Desert Valley Blitz

EP#17-Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Won’t Work-The Chris Johnson Story

• CV Hustle Studios • Season 1 • Episode 17

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What if a high school football program could change the trajectory of an entire valley? Coach Chris Johnson joins us to share how he went from Southeast San Diego to the NFL and into a purpose-driven head coaching role at DCA, where “bigger than football” is more than a motto—it’s the operating system. He opens up about meeting his father late, losing his mother, walking on at San Diego State, and clawing from sixth on the depth chart to a four-year starter. Then the pros tested him again: cuts with the Chargers and Vikings, a Grey Cup in Canada, and finally game snaps after week 12. The theme through it all is simple and hard: persistence over polish, structure over slogans, service over status.

We dig into why multi-sport athletes develop instincts that translate on Friday nights, how a staff-first philosophy lets coordinators thrive, and the weekly structure that turns belief into execution. Coach Johnson lays out DCA’s vision to become the modern-day standard of the East Valley with a unified pipeline, clinics that welcome rivals, and showcases that remove cost barriers for under-resourced athletes. He’s candid about not taking a football paycheck, raising funds to keep tuition accessible, and building facilities that signal the valley’s talent can stay home and still be seen.

You’ll hear the fingerprints of his coaching tree—especially Dan Armstrong’s tough, simple, and loving approach—and the practical blueprint for program building: clear roles, situational practice, honest film, and relentless communication with top coaches around the country. We close with the heart of the mission: help kids believe, build a community that wins the right way, and prove that hard work beats hype when hype clocked out. If you value culture, development, and a vision big enough to lift everyone, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a coach or parent who cares, and drop a review to help more listeners find the show.

#desertchristian #dca #dcafootball #sandiegostatefootball #nfl #highschoolfootball #chrisjohnson #football #coachellavalley

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome back, everyone. This is the Desert Valley Blitz, and today we're gonna have a special coach's corner. Um, we're very excited to have uh one of the leaders of our community here in the studio, right, Coach Josh?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03:

Today's special guest is DCA's head coach. And as you may have known, the DCA is on quite a roll, Mr. Chris Johnson. Thanks for coming in, man. It's a pleasure to be on you guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we're excited to have you, man. You're one of the up-and-comers here in the valley, and we're we're real appreciative that you came in and came to talk to us today. I'm truly humbled to be here. That's for real. So we're gonna so we're gonna take it way back, man. Okay. Way back. So tell us about you. Yeah, we want to go back to the beginning, not even your football beginning, but life beginnings. Where are you from? How you know, how'd you how'd you come to be the head coach that you are today?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I love talking about that story. So originally from uh Southeast San Diego, the 619, Reggie Bush. 619. So I grew up in uh Valencia Park area, straight up Southeast. Um, ton of gangs, ton of drugs. Typical young black kid from the inner city, single, single mom. I met my pop when I was 12. My dad was strung out on drugs from the Vietnam War. But when he came back into my life, you know, everything was good. I was playing Little League Baseball, but by the time I got to high school, is when he had another fall. But by that time, my younger brother was born, so that gave me a reason and passion. And to this day, he's a big part of my life. We just lost my mom, as I told you guys earlier before the show, last Saturday. We just buried her. So that was that was tough for me and for me and my younger brother. We're we're mama's boys, man. But growing in the Southeast, I was more scared of my mom than I was the gangbangers and drug dealers. Yeah. Patricia Johnson was no joke. Okay. So that led on to um a walk-on opportunity at San Diego State, which I was sharing with you guys earlier. Dan Armstrong is my dude. That was before cell phones. So his phone bill was over$300. Making a long distance call trying to get me a walk-on. How cool is that? I thought I was going, I was getting recruited. I got shoe boxes still to this day. UCLA, USC, you know, all the big ones, Notre Dame, but I never played defensive back. So I tell kids all the time if it's God's plan, it's God's plan. I was an offensive lineman my sophomore year and junior year high school, a middle linebacker. My senior year, I told him I wanted to play quarterback because I wanted to lead the team, and I played outside linebacker. The first time I ever played defensive back was in an all-star game where I met one of my best friends today, a kid by the name of Darryl Lewis, which you guys know was Xavier's first head coach. I know Daryl very well, man.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, great coach, great man.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so coming out of San Diego State, I walked on. Al Luganville was the guy that offered me an opportunity to walk on. They didn't have priority walk-ons, but he had met with me and my mom after watching me play basketball, which was my love. We were playing Torrey Pines High School, and he was able to come watch because his assistant coach at the time, um, Coach Underwood sons, played at Torrey Pines.

