Desert Valley Blitz

EP#18-How Coach Bill Johnson Flipped A Football Culture

• CV Hustle Studios • Season 1 • Episode 18

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A packed rivalry game. A struggling program. And a coach who saw both a problem and a blueprint. Coach Bill Johnson of Coachella Valley High School joins us to unpack how a valley-famous turnaround actually happened: a modern offense that matched the school’s athletes, practices designed down to the minute, and an academic backbone that kept classes together long enough to lead.

We walk through the pivotal moment when the run and shoot hit the desert and why it resonated with speed, agility, and space-savvy players. Johnson explains how empty sets, quads, and quick screens became more than tactics—they were an invitation for students to see themselves on the field. As numbers grew, so did competition, and the staff doubled down on a weekly planning cadence that treats every drill like a contract: clear objectives, coaching points, and no wasted reps. Add in thoughtful platooning to protect legs and power special teams, and the product became consistent—and hard to defend late.

But the quiet engine of the surge was academics. Johnson helped build study halls and close grade tracking so promising freshmen became dependable seniors. That continuity supported a string of quarterbacks—each with a unique skill set—who kept the offense evolving without losing its identity. From the first league title since the 1970s to a semifinal run not seen in decades, the results followed habits, not hype. Johnson closes with candid advice for aspiring coaches: stay a student of the game, learn from mentors you don’t always agree with, and plan before the whistle so your culture shows up every day.

If this story sparks ideas for your team or your leadership, tap follow, share it with a coaching friend, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find the show.

#highschoolcoaching #football #highschoolfootball #coaching #coachellavalleyhighschoool #deserthotspringshighschool #bellgame #cvfootball

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back, everyone, to Desert Valley Blitz. This is our coach's corner episode. And today we're real excited, right, Coach Josh? Yep. We got a star in our coaching community, and we're really excited to talk to him and talk to his talk to him about his career and his path to being, you know, the great coach that he is today, Mr. Bill Johnson from CV High School. Thanks for coming in, man. Thanks for coming in. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I appreciate that. Now we got to kind of run down your list of accolades before we start talking to you. I mean, four-time DVL champion. You know, you've you've been basically running that, running that league for the last five years. I mean, that your your coaching tree has grown. Your your your your coaches are are starting to make their way out of your program and and really go into other programs and have success as well. So that's a mark of a true coach. So we're really excited to have you in here and kind of hear about your story and and how how you got to be the great coach that you are today. Well I appreciate it. That's kind words. I kind of appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02:

How did you get started in coaching?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, um, when I decided to become an educator and start teaching, um I kind of made a uh pledge to myself. Where I was, you know, I was uh played football in high school. It was a big part of my life, it was a big part of uh my my that time in my life and motivating me and helping me get through challenging times when I was a teenager. So when I decided I was gonna work with teenagers and be a teacher in high school, I thought, you know, this is something I would like to get back to. I'd like to work with young people who are uh passionate about sports and passion per passionate specifically about football. And so um, you know, I kind of tucked that in the back of my mind. And when I got uh a position teaching at Coachella Valley High School in 2011, um, the athletic director at the time was Marty Holgeane. And um, you know, I talked to him, had conversations with him, and uh, and uh I remember the first uh time first day I got there was because I didn't start at the beginning of the year. I started in November because I got the job and and and they needed somebody at that point. So um I got in there, had a couple of days, like literally like two days, and uh um she's the athletic, she's the uh our uh the uh activities director at the time now, but at the time she was uh a teacher coach and was working with me as a math teacher at the time, Renee Vargas, and she's a C V alum. And she said to me, Hey, are you going to the Bell Game? I said, The Bell Game? What's a Bell game? Like I had no idea what this thing was. You were new to the valley. I was new to the valley. I'm coming from out of town, so it's 2011, it's November 2011, and she says, uh, you know, you gotta you gotta check this thing out. And I was like, okay, so I go, it was at Indio that year. So I go over to Indio High School and the place is packed. The team, one team is is one and eight, the other team's oh and nine, and the place is packed. Yeah, I'm like, this is something, and the passion and the energy. Um, it was it was really something to see. Um, and it was impressive because it was just the the the energy on both sides, the Indio energy, the the CV energy. And both teams have had really rough years, but it didn't matter. That game was meaningful.

