Kyle Trudell has stepped down at Cal after a five-year stint.
By Tim Peterson
(Whittier) – Kyle Trudell has stepped down as the head football coach at California after five years he confirmed Monday.
Trudell took over for Jim Arnold in 2014 and guided the Condors to third place in the Del Rio League and a playoff berth in his first year. Cal went 6-5 overall and fell to Downey 51-20 in the first round of the CIF Southeast Division playoffs.
California went 2-8 the next year and 20-31 overall during Trudell’s five-year stint including 4-6 in each of the last three years. Despite stepping down as HC Trudell hasn’t ruled out coaching in the future.
“I may still be coaching football at another school as an assistant, but being a head coach and trying to grow a program took its toll,” Trudell said. “Wife and three young kids vs. running a program. It was a no brainer for me.”
Cal will begin the search for a new head coach immediately.
I was able to get some tea and real insight into WUHSD hiring process for this particular job. coach Gary Rico didn’t get the head coaching job because he does not fulfill the height requirements of a grown man is what we were told. We played for him at Whittier, he is only 5’4 which I try to tell people, is NOT abnormal at all for a 5th grader… but a 36/37 year old man with that stature is not normal. In the end the one that suffers the most is his child, that poor kids never gets to go to amusement parks because the daddy Gary Rico isn’t tall enough to ride any of the rides or enter the park or be a head coach in wuhsd.
Article ends with ‘cal will search immediately’ no they have not even put on cif site
Fb Fan= fans wanted Zamora? Do ‘basic fans’ know what is best? R they all ex successful athletes that now know what a good coach does? Medrano was 22-12 last 3 years at Bonita and was very successful this past season at ER. That has not been done since that coach that went to Pacifica! GURU=do all those you listed work in WUHSD? If so Y r they not interviewing already? Did someone post “y r they waiting?’ If so , maybe they are waiting to see who is retiring (usually announced mid march), so they know if they have openings to possibly hire a proven winner. I suggest, not know, better to wait and hire scientifically proven winner than hurry and hire new coach with no varsity head coaching experience. Coaching freshmen and jv opposing coaches is much diff than taking on good varsity coaches
WUHSD only opened it up to people at Cal High (surprised the district okayed this). Guarantees it can only be:
Louie Zamora – Current head freshmen coach at Cal
Patrick Winchell – Current OC and Oline coach at Bell Gardens
Gary Rico – Was the DC at Whittier
Ryan Bateman – Former head coach at HH Wilson
Don’t know who is going to apply but from what is being said Louis Zamora and Patric Winchell will apply.
Beltran would not take big cut in pay , anyway, to coach Damien
As for Louie Zamora, he is very qualified. To the commenter or who said to ask Singiser, Singiser speaks nicely of Zamora and was disappointed that he lost him at Arroyo. Remember it wasn’t very long ago that ER fans were calling for Zamora to be the HC way before they were asking for Medrano. It wasn’t until Medrano became a HC himself that ER fans were asking for him. So everyone needs to get their start at some point and Zamora’s time is probably now. With all things considered, I’m sure there are lots of qualified coaches who want this job,
Margarito Beltran would NOT be a good fit for Damien. If there was impending doom for him at La Serna then it would happen in at least half the time at Damien. I’m not saying he’s not a great coach, I’m saying he’s not a good fit.
Kids wanting to play for a coach is not unheard of. The question is will they still want to play for him when things aren’t going well? If the answer is ‘yes’ then great. However, Cal needs to establish a legit and winning program… not sure if Zamora is the answer but people should at least give this guy a chance.
@Guru. If we are thinking about the same coach I have been hearing a persistent rumor. Damien folks are ready to roll out the red carpet and open the bank books with a impending offer. Strictly hush,hush.
They say the kids want to play for Louie, but that’s what they said about Travis Brown. Hell, according to the best sources out there, Trudell was a jolly good fellow. That’s not going to cut it guys.
Cal needs someone who is going to come in and build a program, this decision should be based on this and only this. If they fly the position in the WUHSD only or open it up to the public, from the applicants who apply, who has the experience building a successful program. There is only one person who’s name has been mentioned that not only has the experience of building one successful program he is in the process of building another. We all should know who that is!
Congratulations Louie!!!!!!!!!
i for one hope you prove all these haters wrong…
you guys question why he is qualified? why is he not? hes been loyal to them and beleive it or not…. THE KID WANT TO PLAY FOR HIM…. say what you want about his DC experience or freshman level .. whatever…. but at the end of the day
He will turn these kids into young men! from personal experience …. having him coach me at ER when he first started (for FREE) … he taught us on another level, we loved Louie and would run threw a wall for him if he asked us too. i wish we had him at ER but i wish him the best.
CAL IS LUCKY TO HAVE LOUIE ! #FACT
Ask Jim Singiser
Zamora seems to be qualified because he is friends with the AD, according to what people are saying. He is a good dude and has coached for several years and the kids seem to like him. Other than that I’m not sure.
no answers to ‘my question of what makes Zamora qualified?
bio boneheads; ? what u think public school kids don’t learn Bull feces they don’t. And millions of public school kids are smarter than many private school students ‘Forced’ to go to school? Bull feces again . My sons educated in public school system ; both will be professional in occupations. And private school teachers don’t even have to have as much college education as p s teachers. Yes the surroundings may be better most of time.