SPEAKER_02:

All right.

SPEAKER_00:

So he was there as a spectator, but he was watching me to see if I could move, and I had one of my best games. So athletes play more than one sport. Absolutely. Play more than one sport. And then that led, man, I went into camp as sixth on the depth chart. I was the sixth safety on the depth chart.

SPEAKER_01:

But you were on the chart.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and I was PO'd because of that. So I went into camp with a chip on my shoulder and I left camp at second string. The last scrimmage, I twisted my ankle so bad I could see all the bottom of my cleat. So I started college on crutches. So I redshirt it. But I was a four-year starter at San Diego State. I think I still might even be on the tackle all-time tackle list. Like 270. Yeah. I had a great college career. At one point in time before I got hurt, I was leading a conference in tackles. I was like 10 tackles a game as a safety. Okay. So you never played DB until you stepped on a college field? All-star game after the after my senior year, the summer. We played LA City All-Star. San Diego County's play LA City. And it's because jet safety. First time I ever played safety in my life.

SPEAKER_03:

That's amazing, man. Yeah. I mean, that just tells you you're a great athlete, but. Basketball did it. But all those athletes out there that think that position is all the be a end all be all. It don't really matter, right?

SPEAKER_00:

No, you gotta play. You learn to track a ball from playing baseball. I was an outfielder all my life, right? So I had great and I coordinated depth perception from playing baseball. Yeah. That's awesome. I got my little smooths and stuff from being on the basketball court, my quick twitch and things like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

That's awesome, man. So you spent this my research on you spent a little time in the league, right? I did. Elaborate on your experience at that level.

SPEAKER_00:

That's that's my testimony, man. Like, you don't have to be the fastest. You don't have to be the strongest. I never was. There are kids, you guys know that, man. Every neighborhood, there's a kid that has it, but he don't do it.

SPEAKER_01:

You always hear about him.

SPEAKER_00:

He has it, but he don't do it. I was the one. I didn't necessarily have it, but I did it. I was always the hardest work. I tell the kids today at DCA, no one will ever outwork me. They won't out, they won't outwork me. So I was a uh free agent to the San Diego Chargers in 1994. Staying home, huh? It was a beautiful thing. Um I was part of that '94 Super Bowl team. Oh, yeah. So I got cut from that team. Rodney Harrison was one of the guys that beat me out. Which understanding he's gonna be a Hall of Fame. Rodney Harrison was the real deal, man. Um then I went to the Vikings in '95. I got cut again. But I loved Denny Green because he spoke life into me. He said, Chris, one day we believe you can be a pro bowler. But we drafted a kid and second round kid by the name of Shelley Hammonds. Excuse me, and he felt like they had to give him another chance on practice squad. So in 96, they brought me back after I went to the Great Cup. You talked about my ring, I got my Great Cup ring on. And um they brought me back after I went to Canada for a year and I finally made the team. So I was cut three times before I actually played in the NFL game. Wow. Because even in 96, I didn't make the 353-man roster right away. So I got cut again. I went to practice squad. Week 12 is when I got my opportunity. Wow. So that's been the story of my life. It's just waiting until my time and just keep pressing in, keep grinding. Gotta keep grinding. Yeah. That's awesome, man. So how many years did you play in the league? Not for long. That's what NFL stands for. I got I got, I think, a year and a half, two years was what I got accredited for. I mean, but from where you came from to where you got to is a pretty amazing story, right? Well, I like to tell kids is you know, financially, and anything you do, if you could be top 10%, you're good. If you make it to the NFL roster, 53-man roster, you're top two percent. You'd like one and a half top percent in the world at what you do. So that's something that no one can ever take from me. Right. And if you play college football at any level, that's including junior college. You're top 7%.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, 7%.