SPEAKER_02:

That was their Super Bowl. Yeah. Generations in the stand that played in that game where we're watching, and and um, you know, their grandkids are playing against each other. That's that's fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean, and and that's the type of information I kind of started to people started to kind of school me on on the significance and the history of it. And I started to kind of start do my own research and learning about how many years this has been going on and what's the it's been back and forth. And India at that time, I think it had the the bell most of the had won the bell game most of the previous years at the time. It was um, and I was growing up, it was I remember India. India winning most of those battles. Yeah. Yeah. And so uh so it sometime, you know, fast forward uh a few months later, um, we were getting into the towards the offseason, and um I knew I was gonna stay at Coachella Valley High School as a teacher, and I wanted to get involved in coaching. The AD at the time came and talked to me and said, Hey, you know, why don't you talk to the head coach and uh and see if there's an opportunity to help out. So I did that and I got hired on as a freshman assistant, and um and things really started to roll from there. It was been a quiet. Started as a freshman. I did, I did. I was a freshman assistant and for about a month. And then uh the freshman head coach at the time, um, something came up. There was something that um made them have to kind of step away. And so, you know, I was the teacher on the of the on the freshman staff, so they turned to me and said, Hey, you're the freshman head coach now. Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Just like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Promoted promotion.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

About a month in. So um, you know, we did all right. We had a, you know, we had uh, you know, uh somewhere close to 500 season, I think that year, you know, just but yeah, and uh jumping in, that's just success. Diving in it. It was three, we were three and four or something like that, I think. You know, uh we had some games canceled, some other games. I I'd have to look back at it, but I remember just um, you know, the passion. I remember the Indio game that year. Um I remember uh just you know getting to know the the football community in a breakneck speed at the time. Yeah. The very next year I became um, so that was the 2012 season. Um uh the very next year I became the JV head coach, um the head coach of the same was the same at the time. And uh and and we had a you know up and down season then. After that season, that's when Coach Brett Davis took over the program and brought the run and shoot in. And uh I remember at the time, you know, just getting to meet him and and learn about his background and things like that. And we, you know, we had uh a lot of good conversations about just school and football in general and and particularly offense. But he's a he's a offensive guru and very strong at what he does. And um, and so we had we spent a lot of many hours uh talking about football and on the board and talking about stuff. And I and I I learned a lot from him.

SPEAKER_02:

Sounds like a good time, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was incredible. It was uh in it was an incredible period of of working together to take the C V program at the time. You know, there was an 0-10 season, there was a three and seven season, I think there was a four and six season, and then Coach Davis came in um and just kind of working from the ground off, getting more kids involved in the program, structuring practices, uh just changing the expectation, changing the look and feel of what C V football was while r uh while being very uh um embrace of hey, the reason why we're doing this is because the great traditions of C V and you know Coachella Valley uh football has such an amazing history that I've learned about more and more as I've gone on just recently. I was looking through history of the school and um reading about the very first C V football game and on October 10th, 1930. Wow. Wow, that's some history right there. So we're coming up on a hundred years of C. We are coming up on a hundred years, gentlemen, of C V football.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, are you guys gonna do anything to to document that? You gotta talk to the AD, man. That's coming. I mean, that's that's only a couple years away. There has to be something great.

SPEAKER_00:

And especially if you think about um, I've you know, and I have looked, I've looked forward and said in you know, in in 2030, that day is definitely during football season, and it's a Thursday night. So you can play on the anniversary if we get it right. Um the game was against banning. Um so you could even schedule banning to come. There's a chance to actually play banning on that year a hundred years later.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's get to work, people. So let's make that happen, man. We gotta we athletic directors, we gotta make that happen, man. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

