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Browse by City/ StateSix valley high school football teams begin season with new head coach
Cathedral City High School football coach Rich McClure casually greeted players and their families as they gathered Saturday morning to kick off the upcoming season.
Cathedral City football coach Rich McClure talks to his troops at practice Aug. 24. McClure begins his first season as the Lions' head coach tonight when his team hosts Brawley. McClure is one of six valley teams featuring a new coach this season.
It was clear that McClure was presiding over the event in the Lions' auxiliary gym. His whistle was still dangling around his neck.
As players carried in food and beverages for the potluck breakfast, McClure joked with one of his offensive linemen that he should have carried in more than just a case of bottled water.
When everyone arrived, McClure stepped up to the microphone and congratulated the 88 players who had endured more than 85 workouts since the spring.
"If you look around, this is family," said McClure, who became a Lion after working as an assistant for six years at San Jacinto High School.
Six new football families have formed across the desert, and the patriarchs have prepared them for the season that starts today.
Several new coaches played on Friday nights in the desert when they were teenagers.
Desert Chapel's Jim Donaldson was the quarterback for the Eagles' first eight-man team in 2001 coached by Carlyle Lyneis. As a senior the following year, Donaldson led the team to the CIF Southern Section small schools championship game.
He returned to his alma mater after playing at Arizona and then coaching there as well as at College of the Desert. He will coach the Eagles on a familiar tract that now bears his mentor's name, Lyneis Field.
"He was my foundation with football," Donaldson said.
George Thomas helped to lead Indio to its second CIF title in 1981, graduated two years later and then played at UNLV. In 1988, the Atlanta Falcons drafted him in the sixth round.
Stressing fundamentals with his players, Thomas is eager to watch them mature on the field.
"I'm excited to see, once they learn some football, what we can do," Thomas said, "and what the rest of the people can expect to see from Indio."
While Indio opened in 1958 and won its first DVL title in 1961, Ron Shipley is coaching Shadow Hills in its debut varsity season in the De Anza League.
Before moving to Shadow Hills last year to become the athletic director as well as football coach, Shipley served as an assistant for 10 years at La Quinta, including the last five as defensive coordinator.
Shipley has applied many lessons he learned from the Blackhawks to his new team.
"They expect the best out of their players and demand it," Shipley said, "and that's been a great thing to take from there."
Desert Mirage's Ron Alford likely has one of the most diverse coaching résumés in the desert. Currently coaching the Rams' baseball team, he has also directed the football and girls' basketball teams at Coachella Valley and boys' golf team at La Quinta.
Increasing the intensity of his team's practices, Alford is preaching teamwork.
"I don't have any predictions, but I have expectations," Alford said. "We're going to be in shape, we're going to play hard and we're going to play until the end of the game and see what happens."
Travis Smith is adjusting to coaching fewer men on the field at Marywood-Palm Valley after working as an assistant at Cathedral City for eight years, most recently as the offensive coordinator.
"I know very little about eight-man, so it's been really refreshing," Smith said.
He also is happy to join his family. He soon will get to coach his son, Stockton, who is in eighth grade at the school. His wife also teaches there, and his daughter is in fourth grade.
At the breakfast Saturday at Cathedral City, McClure spent time with players' families as well as his own. That was welcome for McClure since he hasn't seen his wife and son and daughter too often during training camp.
McClure and most of his assistants still live in the San Jacinto area. Beginning last spring, they have piled into McClure's dark blue 2007 supercab Dodge Ram pickup to make the one-hour drive to Cathedral City. They conduct meetings in those tight quarters.
McClure won't have to make the drive forever. He is in the process of getting a job at the high school, Cathedral City principal Guillermo Chavez said.
In his interview, McClure impressed Chavez and others with his presence.
"He came in and knew about the tradition and history of our school and had a clear vision as to where he wanted to go," said Chavez, who spoke at the event along with athletic director Todd Diliberto and Cathedral City Mayor Pro Tem Bud England. "He commanded himself as coach."
McClure was relaxed but in charge Saturday. He coached players on where to affix their Lion logo on their helmets at the end of the event.
But his most crucial directions came after the speeches when he joked with players about how to approach the potluck breakfast buffet.
"You're not at home," he said. "There's not a refrigerator in the back."
The seniors and their families lined up first, and when it was time for each respective class to follow, McClure blew his whistle.