SPEAKER_00:

7%, including junior college. So what I tell the kids at DCA is if you want to go and play college football, you need to be better than 93% of people. Wow. And that's not an easy thing to do. It's just work. Right. Most people, when they when they hear that number, they shy away from their goals because they want to put that work in. That's something that my mom instilled in me. She, and I believe it. She said like this, baby, if you believe it, you can achieve it. And that's been my life.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. That's some great advice. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So we're taking it from your playing days, and then like for all of us, even like the guys that didn't get past high school, football comes to end, could comes to an end pretty, pretty abruptly and pretty badly for most of us, right? Unless you're John Lway riding off into the sunset with a Super Bowl. 99% of us is gonna end badly, right? As a player. So from that, from how did you kind of figure out that, hey, maybe the next step is coaching? Or was that always something that you were kind of thinking about, or is that something that kind of evolved?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no, that's a that's a great question, Bobby. So if you follow anything we do at DCA, you'll see one of our monkers is bigger than football, right? So because of that, football will let you down. Tell the boys all the time, I'm not trying to burst your bubble because I've been to the pinnacle, it's gonna let you down. They laugh at how I walk. You know, Nathaniel Guerrero, one of our wide receiver running backs, he's hilarious. He can make fun of me better than anyone because I'm limping around with the old knees, the old hips. Um, but football will let you down. So when my when I finished, my good friend James Gordon, who was coach at NDO High School. Shout out to James, shout out to Jay Gordon, my dude. Yeah, thanks for coming down and supporting me during my hard times, brother, when my mom passed. But um, he was at Horizon Christian Academy in San Diego. He said, CJ, you gotta come coach. And I was like, Jay, wait. You know, I gotta make sure I get this out of me. I don't want to start and you know, and not go. Because if a team calls me, I'm gonna go work out. So I went out like maybe September, October. It's like their third game of the season. And I went and checked them out, and I was like, man, these dudes can play. One, I didn't know there was such thing as a Christian school. I had just got saved my rookie year with the Chargers. Darren Carrington Sr. led me to the Lord my rookie year. So I would go to Bible study, Junior Sal, Ronnie Harmon, Darren Carrington, you know, all these uh natron means, all these guys are in Bible study, and I'm flipping out, like I'm just ecstatic to be there, but the Lord is working on my heart. So that's really when it's when it when it started. Um in 95 when I met with my finance guy, he said, Chris, football comes to an end. What do you want to do? You know, that's all you know is play ball. I was like, man, I don't know. So I took about two weeks and I had to write it down. I was telling my youngest daughter today, because she's trying to figure out what her career is. She just graduated from Vanguard and she's working as a behavioral tech, and she already got bit and hit once, and she's like, Oh, this is probably not for me. I said, That's that's part of life. I said, You gotta write down what it is you like. Not a job, not how much money, just what makes you happy. What do you love to do? So that's what I did. I wrote it down. And I said, I want to teach the Bible and I love to coach. So that was in 1995. I got my first experience in '94 when I got cut from the charges. I went back to my alma martyr at Crawford High School and I coached at Crawford. Um while I was still working out. And that's when I really, really fell in love with it. And this kid named Rafael Jones. I still talk to Rafael once, once a year, once every couple years. He was a great quarterback, went on to Arizona. But I I saw I had a gift with kids to get them to believe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was that was it, man. It was teaching the Bible and helping kids to believe because where I came from, you were told either to be a professional athlete, go into some type of entertainment or sell dope to be successful. And I found something different, yeah, and I wanted to share that. So that was that's to this day that's still my drive. That's awesome, man. Yeah. Although that coaching thing was already kind of in you at a young age, you know. Coaching and teaching. I said coaching and teaching is the same thing. If you ever have a great teacher, they're the same as a great coach. They have the same thing, they can have a very difficult concept and they can make it simple. That's what great coaches and great teachers do. You know, they make you believe that you can do it, and then whatever they're teaching or coaching on, whatever that concept that seems huge, they simplify it where you believe you can do it. And that's and that's what I love doing. That's my gifting. That's awesome, man. Yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03:

So going to back to your Elma mater, getting a job, when when did you start to say, hey, maybe I can make a career out of this, or maybe you know, this is something that you know I can kind of take to the next level? Because you're you're a lowly assistant making nothing, you know, you're you're you're coaching the DBs or whatever you're coaching. Yep, that's what I did. It's you know, for I we me and Josh have both been there, like you're not making any money.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're you're you're gonna get your gas money back. If that, right? If that.