So yeah, that's it's it's it's a so it's a special um history, you know, you're talking about when you're talking about C V football. So having gotten getting a chance to be a part of the turnaround at the program and seeing us go from where we were at when I first started to you know where we got to in 2017. CV won uh uh its first league championship. It was a Dean Zah championship at that time, but it was the first league title since the late 1970s. It was 1977, it was the last time previous. Wow. So that was a great breakthrough. And since then we've 40 years, man. Yeah. Every year we've won it every year since uh it's amazing. Since uh except for 2019, Yucca got us that year, and uh uh and then in in 2023, Yucca got us there too. So we've had great battles with that school.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. But you I mean, so I remember when you guys took over because I was still coaching at Indio, and you got I mean, football was like an afterthought to soccer, and like every other sport was more important at your school besides football. Football was kind of like an afterthought. So what do you attribute? Like, I mean, because all of us coaches want to know, like, what do you attribute that turnaround to? I mean, that's not a that's not I've coaches have tried to change culture and go, yeah, go into like a losing program and thinking they can solve it, but you guys actually did it. What do you what do you attribute some of the factors that you could, you know, that that work for you guys?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I I I and I've I always tell the student athletes now, um, I tell them don't take this for granted. Um I because I was coaching in a time when it was very difficult and things, you know, and uh and there are patches, student uh uh programs go through difficult times. Yeah, it takes it takes something special to turn them around when they have those difficult stretches. And uh and so I always tell the student athletes, I always tell the players, hey, you know, take don't take this for granted. You know, the people who came before you, the players that came before you earned it and they maintained it, and now it's been passed to you. So you know, so you have to kind of keep that level of energy. What changed it? Um I think uh first and foremost, I think you know, bringing in a uh an exciting new offense was big. Um, you know, when Brett Davis brought in the run and shoot offense, the the that offense it fit the athletes that we had. You know what I mean? We had speed, we had agility, you know, we had soccer. Um right. We have a community that where where soccer is influential, whether they're playing soccer now or they just played it when they were young or what have you. Many, so many of our student athletes have touched soccer in some way. Um and so uh, but just um that sensibility, those instincts, those type of athl those, those athletic components of speed, agility. Um, you know, and you're talking about a spread concept with a lot of passing, so you need those receivers, and and so, you know, we realized as soon as that we brought that offense in and started students started coming out and checking it out and joining the program, our numbers grew. A lot of kids, and that was the first thing, you know. They were buying in. Yeah, kids wanted to play. Yeah, um, that was big. Kids wanted to play.

SPEAKER_01:

And you attribute that to the offense that you guys are running to the to get more kids out there?

SPEAKER_00:

In part, in part. I think that was one of the pieces of it. You know what I mean? Was was that we were doing something exciting. Um, I think um, you know, uh you I think there was just a uh a new energy of of joy of the game that was huge. You know what I mean? You know, um we were having fun playing football, and uh we were having fun practicing football, you know. Um we had to make, you know, there have there are a lot of culture changes that have kind of gone over the course of it. You know, I think we we uh we started practicing um more efficiently and effectively, and that's a big thing. It is big the the you gotta have you have to have a plan every practice. Every practice You can't go into a practice with a oh maybe I'll do that. No, you gotta come away. I hate that man. Lead away. That time just goes out the window if you don't use it. No, you've gotta be it's you gotta move. You're gonna have two two hours, two hours, fifteen minutes, whatever you got out there, whatever time you're spending, you have to be very structured and organized. Each practice has to have a goal, each hack, each session has to have an a uh an objective. So what are we doing for this 15 minutes? And what are we doing for this 20 minutes? What are we doing for this 15 minutes? What is the goal for this period of time and it needs to be uh achieved? And that we shifted to that focus on let's make sure the whole practice has a goal, it has an offensive goal, it has a defensive goal, every session has a goal, every um this piece has a goal, this piece has a goal, this piece, and make sure that we are effective so that we use that 15 minutes, we're not sitting there talking for 10 of it, and the kids are working for five of it. You know, you're coaching as we go. Um, and so you know, we just became a better practicing.

SPEAKER_02:

There's a real art to that, just designing a practice plan and sticking to it. And that's that takes a lot of skill because I've seen a lot of coaches not do that so well, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's it's it's big. I and I I think for me, um, and my philosophy as a coach, you know, making sure that I like to plan the week before we start a practice week. Okay. So if we know, all right, so I we have El Centro this week. So the whole so before I you know go to bed tonight, there will be a plan for every practice this week. Um and then and that practice will be distributed to the coaches. And and so, all right, so now we get into the week and maybe we learn something new, we see something new, we have our coaches' meeting, whatever. Okay, we want to tweak this, we want to change this session, we want to address something over here that yeah, then we can make a change, you know what I mean, and then send the change out. But there's always a plan in place.

SPEAKER_02:

And the coaches are ready for when the week comes, they're they're already ready for that.

