far as we head into spring:
Cantwell: Out – Travis Brown, In – TBD
Nogales: Out-Richard Salazar, In – TBD
Bassett: Out- Chris Long, In- TBD
Baldwin Park: Out- Joe Fuller, In- Joshua Knight
Monrovia: Out-Jerry Chou, In- Chris Williams
Valley Christian: Out- Woodie Grayson, In- Stephen Kelley
Glendora: Out- Jerry Lewallen, In- Brandon Rohrer
Buena Park: Out- Davis Lowery, In- Dustin Sober
La Salle: Out – Russell Gordon, In – Andrew Pankow
Burroughs: Out- Mike Reily, In- Rand Holdren
Whittier Christian: Out- Sergio Gradilla, In- Brett Esslinger
Maranatha: Out – Steve Bogan, In -LaVar Arrington
Steve Bogan left Maranatha for Bonita.
Rancho Cucamonga: Out- Nick Baiz, In- Mark Verti
Cathedral: Out- Kevin Pearson, In- Anthony Jefferson
Mt. View: Out- Victor Romero, In-Aaron Sepulveda
Glendale: Out- George Maiale, In- Cary Harris
Diamond Bar: Out- Kevin Argumosa, In- Jeff Reitz
Bonita: Out – Ibis Aguilar, In -Steve Bogan
Pomona: Out – Keith Richardson, In – TBD
Bellflower: Out- Mike Fitch, In- Woodie Grayson
Viewpoint: Out-Brent Huff, In-Patrick Skahan
*If we missed any feel free to let us know.
ROFL!!!! LMFAO!!!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
WOW… did you just say SP for quality education????? hahahahahha>HA<
well now i know you talk out of your ()…
gangs? lol .. wow….. lol … lol… im not even going to start with you … lmao
The only way homegrown kids stay at their hometown schools is largely in the hands of CIF. Even youth programs are now checking boundries when kids sign up.
“Quality education” I stopped right there. Lmao
Freaking Rancheros… you guys always bring up historical events and mythical championships every time you’re losing argument. To to funny. Ok, Kids don’t go to SP for Zepeda, he just happens to be there. They go there to get a quality education and escape the gangs of PR. No matter how many wins or losses come with that choice…I’d say it’s well worth it. Second, Booms is in over his head! People hate to admit it, or they treat it as blasphemy, but He’s trying so desperately to run a wazoo offense instead of a powerful offense! It’s jamming a square peg in a round hole. His kids look confused and dumbfounded on every play… someone has got to point it out because booms isn’t getting it. This is year 3, we should see a substantial jump in performance and execution but will that means wins? Oh and by the way his offensive lines are poorly coached
@SGV Fan
Relax… get off jude and Elias DELETED …. they get it done when they have athletes … no knock to there skills as coaches but let’s be honest here …
Kids want to play for them… and those kids are not scrubs!
@oiler eyes
So Tapia and Rivera where home grown kids ? Yeah whatever. Enjoy a butt whopping this year. Schurr is getting ready, can’t say the same about Montebello.
1966? Hahahaha wow. This is to funny
@yup @oilereyes
All you Montebello fans so worried…. they beat you last year with 4 of their kids playing for you! Pete has been trying to recruit this whole time… stop pointing fingers! Jude and Elias get it done everywhere they go! With any type of kids. They don’t need to be “diverse”
You all are some ignorant people!
In all honesty ER the El Rancho “National Championship” is a “Mythical” National Championship, there was no national organization that decided this back then.
@shameOnPico
DAYUM! i see your point… and tbh i agree with you 100%…. once you break it down like that… zepeda was like reyna… freshman classes and JV executing and varsity under acheiving..
hes a smooth talker tho… but its good to hear that gremlins have alot of ranch families !!! i hope they stay that way !
my boy was part of that team… tbh … now id trade those stupiid DELETED red patches to have only ranch kids that my boy will develop with and grow with at the ranch..
more kids we can keep together the better we are.