SPEAKER_03:

So a lot of guys can't make it through that grind. You know, a lot of guys are like, hey, I like to do this, but I gotta pay the bills, you know. So we gotta figure out a way to do this. How what was the kind of progression from from being that assistant to saying, hey, I can make a career out of this and you know, going and making this a long-term thing, not a short-term thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. So for me, it was a it was it was a call not to over-spiritualize things, right? So you have a voc a vocation, right? The Latin word vocation is vocare, right? So it's and that comes from a calling. Once I gave my life to the Lord, I knew my responsibility was to give back to kids that came from a situation like me. Even today, I spent a lot of time in the East Valley. When I started the showcase, the showcase was really for kids in the East Valley. I made sure if they couldn't afford to come to the showcase, that I would go out and raise money and have people pay to make sure I could have all the pro athletes here. Because my mom couldn't do that. So from day one, I've always um me and my wife talked about a day, had a huge heart for the underprivileged. So you guys are not gonna believe this. I went seven years at Horizon in San Diego and didn't make a dime head coaching. Really? To this day at DCA, I'm not making a dime. What? Coaching, head coaching. Well, you know, I have the opportunity to raise, which I'm gonna do. Wow, yeah. They've given me the opportunity to raise money for it. But in private schools, we don't get the um the money from the government. Wow so it comes out of tuition, which you don't want to raise because now you outprice some kids. And we're that private school where I'm not nothing against any other school. We're not that private school of elitists. We're elite. Everything we do is great, but it's not just for certain people. Anyone that wants to make a somewhat of a sacrifice can come to DCA.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And that's that's that's that's my heart. That's always been my heart. Because that was my mom, right? So even to this day, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't make a diet. That's amazing. Yeah, I love it. I love it. That's a cool. Mama not gonna be too shortly okay with it first.

SPEAKER_01:

Other head coaches get make a lot of money in other states. It just seems California, the the money's just not there, especially you know, DCA not being a public school.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, if you go to Orange County, they make a I've done some research. Yeah, yeah. Victor Santa Cruz is one of my own. It's a big job.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a big, big job. I mean, uh it I don't know if I'd ever be able to do it. I'd have to be retired. Yeah, you can't work. You can't have a job.

SPEAKER_03:

You can't have like a career. Yeah, that is your career. If you're gonna do it right, that's your career.

SPEAKER_00:

But for me, it also gives me leverage with the kids. They know that football doesn't pay my bills. Yeah. So it shows I do it because I love them and I love it. They see how much work you're putting. You know what I mean? I I get paid to be an administrator at DCA. Oh, that's amazing, man. The the football piece is is extra. And then time, you know, the Lord, the Lord will yeah, he'll pro he'll provide. You know, I know, I know, I know he'll provide, but my even though I'm not making the cash now, it doesn't mean I don't still put the time in. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03:

And you can tell because your team is prepared. 100%. Right? You can tell. I can tell who's prepared and who's not. It doesn't matter how much you're making or not. Yeah, the work is the work shows that Friday night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you know, and right now that work is showing. So speaking of which, DCA is doing a huge fundraiser. If you guys want to be a part of it, make sure that you give back. We support kids, we love kids. Awesome. Check it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Check it out. We'll get we'll get the we'll get the link in the bios and all that for you. Yeah, so we'll get that out there.

SPEAKER_01:

But going back to your childhood, what what did you like uh love about sports? Like, obviously, um, you know, you said your dad wasn't there all the time. Yeah. What did you find out on that football field that attracted you and kept you coming back?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, it wasn't even football. I hated football when I first started. For really I tried to quit. Yeah, really? Yeah, unless you're park charged, I never forget Pee-wee. Oh, you guys remember? I hated the leglips.

SPEAKER_03:

I hated that stuff, even the pen tap, right? The military aspect of it. Oh man, I couldn't stand.