SPEAKER_00:

They can look through it and say, Okay, we're hitting this, we're hitting this, we're hitting this, we're hitting this. Yeah, I love that. That's huge. I mean, I think that um I would I would say that uh that is as important of a sh a change as you know, bringing in bringing in an exciting offense was big. It got you know young people excited to come play the C and plays like they saw like they they watch a game that happens on Saturday. Oh, I well I see stuff like that. They can watch a team that's throwing the ball around, it's exciting football. Um so that that energized, I think, our our school community. Um but in terms of you know really making those changes as as far as competitiveness, how well do we put a product on the field? Yeah, those practices and how we how we approach practice has been huge. It's big. Um another thing that I think that has been a big thing for us is is and you you have to uh it has to be worked towards and it's it's a challenge, but we do have a lot of players um and that uh uh so that we're able to have an offensive and a defensive unit. And uh I had that when I was a young person back playing in uh playing high high school football in Virginia, I went to a school where uh I went to a school where we did play um where I was playing offense and I didn't play defense. I put offense special teams as a kick returner, I was a punt blocker, and I was a you know as a wing back in the wing T, and then when we spread out, I'd go to receiver. And so, but but the the the advantage, the disadvantage of that, you have to have the developmental process within your program to develop the student athletes to be able to play. And um, and it's not always gonna be perfect. We do have players that play both sides of the ball or play one side full-time, the other side situational. There's all that as a staff, we have to come up with that as part of how we gain plan a week. Sure. Um, as part of how we develop players. But we um by getting creating that type of rotation, it allows us to make the most of our conditioning and and to make the most of our athleticism as well. So um, you know, our offensive unit pro practices simultaneously with our defense as our defensive unit.

SPEAKER_01:

So you go one-on-ones and ones versus ones in practice all the time?

SPEAKER_00:

No, not we we we do we'll do it more as in in the summer and and then we you know tailor it back. Tailor it as we get into the season and as we go through it.

SPEAKER_02:

So they're always working. If they're defense, they're always working defense. Defense is always working defense. So there's no coach day so there's defense day. You got this much time. Yeah, well, you have this with us. And then if you can do that, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

And and and and and uh you know, you it's sometimes it's not gonna be 100%, you know what I mean? Like, you know, when it comes down to it, you've got to put together the best team, but that's what preseason is for. You know, we give guys a chance to get in there and so show what they can do, and and as we see, we have to make changes, make adjustments. Uh, an offensive player needs to play some defense, some defense player needs to play some offense. Yeah. Um, it also allows us to put, you know, to put strength on special teams, you know, so you don't have that offense, defense, special teams player that never comes off the field. Yeah. Those players are uh are rare and they can do it, but if you don't have to do it, then you there's a there's a decision you get to make as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Especially towards the end of the game. Yeah. You got a lot of fresh kids still ready to play.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, your legs are fresher. So um just some of the things that helped that, you know, the question was how was the turnaround? How did we turn it around? Those are a couple of the philosophies that went into place.

SPEAKER_01:

What year would you say that um you could actually start platooning? Because I know like initially you probably didn't have the numbers to go defense versus offense, or did you have those numbers? You know what? Don't you have to kind of build to that as a program?

SPEAKER_00:

You do have to build to that. So we were coming from a place where we had, you know, we'd had some seasons that were that were tough and challenging at the time. And um, you know, uh we had uh a number of players come out, and um Coach Davis's philosophy was um very offense-oriented, right? So a lot of uh the players I we did platoon pretty fast, you know what I mean? And it at that time, you know, there was a lot of emphasis on on getting the offense up and running and then offense.

SPEAKER_01:

He left us defensive guy with nobody. JV guys, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, not to that extreme, but there was there was an offense-first mentality when uh philosophy that Coach Davis brought in. That was his philosophy. He was the head coach, and then he applied it. That's what he did. Um when I took over, we had you know, we had had that for a bit. And um, you know, to me, I think the the future of us taking our our work to the next level um is balance. And so we want to, through our process of development, we want to make sure we're we're developing a defensive side and offensive side and and and and and we'll see that competitiveness and practice. And um I think we've achieved that. I think we've had some some uh they don't get the credit in the paper as much, but we've had some strong defensive players and strong defensive uh units and and defensive performances. And and uh um, you know, in in 2023 we made a semifinal run. It was the first run to the semifinals uh uh at C V since 1960, 68, I think. Yeah. Wow So it was uh it was uh a big run for us and a big moment for us, and I think it spoke to some of the that we're always still continuing to try to evolve the the culture for the better. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. So what in this day of like instant gratification, you know, having done it, how how long should people expect for a coach to come in and actually turn a program around? I mean, it's not gonna happen overnight, and you've done it. So I mean, I've always heard like different things. You gotta give them two years, you gotta give him three years. What, in your opinion, what what how how long should you give a new head coach, you know, if he's coming in and taking over a program that may be not up to par?