Do some research you dodo bird.
Did you see how “diverse” his air raid team looked?
You div. 19 schools are so cute. please continue to argue over the scraps that fall off the big boy table. National championship LOL what division was that, who did you beat Mickey Mouse High School hahaha.
Granted you are right they did go 3-7, they are far more than that, old or not they won a National title and have won CIF titles so they can talk up a storm, get that done and your school can talk it up also.
Shurr will be competitive but not with hometown kids. Expect Jude to bring in guys.
Why are there so many people on here from a 3-7 el rancho team talking. Why don’t you guys worry about getting better. This is just comedy to me.
They did try, I took my boys to watch a game and spoke with my former coach Camacho, he tried getting the ER staff a foot in with that squad but as you said they are ranch guys who do not push el Rancho. Zepeda puts on that big song and dance publicly to try to make St Paul look better than it actually is, when my older boy played with him in 2010 i hated how they tried doing things at ER the sp way, it led to nothing.
That whole “he did it with Zepeda kids” is bogus, In 2006 Reyna had a 9-1 League Champ freshmen class, 6 shutouts, in 2007 ER had an 8-2 League Champ freshmen class who’s only losses were to SP by 3 points and a 7 point loss to a stacked West Covina squad, that was another loaded class where ER got stud Montebello Indian Chris Castro, Whittier Redskin QB Troy Campos, Arty Franco etc, in 2008 when Zepeda took over he brought in a loaded Freshmen class with Ronnie Lone, Jerry Huff, Mark Lopez, Josh Lopez, Jeremy Montoya, Bryan Cedillo etc, 2009 was the Joey Sanchez Johnny Garcia class, 2010 Araujo, Alaniz, Chandler, 2011 Perea, Palacios, Cuellar to sum it all up they didn’t come to ER because of Zepeda they were Pico kids from loyal ranch families, the talent was clearly there.
Here are the results of all Varsity teams Zepeda had at ER
2008 2-8 (0-5)
2009 – (2006 9-1 Frosh) 5-6 (2-3) Coin flip CIF berth
2010 – (2007 8-2 Frosh) 5-6 (2-3) At Large CIF berth
2011 – (2008 7-3 Frosh) 5-5 (1-4) No CIF
Clearly he inherited some awesome talent and completely underachieved, so can we say “Vinnie did it with Zepeda kids?” I guess we could, but Zepeda sure didn’t do it with the studs he had In the stable so let’s stop being fooled by his recruiting prowess as its all bogus, even now St Paul has gotten into the playoffs as a 4th place team 2 years in a roll, how in the heck does a 4th place team get invited to the playoffs?
That is why when I was told the PR Dons allowed Zepeda to snake his way in I decided to not play there.
That same Jr Midget staff are now coaching gremlins and are inheriting a good amount of NSFS kids who are from Pico and they are all committed to the ranch at this point, I guarantee you they are going to get pushed elsewhere but I don’t think they can flip these parents, that will be a loaded team heading to ER in 5 years.
Medrano has now coached 2 senior classes who were 1-9 and 2-8 respectively, he did more with less than the previous staffs have done with far more talented kids.
zepeda can talk, ill give him that… plus that run vinnie made with ER was with kids zepeda brought in to the program… or kids he convinced not to leave and try elsewhere….
i like the fact that he shows the kids love, shows interest… hosts camps, SP is hosting 4vert this year for 7v7, they have a lineman camp, they open facilities to kids to use… — smart business if you ask me–
i didnt want to name drop kids lol.. but you sure nailed some of them…… as far as the QB .. i dont see anyone beating campos at QB… thats the EXACT kid medrano needs! fast thinker and smart… accurate..
either way, im excited to see what we do this year… no more OC teams that we only played to build vinnie resume …… added more local teams .
the guy who said you wont have your son play at PR DONS, ill tell you this…. that zepeda speech in banquet if it did happen… doesnt justify that team, or coaches… why didnt medrano make himself more envolved or atleast anyone from ER… that team had representitives from every other school except ER… when will we learn that we need to recruit or atleast build a pipeline. Plus that team sonsisted of kids from every city in the SGV… hardly any pico kids… and we are getting about half of the pico kids and losing the other half to SP.
anyways – that staff is one of the best at the youth level… trust me. Influence whatever school the f want… wont change that they get kids prepared….
irony is…. most are RANCH GUYS that dont even push the ranch.