SPEAKER_00:

And now I'm probably the hardest coach there. That's my boys. I tell them, I said, they beg me to coach, you know, for a long time. I was like, you guys think you want me up there? I'm different. I'm old school. All right, Dan Armstrong is but well, uh, dude, I am the most competitive person you know.

unknown:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So you got that fire. One of my friends told me one time and said, Chris, you're so competitive, it's hurtful. Like, I don't need like some of my coaches, they keep up with like the scores during the week, like who's picked to win and stuff like that. My staff, they keep me informed, uh, but I don't I don't need that, bro. Yeah, like I have a huge vision and I I'm not afraid to share it. Like, our goal when we took over, we won a small won a small school state championship this year. I've done it before in San Diego. I see the talent. If we get, you know, stay healthy, right? And we get the right draw in the right division, I believe we have a chance. Totally doable. But the big goal is, and I started this nine years ago when I when I got here, we would love to be like a modern day of the East Valley, you know, out in the East County out here.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

We want to build it big. DCA's doing big things. So like we have a project over there that's about 42 million. I agree that we're that we're working on. I see. On some things that we're trying to build. So we're looking for people that want to invest in it and want to grow. And is this going to bring more notoriety to the valley? Yes, absolutely. There's a ton of kids, you know. Uh the kid over at um Laquinta, Georgia's never forget his name, the cornerback that's going to Utah. Henshin? Oh, Hinchon, yeah, major. Major, major, yeah. You know, you got the quarterback at Xavier. There's some kids out here. I connected with the kid at Palm Springs, the running back. I sent him at the under on the under under the radar thing. I was like, bro, send me your film.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Everyone I know. I call Marshall. I call Marshall at Colorado. I call Spencer Danielson, who I coached in high school at Boise State. I've been doing people that know that. I've been doing that for nine years, even before I got in the coaching games. With the kid Aaron over at CV. Yeah, I sent his tape out when I found him out. It's about these kids, man. So that's why we want to be big. We want to let people know we play football out here. Yeah. And we have been playing for a long time. You know, I remember Jeff Webb. I remember um neighbor. You know what I mean? Jeff Webb. When he was at NEO high school. He's still my guy, man. Yeah, man. It's been some boys out here, but for some reason they stop. They don't come down. We're gonna make sure they keep coming down.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, for sure. And I think um you guys are well on your way. And I think me and Josh have talked about this off-air. Like, we've been waiting for a school to kind of take that model and kind of run like modern day that, you know, just get all these same guys on the same team and make a run. Because right now, like it seems like we're just spread a little too thin with too many schools to make those deep runs. And I think there's gotta be, there's gotta be a way we can kind of get that one team that you know is gonna get all the guys that we can go make state runs every year.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you guys know my staff. That's the vision I sold. All every coach that interviewed I did it in my house, maybe except one or two. That's from our middle school staff all the way up. So Henry Hodges sat at my at my house for about two hours. And you know, I beg I begged and pleaded with him. Aaron Gasu, I sat down and met with. You know, Roy Rosales at C V.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Ernie Aerola, you know. I sat down with those guys and I shared with them. I was like, this is where I want to go. I need people to do it. I can't do it by myself. And if I couldn't get those guys, for me personally, it wasn't worth it. You know what I mean? Because I felt like the Lord had given me a vision, a very clear vision of what could happen here in this desert. And it may or may not happen, but I'm not gonna be afraid to go after it. That's awesome, man.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we need we need more visionaries like that. Yes, especially in this valley. I think I think that's something that might be lacking sometimes, is we just want to do it like the same way everybody's done it before. And why don't we just do it bigger and better than that's ever been done before? That's kind of the American way, right? Let's let's get after it and try and make this thing bigger than it's ever been done.

SPEAKER_01:

Starts with a good staff. I mean, you gotta have a good staff.

SPEAKER_03:

I think you already got that covered, man. Because I know some guys, I know a lot of guys are staff, they're excellent, man. I come I come from that tree and I didn't even realize it. I come from this guy's tree, I didn't even realize it. All the guys he's that coached, you've coached uh under under you have we got the offensive staff this year.