SPEAKER_00:

I I I think it's hard to say a a an exact number of years. I think you have to kind of put together a sense of growth and goals. I think if you're an athletic director and you're working with a new head coach, and hey, what are the goals for the first year? What are the goals for the second year? What are the goals for the third year? And how are you, you know, because ultimately you're gonna start with a a collection of new players that are coming into the system and they're and and they're gonna be developing under the new ideas, the new ideologies, the new philosophies. How so just knowing that, okay, what are the what are those intermittent goals that were that are gonna get us from point A to point D? You know what I mean? Yeah. A to B first, C to you know, B to C second, C to D third. So um, you know, I think it's hard to put a number on it. I think it's about uh, you know, making sure that there are specific goals about, hey, this is what I envision for this. And it has it's not just about wins and losses. Um you know, for me, uh I have when I was an assistant coach under Coach Davis, one of the biggest focuses and the things that I worked on was um eligibility and academics within the program. Because one of the things that plagued C V in the days when we were um when it was challenging to kind of be competitive on the field is we would have some students come in early um in their Career and they would do well, but then the academics would fall apart and then you'd never see them again. And so um you instead of uh being able to kind of get a t a group of students that come in as freshmen and develop them to sophomore, to junior, to senior year, you didn't have that type of uh uh continuity. So, you know, they would come in and fall off, and then what happens is you're filling in gaps with students that last minute, yeah that may not have played before, even though they're seniors. And and that's difficult when you're going against a team or a program where they where a freshman class has grown all the way through. Yeah. When they won the league title um in uh 2017, um, that was the senior year for um Armando Denise's class when he was at CV. Okay. And that group came in as freshmen, um, and they uh they moved forward together. By the time we got to that group coming in, we had started to implement study halls. We had started to implement um close monitoring of student athlete uh um progress in the classroom. And that was something that was a project of mine. Because I had worked with these young guys, I was an avid teacher at the time as well, and I was uh I did not want to see um us uh fall because we our players couldn't finish the race. They couldn't, they came in and showed potential, but they couldn't develop because they couldn't play. So uh a huge part again, answering the question of what was the turnaround, you know, there's you know, practice, um, scheme, um, excitement in terms of culture, but also uh eligibility.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um students, we had classes of students. The group we just graduated was a great example with Mikey Rodriguez and Derek Calderon and uh Sebastian Ariaga and Hector Figroa and and uh and Aaron Ramirez. You know, you're talking about that group came in together and stayed together. Um and their not just the skill and the athleticism that they brought to the table, and obviously they did um bring that to the table, but they also brought them their unity and their perseverance. And over the course of those years, they continue to grow and grow together. Um, when you lose pieces and things fall apart along the way, it's hard to keep that continuity, it's hard to replace those talents. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

It's just you're right though. I've seen it in my own coaching career at India where you'd have some players, but never four years, you know, only two years, and then you lose them in the junior year and they come back, and it was not the same. So you guys, I mean that's that's a pretty big piece, I would say. It's a huge piece, you know. Especially for a program that's kind of on the up and coming and trying to compete with these bigger programs. Winning helps too. Well, absolutely, that's the that's the biggest piece, right, coach. I mean, winning begets. It all leads to it, of course.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it all kind of feeds off of each other, but um, you know, and but uh um you know, and uh when when the students see the success going, they I want to be a part of that. And so that that helps obviously a great deal. But that comes when you make those type of positive changes, when your schemes become sound, when your practices are structured and they're effective. Um the product gets out there, then students come in and they stay in the program. Stay in the program. And uh, you know, our staff is very focused on teaching, not just, you know, okay, well, let me find whoever the best athlete is and just focus all the attention on them. No, that's not how you win. You have to have, and I've coached multiple sports, you know, not just football. And and the you you you see over the season after season of various sports that, yeah, you can build around this player or this player, but you have to have a team. You have to have um, you know, not just one great receiver, but you have to have effective receivers across the board in a spread. You have your quarterback's gotta be ready. You gotta have a quarterback that's ready to go if that quarterback has to step out. You have to build depth over time. And uh uh that's huge, you know. That and and a big part of that is students being able to get in the program and stay in the program. Now, look, we've had situations, it's not perfect. You know, we've had guys um that might play their freshman year, and then their sophomore year, they trip up at the end of their freshman year in terms of grace and then there's their sophomore year they can't play. Um we've seen that happen. And then they rally back, and they but the thing is we you know, we try to keep in touch with those guys and like, hey, you know, you you made a mistake. Mistakes get made, but it's not over yet. Get back to the classroom, get it right this time, get back into the program. And it in and you do feel it. That they come back and it's uh now they've they've got to get back into it. Maybe they didn't, maybe it'll be their first year playing varsity, what have you. They played frost software or JV when they were when they left or were freshman when they left, but they come back, but they still get back into that that that culture of training, um, get their skills back up, and then they're ready to go a lot of times by their senior year. We have a number of those type of those type of athletes that are um that are are that may have missed one of the years along the way, but three is better than two or one. Absolutely. And we see that.