La Serna is our minor-league team….they take a whoopin’ real good.
Cal High is our minor league team. When we need live tackling dummies and equipment carriers we bring a few up.
The basic difference between high school sports and high school academics is that one is voluntary, the other is forced upon the kids. Is it reasonable to expect good results from somebody who is being forced to do something? This is your clue to understanding why the government-run school system is a failure.
Sal was a good guy, he just could not win football game. I think he will have a rough time at Los Altos. He can’t win his head coach can’t win maybe the new OC brings in some kind of winning with him.
Biological Boneheads: ‘idiotic subjects’? California High school education system is idiotic and football is most important? Wow! Add all other districts in this state! Yes, I do 100 % agree what football and other sports, under decent or better coaching, can do for the athletes= as I truly believe “I learned more life skills on college baseball fields than I did in class rooms’!.. A very fortunate high school, and the community that supplies its student body, are pretty fortunate if that school’s administration is made up of an administration staff containing a few ex-athletes that realize the promise of ‘life skills learned through processes of football, baseball, etc. teams. Some high schools are led by Principals and asst principals that have that knowledge; but most do not! Therefor that schools sport program most likely suffer the effect. Most schools led by athletically inclined leaders hire coaches ; they look for coaches to hire; they know coaches that played sport in college know teamwork, know how to work with others to success, and usually have personality kids like. And BB = there are plenty of very very good coaches out there that are also very, very good teachers in the classroom. u do not know the process of schools; academics are the focus; not sports; Many districts , in this case Whittier Union HS, does not care much of winning; they care about ‘state test scores’ and rating successfully to other districts, so the school does not have to be ‘readjusted with major help from Cal Ed System Committee. Yea it is true! Very very often some administrators may be jealous of the ‘POWER’ a great football coach and leader brings to the school; possibly that coach is now respected by student body more than that ‘weak ego’ of administrator. Trudell’s biology major makes him a terrible coach? What major will make a great coach? PE? Cal state law prevents teachers from teaching outside their education mastery! districts must choose teachers accordingly or fall into process of correction from government leaders committees. U think Rollinson comes here and district will ‘put themselves in jeopardy’ by having him teach Biology even though his credential is special ed?
The teachers union tried to hold it up, but luckily the correct board member candidates prevailed in the November election and things will be green lighted soon.
Biological Boneheads, simply put, yup…unless they are able to move a teacher or two, and bump out a newbie, in order to open up a spot based on the subject said person is credentialed to teach.
Oh
As long as we are talking about money I have one question for ER politicos. What happened to the 300 million $ bond okayed by Pico Rivera tax payers in 2016 for a new stadium and school improvements. The stadium is a mess with lights and amenities that are lacking. I guess not until some kid breaks his neck stepping into a deep gopher hole will they throw some dirt around. Where’s the dough Joe?? I hear the teachers union is holding it up because they want more of a cut but they currently are getting a pay raise. Meanwhile my guess is the money is being ate away at by rats. This is why people like Trump get in. Nobody trusts civic leadership.
Wilson Hacienda Heights Head Coach position open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Sport Man is telling us that if BRUCE FRIGGIN’ ROLLINSON came asking to coach the Condors, they’d turn him away if his teaching credential didn’t match whatever idotic subject they required? Which means the Condor players withered for five years under the yoke of a guy whose real specialty was frog dissection? Looks like when it came to handing-out brains, the chain of evolution left Whittier district administrators out of the mix.
Air Attack; Covina district tops at over 100,000. I suggest the CUSD would have to have 100 students per classroom if the top salary was 79,000- and I suggest they would have few real good teachers=teachers like $$ too
What makes Zamora and rico able ?
Variables involved; and may end up being very, very crucial variables==most crucial is ?? will there be a teaching position for the new coach? And if so, will the openings match the credential the applicants have? Trudell was a biology teacher; Cal had a biology opening when Trudell was hired; and this fact was posted under ‘coaches wanted’ on CIFSS site; a crucial match that probably had effect on decision. If Mater Dei’s head coach applied for the job, he would not have been hired if he did not hold the correct credential. The school can play ball with the variables though=such as WUHSD did when Ancich was hired at Whittier a few years ago! Ancich was teaching Chemistry at Cal; WHS wanted him; enough to transfer the ‘current ‘ Chemistry teacher at WHS (against his wishes; ??? and ‘seniority within district’ may have been key to make it happen ??? How many retirees? and which subjects? wuhsd does not hire coaches ignoring the type of credential / subject matter; there are state regulations controlling to make sure classroom teachers have ‘single subject in specific subject in which they teach’==they do not have a teacher with a ‘social science credential or Language Arts credential ‘ teaching biology or math! Not allowed. I post this long essay because I have not read (maybe missed it) anything relating ‘ability to classroom teach in correct subject’ that will play major role in final decision. But let us all hope that there is no AD or administrator that will have weak ego and pick less able coach