SPEAKER_00:

Next year, we'll get the defensive staff. So anyone that loves defense, right? I'm A-Man in the box, Pete Curl, right, Tony Dungey. I'm looking for someone like that, right? But um, right now I'm the head coach, D quarter, and and DB coach. Okay. That's too much. I want to go to the head coaching, fundraising, you know, building up, building the program up. So the offensive staff, it's set. Well, like I tell you, we'll add two more. We're looking to add Darren Carrington Jr. as a um outside guy. George Thomas will be our slot guy, and we're looking to add Kree Morris as our quarterback coach. Both of those guys would have been here. It's just we had some things came up. But we're looking to add those two next year, and then we'll build out the defensive staff.

SPEAKER_01:

I haven't seen so much film. You're running spread, a lot of spread for C Rivers. Go C C V. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Shout out to Bill Johnson. Any D coordinator that's a head coach, even uh Nick Saban did it in Alabama. You want your offense to run what gives you the most problems. Remember when he changed over with Lang Kiffin and Sark, right? Yeah. Because he had a hard time defending that.

SPEAKER_03:

Just bring them in, right? Bring in the bring in the smart guys in. Yeah, let them go. That's all I do.

SPEAKER_00:

I couldn't tell you how we call a play. I know schemes, right? But you asked me to call a play. If those dudes are not there, I couldn't call it. Matter of fact, I go to Mario Guile, our court. We did films yesterday. I was like, Mark, what what play is that? What was that? What play is that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know it. But those guys know that stuff inside and out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. And that's the way I mean that's kind of the way it should be. You want to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't want the one looking over your head. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Those dudes are amazing. Do your job and you're held accountable by the head coach. But if you're doing your job, the head coach is gonna let you do what you want.

SPEAKER_00:

And we have a system that's so structured, man. We we do the same thing. We had the kids right on the board. Monday, defensive majority, Tuesday, offensive majority, Wednesday, split practice. We do situations from backed up all the way to goal line. Thursday, pre-practice. We run through a pre-scripted Friday again. We do the same stuff over and over. If the system is already set up, if the coaches follow the system, they'll cover everything they need, but they got to put their piece on it, their offense. You know what I mean? Their little twinkles on it. I don't I don't need to know all that. I'm not an expert. Yeah, they get it. I just provide the structure and they provide all the creativity. And those dudes can call some plays, bro. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Putting up some points this year.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm telling you, we just get started. We've had our first game, we had two starters out. The second game, we had five starters out. The last game, we had two starters out, and we lost two more during the game. We lost our right guard and our all-American running boy. He's an all-American defensive back, Cash Scott. Yeah. He hurt his, he he hurt his he hurt his ankle. But then you bring in a kid, Nathaniel Guerrero, who's one of the top eighth graders, now ninth graders in the country to come in.

SPEAKER_03:

People know him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and he's the real deal, bro. He's been on the scene for a while. Yeah, he's the he's the real deal. So now we're trying to build that out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I mean, good job, man. You guys are compiling talent, which is one of the main things you have to do as a program if you want to get to where you want to get.

SPEAKER_01:

It starts with winning.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, winning, hey, winning, and winning only just snowballs to winning and getting more talent. So you're doing it right, coach. And I I'm a mire. I've seen what you guys are doing on the youth level, and now it's starting to filter upward. And it's kind of a beautiful thing. So we got big fans here at Desert Valley Blitz. You did mention, I don't know if we mentioned this, but your coaching tree has a legend that most of our audience would know. Uh, Mr. Dan Armstrong, one of the coaching legends of the valley.

SPEAKER_01:

That's where I got my start.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's where Coach Josh came from. Can you speak a little bit about that relationship and how it influenced you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Dan is still like a father figure to me. Dan is why I got into coaching. I wanted to impact people the way Dan Armstrong impacted me. There's two coaches that when I was young, Clarence Black was my little lead coach. I still talk to him to this day. I met him when I was nine. I'm 54.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, Dan Armstrong, I met when I was a 15-year-old sophomore at Crawford at Crawford High School. And I still talked, I still talked to Coach Armstrong.$300 bill trying to get me, phone bill trying to get me into college. You know what I mean? Wow. He literally almost got a divorce. Me and his wife, we remember he ended up at Shadow Hills, right? Oh, yeah. His last game coaching, me and James Gordon, we went and watched him coaching on the field. We talked for like an hour, and we just, me and Miss Armstrong and him, and we laughed. I remember when little Danny used to play on the bags at Crawford High School, jumping around. Yeah, Dan Armstrong is my dude, man. Because he did it with toughness, right? And he did it with love. We only ran about four or five plays.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