SPEAKER_02:

Without a good football team, they would have been lost forever, though. So I mean, at least it keeps them in school, keeps them on a straight narrow. And I I I love high school football or just sports because of that.

SPEAKER_01:

So keeps kids keeps kids on the right path a lot of the time. So absolutely shout out to you for putting that in though, coach. That's a that's a that's needed, you know. I think a lot of these programs need somebody to come in and do that, that academic work first, you know, to get the football program right, you got to have the academic program right. So it's it's that's that's an awesome, that's an awesome program that you kind of created there. Yeah, I appreciate that. But um, so going kind of switching gears a little bit. So before the four championships, coach, I remember probably mid what 2010s when uh Davis kind of got the job over there and you guys kind of came in. The run and shoot offense was a bit of an abnormal offense to see on the high school scene. You know, I remember preparing for it, going, geez, these four wise, these trips and all these, you know, empty sets and all these things. Like, how can they, how can they survive? How's their quarterback going to survive a season? You know, that was kind of the knock on you guys. And um, you know, but like fast forward 10, 15 years later, I mean, you got a lot of copycats out there that are running your system now because of the success. So how how did you kind of see that kind of you're an offensive guy, so how did that kind of how did you see that kind of that that philosophy and that that whole mentality kind of changed from when you got when you guys were kind of the abnormal offense to now, you know, everybody's everybody's running that thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I mean, I I think for me it's always been about a belief in the student athletes that we have and our players and the kids in the community that can come and play football. The first thing that happened, you know, and that comes in and people are like you said, they were like, How are how in the world is C V going to do this? You know what I mean? How in the world are they gonna they're gonna how is this how is this gonna work? This can't be, you know, it just seemed like it wasn't something, it wasn't football enough. Yeah, it was like I want to three yards in a cloud of dust. Exactly. Where's the where's the where's the grit and the okay? Well, you know, and I remember that. I remember that talk, and and and the beautiful thing is the players work really hard at what we do. Um, it's not something they just step out and you know, and and a lot of kids that come out of the programs that may like we'll have a student that come out their sophomore year, maybe they need to play their freshman year, they'll come out the sophomore year. That looked really fun. They realize how much work it is. Yeah. And they're like, wait, whoa. Yeah you know, and you have to kind of teach, hey, well, hey, welcome to this. You know what I mean? This is a championship program. This is a program with high expectations. This is what we do here. It takes a lot of work to get right. Um, and so um, you know, welcome aboard, but get to work. Um, I think it what was interesting is when we first started, the first run and shoot quarterback we had was Darius Holsey. And Darius um played, he was a quarterback his junior and senior year. Um, and uh he played at COD for a bit too. Um and uh when Darius graduated, he was a big guy. And you remember Darius Holsey was six, whatever, and just he looked like a tight end. He was a big guy, he was a big old guy, and and people, well, you know, once but he had a huge arm. I mean, he could spin it down the field. I mean, his deep ball was ridiculous. And then Darius graduated, and they're like, oh well, that's done now. Yeah, you know it's over, right? It's over now. That offense is done. That offense is done because they just happened to have Darius. And um, you know, and I've had many conversations over the year with with Darius, a great guy. I mean, you know, he's just um represented C C V wonderfully in the time when he was the quarterback and afterwards when he was playing at COD. And um, but you know, he graduated and and that's high school football. Guys move on and they go to that next next level, and next man up. Well, the next man up was Armando Denise. Yeah, yeah, who is still the uh the uh C V all-time leader in uh and in passing yards, you know what I mean? So he came in and did brought his his athleticism to it. He was different from uh from Darius. You know what I mean? Um yeah, through great ball. Um, dual threat quarterback, did very well. You know, I remember uh an article at Paper Sand. I literally think I saw there was an article that says something like, Well, you more look at him and think maybe he's a cross-country runner than a football player. It's something ridiculous, like as though just doubting what he could do. But it wasn't just about him, it was about the coaching and the system and and and the work that we put in at CV. And he had he had very successful years, and then he and then he graduated, and the next guy came up.