The ones i can think of are Willis, he won’t do much because of his attitude and Campos who likely will get beat out for the position this season. The other Pico kids on that team aren’t worth mentioning. Sammy Don should be at ER but he is at Warren consequently he has yet to do anything on the football field. Zepeda had that “hustle” at ER and had a total of 4 Del Rio league wins in 3 years. Sad that my fellow Pico People fall for that St. Paul BS when it truly is a downgrade. I was told the Pico Rivera Dons Jr Midget team had Rick Zepeda give a recruiting pitch at their team banquet, what a complete load of garbage that is, by that fact alone my 2 boys will not play for the PR Dons.
@TheRanch18,
We’ll agree to disagree. I can only think of 1 kid that’s at SP and he has an attitude in the past. I bet that’s a good reason why he’s not doing anything at SP. As far as SP’s “hustle,” Zepeda was at ER and all that hustle only moved ER back, not forward. He didn’t have any success at ER. So I’m not sure why Pico kids would go to SP. I do agree with you about Pico parents thinking their getting out of Pico by sending their kid somewhere else though.
I don’t think transferring is good for kids in the long run. What does that teach them? When things get tough, take off and bail? That’s not what I want my son to learn.
@NWO – That new guy in green should be in BLUE AND WHITE! lol… jk, regardless kid is making a smart move wish him nothing but the best… hopefully the haters dont hold him back.
@the ranch
we have a couple of PICO ADDRESS kids that are at SP right now … could have made a huge impact at ER and are doing nothing at SP… idk why bc its not like SP has a crap load of talent… they do have some good talent coming in and as much as im not SP… i give them credit on the HUSTLE they put in.
Most PR kids that think they are better end up at SP.. not all but most. Trust me there is some kids that went to other privates bc ER is Ghetto. (more like the parents were probably ghetto when they were at the ranch and think there kid will walk the same path i guess lol)
kids that have left ER… not many… tbh … bc once they start they usually finish and buy in… but the problem is in the kids that never make it to ER.
as someone mentioned earlier… you cant look at PR youth bc most of the teams that do very well consist of a bunch of kids from out of town…. PR DONS recruit better than ER lol
Yes he’s know Jude for years cuz he coached Arthur Brown at SG… if that isn’t undue influence I don’t know what is…
No one has transferred out. Of the actual Pico kids who are good playing elsewhere, there’s hardly any, a few sophomores at St Paul who have hardly done anything. If you look at the standouts at the PR Dons the last few years they are out of city kids who shouldn’t have been playing at PR in the first place, The Pico Rivera Dons single handedly weakened El Rancho’s football program by not putting the emphasis on the Pico Rivera kids. Leadership at the Dons is currently looking questionable, but supposedly they are trying to change things but these things take years. The Wolverines is another mess, they are like 5 minutes from folding so not sure if they can provide any quality kids to ER. Look at the surrounding programs, Whittier Redskins, Montebello Indians etc, they play with mainly kids from their city, even if they have bad seasons most of them end up playing HS Football together and develop into some awesome teams. On the other hand Pico is producing maybe an average of 5-10 Pico Rivera kids as 8th graders, 2 end up at privates and the other 8 are decent to avg kids who go to ER. If El Rancho is to be strong again, Pico needs to develop Pico football players, until that happened we are going to continue to hope for P.E. All stars to turn into football players at the ranch.