We only ran about four or five plays. But you you executed it, man. It was tough to stop. Yeah. Even if you knew it was coming. He helped me hire some of my coaches. I asked around.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

None of the coaches on my staff are back. I tell him all the time. I did my due diligence. Because I was new to the to the desert, right? I haven't been out here a lot. But Coach Armstrong helped me out. Yeah, 100%. That's awesome, man. And we still run some of his LQ stuff. We still run power and encounter. Yeah, how does this part of the blast pick out the end? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

This is music to coaches Josh Az over here. Yes, sir. We've won him over. So that's awesome, man. I mean, it's funny how this all this kind of goes full circle. And that's what we kind of speak to on the show is that there's a great community down here of us, coaches. And we've been doing a lot of good work for a lot of years. So this is what this show is all about is to kind of shine some light on that. Let's come together, guys. I mean, look, we'll compete Friday night if I'm playing. I want to win the coach, but then after that, we're good. We could we can break bread.

SPEAKER_01:

We can, you know, how reach you that then try to get better. And then when you play again, you gotta get better yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

I give you guys a real story like that. So me and Doc, we were talking at the at the showcase, and he was like, Chris, we any we boys, we enemies now. I'm trying to kick your butt. You know, we know you know, you know what I mean? And he's been another one that's been great. You know, I called him about our our game against um 29 Palms, you know. He talked to him, hey, you know, what are they doing? You know, stuff like that. Yeah, but it all it's all about the valley. That's what coaches got to understand. The more that we unify, like we're gonna start doing clinics at DCA. You know, we already start doing the camps. And and I and even in San Diego when I first started out, guys get afraid you're gonna steal their kids. This is my belief. If you if one of my kids want to leave, they want to leave. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm not, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hold on to you. But the reason why we have to unify is the better that we present on the field, the better it is for the kids. I'm constantly, bro, I I can show you my phone right now. I have a defensive coordinator text thread. It's a kid by the name of Lamar Butler. He coaches at Crown College. You guys might know his name, Bashif Jones. He's the defensive coordinator at Lincoln High School.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. That's a big time. That won a state championship two in the last four years.

SPEAKER_00:

Another kid by the name of Scott Catelyn, and then Spencer Danielson. Um, he was the head coach at Boise State. Our relationship with all those guys, every week they get a text from me asking about how to stop this formation or how to stop this play.

SPEAKER_01:

That's how you get better. That's what that's how you get better. We don't we don't know it all. I'm not trying to be the better. I don't know it all. Yeah, I want to learn more, you know. That's why we're doing this.

SPEAKER_03:

Um that's uh that's the key to everything, is continue to learn. The day we stop learning is the day we die. The day we die, right? So I mean, we got to continue to learn. That's awesome. Yeah, coach, you're doing a great job. I'm so I'm so excited to have you in here. Um, we're really gonna be cheering you guys on. I think you guys are doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

And uh, yeah, man, I think the best is yet to come for DCA and Coach Johnson, man.

SPEAKER_00:

I appreciate you guys. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure, man. You guys are doing an amazing job. I love watching it. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03:

It's it's it's a great to have you.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh, we'll be continuing to follow you all year. Yeah. Rest of you coaches, follow suit. We got to come in and blow this up. We got people who are doing it. The next person up. We got to make sure that everyone's watching this. That's right.

SPEAKER_03:

Next man up, coach. Next man's up. All right, guys. Well, you know the routine. If you liked what you saw today and found some value, like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz. Looking to upgrade your home, tile designs by Fina is your one-stop destination for beautiful flooring, hard surfaces, and countertops. From timeless design, modern styles, they've got the perfect look for every room. Stop by today and transform your space with Tile Designs by FINA. Let's design together.

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