SPEAKER_02:

You guys do a good job of quarterbacks. I mean, every year you guys have someone new pop up and and and yeah, somebody you never heard of going for you know 400 yards. You know, that's a hard spot to play, and you you guys coach it up well there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well appreciate it. That's that's my passion, and I I coach the quarterbacks at this time. You see, that's the position that I focus on. And um, and uh you know, everybody's a little bit different. You know, Darius was his had his skill set, Armando had his skill set, and uh Donnie Fitzgerald had his skill set, Jacob Calderon has his skill set, then Hugo uh Sandoval comes along, he has his skill set, then Derek Calderon, Jacob's brother, comes along, and Derek has his skill set, and now it's Ivan Garza, who's a totally different skill set. So um, and uh, you know, uh Garve is his this is his first year as the starter. He started at receiver last year um as a sophomore, now he's a junior. He's he is doing a good job with dual threat, had um, you know, his you know had 60 yards rushing um in the game Friday night, and they were effective stuff. Three he ran in three two-point conversions. You know, he's finding his voice, as it were, with uh in terms of where is what where how does he play the game? How what's unique to him? What's his playing style? And um and he's finding it effectively and and and we're all still a work in progress at this point, and but we're we're embracing the challenge of of building into what we will become.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean the proof is in the pudding, right? Yeah. That offense, I mean, if the highest form of flattery is copycatting, right? Or you know, trying to trying to implement it themselves. And I mean, uh, you look at a high school scene and yeah, it's the old CV, it's the old CV offense now. Everybody's running that thing.

SPEAKER_02:

I actually love how much um how many times you go into empty. I mean, that puts a lot of pressure on the on the defense. I mean, you got quads over here, all of a sudden it's breaking all your roles on the coverage, and um you guys mix it up with the wide receiver screens, and it's fun stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we have a we have a good time with it. And uh and and and I think, you know, I know that there are other schools, and like I said, there are coaches that have coached with us that are coaching at other schools and and utilizing the system and and uh and putting their own explorer, you know, exploring their own spin on it and their own kind of stamp on it. And that's kind of how that's how it should be. Right. You know, I don't I don't have the same approach to the run and shoot as Brett Davis did, even though I learned I studied through under him. Um and he and I still talk often. He's coaching at Varado High School out in Arizona now. Oh, awesome. Um and you know, we'll sometimes talk some shop, you know what I mean? And like the old days. Um yeah, you know, there's still some the sh some shop talk. And um, but you know, I my approach might is is different from his, and then somebody who might have coached under both of us, who's now coaching it in another program, they're gonna have their own kind of approach to it. And and and that's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of it. It's it's not it's not a one-dimensional uh offense. It is multidimensional. There's the run game, the passing game, the screen game, um, the various things that you can do with regards to formation, things like that while still keeping you know athletes spread out. Um, you know, uh obviously I don't have to say I obviously love it because I've been I've been doing it. And I think at C V, what's what what I appreciate, and I was telling you know some of my offensive coaches this week, this past week, a week before, you know, um you know, we have as as C V this offense and this approach has really um passed the test of time because we've been running this since 2014. Yeah, yeah. And we are still on it. You know what I mean? And we are still scoring and we still are putting up success. Yeah, we're still putting up offensive numbers and and we're still having success. We still have receivers that are having seeing success and quarterbacks and running backs. Um and so, you know, we make whatever changes and dips that need to be made each and every year based on per new personnel and just a new feel and different things. And um, you know, I credit the the staff for working with me and and and continuing to evolve it in a way that that it that it does pass and stand the test of time, you know. Um, you know, it it you know, I I talk sometimes I joke with Coach Davis because he's coached a different couple different places since since uh he left C V and I've and I took over and and and the the funny thing is he gets to a if he is it it gets to a new spot and they've never seen it before and they've got to adapt to it. Everybody knows what C V does. What I took over for him is everyone knows that we know that offense. Yeah, we know what we're dealing with with C V and we still have been effective, and we've still been able to find ways to to show that it's not just some sort of flash in the pan, as they said back in 2014. It's 2025 and still running. We're still we're still running it and still running effectively. And and and still hungry to be even better with it. You know, we never get satisfied.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, the proof hey, the proof's there, man. I'm glad I don't have to prepare for your offense anymore, Coach, because that's you guys give multiple looks, multiple sets, a lot of a lot of stuff you got to deal with on the defensive side to even slow you guys down. I don't even think you approach that game as a defensive coordinator saying we're gonna shut them out. It's just let's slow them down a little bit and see if we can, you know, beat them at their own game and score some points. So shout out to you guys. You guys have been doing it a long time. You know, that's that's you know, you're a legend in this valley for that. And that offense is, you know, that offense is killer. So if you guys haven't checked it out, check it out. Um we're kind of running up against time here, coaching the coach's corner. But we always like to ask our guests, um, you know, what advice would you give? Because this is a community show. We want, you know, young and old coaches to kind of check us out. I want to learn. Exactly. We all want to learn. But what advice would you give to an up-and-coming coach or somebody that's a player that may be thinking about coaching? And what what advice would you give that that person? A great question.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, first thing, be willing to study. A lot of uh times, you know, we can we can get tripped up by what we think we know when we really don't know as much as we think we know, you know, even when we come into the game. Humble up and study the game. Study, study. Learn from the moments that didn't go the way that you wanted it to. Um because it will happen. You know, because that's how that's it will happen. It will happen. Um and and and you know, be a student of the game, regardless of of of how old you are, how young you are. I just celebrated my 50th birthday. I'm still a student. Thank you. I'm still I'm still loving learning, you know what I mean? And uh I'm still you know self-evaluating and and working on this aspect and this aspect of my own understanding of what I'm seeing of uh, you know, if I see a defense I've seen before or see something that's a little different from what I've seen before, I embrace as an opportunity to learn. And I think any coach coming into the game has to be a learner. Um uh the next thing is I is is when you're working under coaches, you know, you you're not gonna agree with everything that they say. You're not gonna agree with everything about their philosophy. There are plenty of things that Brett Davis and I didn't agree on. Um but we work together and I learned from him. And so you got to be able to learn from guys who've who've who've done the work and learn from whatever they have to offer and teach. And you you might learn things that you, oh okay, I'd do things this way. If I had it, I would do it a different way, what have you. But be a learner in terms of you know, the get a chance to get learn from the coaches you're working with. If some of the guys, you know, I've got coaches on my staff like myself, I've been coaching since 20 uh 2012 season, but they're coaches on the staff like Hondo Canela and others that have been coaching for a long time. You know what I mean? Um, and they've got uh, you know, Alex Escobel's on my staff. He's got a lot, he's got a great rich um uh uh uh understanding of of on the defensive side and what he does. He's a great defensive coordinator and and and done uh a lot of good work and uh enjoy working with him. And you know, and so when young coaches come in to the program, you know, I encourage them, learn from these guys. And I mean, that's that's that's part of life, that's part of humanity. When you're young coming into something or new coming into something, and there are those around you that have had experiences, whatever experience they've had, learn from it. You know, that would be that would be the second major thing I would say. Um be ready, yeah, study on your own. Um uh and and and be a sponge to the to the the guys that are working with you. If you if you're working with some good experienced coaches, learn as much as you can from while you're working with them. Be a sponge.

SPEAKER_01:

That's absolutely absolutely well coach, you're a legend in this community, man. We we really appreciate you coming out and sharing some knowledge with us here on the DV Blitz. And appreciate it. You know, we're gonna be out there supporting the Arabs, even though I am a Raja. You know, always always pull, I always pull for the desert team. So if you're not playing Indio, yeah, I'm I'm rooting for the mighty Arabs. Fantastic. I'll appreciate that. So thanks for coming in, man. We appreciate you. Sure, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate this. It's great, great conversation. So if you guys found some value in that, you know, the routine, like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on DV 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. Tired of payroll headaches? iPay Solutions is your local payroll and HR partner right here in the Coachella Valley. From direct deposits to compliance, we handle the details so you can focus on growing your business. iPay Solutions, local, reliable, and built for your success.

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