@TheRanch18,
You’re always saying guys are transferring out. Who’s transferring out? I haven’t seen a player of impact leave in the last few years.. One did but he came right back .And I can only think of 1 kid right now who is a Pico resident but plays somewhere else and he’s not tearing it up where he’s at. So who is it we keep losing because Inalways hear we’re losing kids but I’m just not seeing it. And we got a couple transfers last couple years and they hurt more than they helped except for 1 lineman.
That “new guy in green” has known that “OC advisor” since he was a kid and his older brother was coached by him at another Almont school.
lol lets wait till august when the dust begins to settle….
this season will be an idea of where medrano and staff are heading……
as for “other” schools transfers and all that…. im Pro transferring for athletic reasons, i believe there should be no penalty… let the kids play wherever the F they want.
i wish ER recruited and went out to grab kids…. i think this is big mistake on medranos part…. i know he wants to stay loyal to local talent and coach up what you get and all that other GOOD STUFF you want to hear…
BUT F that, you want to win NOW… you need to get talent to transfer IN! not OUT.
he’s been gone for months now.
Get ready for a huge splash out of Los Altos!!
Well Ramos taking kids from Montebello lol. Néw running back former Oiler new Spartan. Shurr still lost a lot and Montebello lost a good one
You Dons and Pico guys are nuts! Schurr would get smashed by El Rancho!? Weren’t they last place in league! And don’t count poor pioneer! Y’all lost two three teams Schurr beat last year! Da heck! And not to point out that Schurr’s staff our classes el Rancho! Cmon! Maybe that’s why no one can ever stay coaching there and players don’t wanna go…. cuz you guys are nuts! Loco en la cabeza! Shiiiet!
The irony of the Pico Rivera retardation, little Johnny is going to the NFL and then sending him to St Paul of all places…Hahahaha… Or little Johnny needs to go to this private school because ER doesn’t help kids get to college meanwhile ER keeps getting kids accepted to MIT, Stanford, USC, UCLA Etc.
i can see your point… but tbh lets be honest with eachother….
all the kids that should go to ER dont… most bc the parents have some blind mentality.
look at our youth programs, they dont even push kids to ER…
alot of kids THINK they are better than The Ranch!… ALOT of parents THINK lil johnny is better than THE RANCH…
i say ONE THING
PROVE IT!!! send lil johnny to his home school and PROVE IT! no one will hate you nor give you DELETED for leaving… we always want whats best for PR youth… i think if anything you will get Supported in taking a shot at the BIG DAWGS
but prove it first… medrano has not had decent talent to work with… lets be honest. last season alone we lost many games at the end… losing is losing i know but take note in how we lost… and who we had
i hope we get more kids buy in to the program and kids come back home…. bc they sure are not doing anything special where they at now.. .
With what? Your lower levels are absolute trash and graduated your whole team.
So schurr beat the DRL 3rd and 4th place teams, and would get smashed by the 5th place team El Rancho. Yeah, that makes sense. No way schurr would be able to compete with the mighty Dons!
I’m sorry but last years Schurr team and this years Schurr team would beat El Rancho. Ok Schurr barely beat Whittier and beat Cal……..who did ER beat in league ??? Pioneer haahajah please stop it.
Er beat BG and MHS. League Champs Schurr barely beat DRL 3rd WHS and 4th Cal. LS and SF would beat Schurr and MHS by 21 or more.
Hey idiot, look at their names they are all “Del Rio league guru” or some other crap, stop associating ER people with the BS.
Hell no… Put last years squads on the same field and ER would smash Schurr… ER owns Montebello teams.
Boy are you wrong. Pico Rivera has been void of talent for years. If you look at every Successful PR Dons team in the last 5–8 Years they have been loaded with talent that is not from Pico Rivera. Solid kids coming from Whittier, Rosemead, Montebello, SG, BG, when it comes time to head to high school they all disperse back to their home school or go to a private and then people talk as if ER can’t retain kids, how are they going to retain kids who aren’t from Pico to begin with? The powers that be at Rivera park allowed this out of city trend to happen and it has truly weakened the ERHS program. You want simple yet this “Saturday offense” got this program its first playoff win in 15 years. ER has been mediocre for some time, Vinnie Lopez caught lightning in a bottle, but underachieved when that 2014 team should have been a semi finalist at least.
ER would still smash Schurr. ER has toyed with Arroyo at the lower levels the last couple of years.
How much better is the del Rio league… Whittier, Cal, El Rancho, pioneer. Cmon!! Same as Alhambra, Bell Gardens, Keppel and San Gabriel. Get off your high horse!
It’s still early but good luck to all teams this year especially all the underdog teams who are already getting over looked. Go Los Altos
Win or lose playing that type of team is good to gain experience. You can’t get better if you dont play better teams, just saying
I’m wondering if Diamond Bar will ever rise from the ashes? I have a good feeling about this new HC that just got hired. Time will tell.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you El Rancho people are nuts. This time a year ago, you were all saying Medrano was the next coming of Vince Lombardi and this year if he loses a league game, then he’s fired. And I witnessed firsthand that you’re worse in the stands than you are in the blogs. Can you guys just let the man coach? Your lack of support just might be the reason you haven’t had a coach last for more than 10 years in decades. You have a chance at stability so let the coaches coach. Not even Bishop Amat fans are as boisterous as you guys.
You don’t see other programs fans saying this kind of stuff and it’s not as if El Rancho was lighting the world on fire before Medrano got there. In fact, didn’t he win the first playoff game for the school in something like 15 years? And on top of that, I can think of a program in La Verne that used to be known as one of the top programs in the SGV and IE that would love to have Medrano back.
So if ER wins, it doesn’t exactly mean El Rancho has the best staff around and if they lose, it won’t mean that the man who took a pay cut to coach his alma mater needs to be fired. Just support your program guys.
I meant Diamond Ranch, not El Rancho
I meant Diamond Ranch, not El Rancho.
@Sgv fan
The kids can absolutely do both. But, it hasn’t worked to this point. So… start with the strengths of the team. That’s all I’m saying.
You bring up Schurr and Arroyo. Let’s start with schurr. They play in a weak league so those offensive stats are misleading. In the playoffs, they were pitted against teams with half the enrollment. They were the one seed and should’ve rolled through the playoffs. But they couldn’t put up points against the only other team with equal enrollment numbers.
Arroyo- also plays in a weak league they legitimately have one game a year that matters in league as does Schurr. Two years ago they had the deepest non private school team in area. Add that to a very low division placement and poof… magic. But for years upon years arroyo was bounced early.
But I will say this both Arroyo and Schurr could step into the ranch and leave with double digit dubs!
SGV fan you just named two of the most UNDER ACHIEVING programs in the area! Arroyo FINALLY wins a CIF championship but how many should they have won? Schurr has underachieved for years and that didn’t change this year. Schurr lost in the 2nd Round…really!
1. LS– Strengths- organization, weight room, offense, affluent players
2. Cal– Strengths – organization, Freshman HC, off season, track team, Boosters
3. Whittier– Strengths- simple scheme, entire staff on campus, defense, video editing
4. Er –Strengths – Multiple plan approach, experience, special teams, Slow Pain
5. Santa Fe — Strengths- Recruiting, winning mentality, weight room, social media
@Ranch18
Who in your eyes are the top 5 coaching staffs in the area?! Which coaches you think are game changers?
@Prog Anonymous
What are you talking about! Toughness! Why can’t the kids be tough at el Rancho and run the offense!? Look at what Arroyo coach did, look at what Schurr did when they went from veer to spread, look at some of these other teams that have similar styles of offense! Maybe the staff isn’t as good as we might think! Either way give the Medrano team this year to prove their worth, 3rd year should be a tell to where the program is going!