Desert Valley Blitz

EP#21-From El Paso To Palm Desert: Building A High School Football Program That Lasts-The Rudy Forti Story

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Football isn’t just a season for Rudy Forty—it’s a family lineage, a craft learned on long bus rides in El Paso and refined across college fields and high school sidelines. We sit down with the Palm Desert head coach to unpack how a second-generation coach builds a durable program in a valley where the heat is brutal, the rivalries are real, and the community shows up every Friday.

Rudy walks through the moments that shaped him: lessons from revered mentors at North Texas, the switch from defense to offense, and the blueprint that defines Palm Desert—load the best 11 on defense and engineer an offense that fits the remaining pieces. He breaks down his run-first, quick-game philosophy, why the offensive line anchors everything, and how coaching his son at center simplified calls and elevated the unit’s confidence. We contrast tight-knit valley football with the juggernauts west of the pass, exploring what changes when you face one-school powerhouses with deep rosters and deeper pipelines.

The conversation gets candid about the leap from coordinator to head coach. Rudy lays out the hidden work few see: grades, discipline, staffing around off-campus schedules, fundraising, and keeping the clock and the culture on time. We talk defensive identity under a trusted coordinator, the integrity of transfer rules in the valley, and why tradition still matters—from triple-overtime thrillers to alumni-packed field dedications. For coaches climbing the ladder, Rudy’s advice is blunt and valuable: earn your credentials, learn every position, take the jobs others skip, and build trust that holds under pressure.

If you care about high school football culture, leadership, and the real mechanics of building a program, this conversation delivers practical insight and a grounded perspective. Subscribe, share with a coach or parent who needs it, and leave a review telling us your biggest takeaway from Coach Forty’s playbook.

#highschoolfootball #coaching #footballcoach #texasfootball #northtexasfootball #palmdesertaztecs #headcoach #coachellavalley #desertvalleyblitz #californiafootball

SPEAKER_04:

Welcome back, everybody, to Desert Valley Blitz. We're this is our Coach's Corner edition, and we're real excited today because we have a real special guest. We always want to talk to the top football minds here in the Coachella Valley, and today we've got one of those top minds because today's special guest, Palm Desert head coach, Coach Rudy Forty. How you doing, man? I'm doing great. Thank you. Welcome. Yeah, thanks for coming in, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for having me. Yeah, top football minds. That's I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, hey, there's only there's only a handful of you guys in the valley. So we we appreciate talking to all you guys.

SPEAKER_00:

So you've been here, you know, three years as head coach, but you've coached here a little bit longer than that. I I really don't know a whole lot of your like uh how you got started in football. Why don't you take take us back?

SPEAKER_04:

We just go all the way to your roots, man. I know you're not gonna be able to do it. Take us back. We want to know what you're doing. But where did you where did your roots come from?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm originally from El Paso. I'm from Texas. Texas. Uh and uh I was kind of socialized into it. Both my parents were educators and uh coaches for 40 years. So I had no other way to go but to be a coach. So I'd I'd ride the bus many a times with my dad to games and to practices, and I just knew right then at the age of four, believe it or not, that this is what I wanted to do. Wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

So you're a lifer.

SPEAKER_02:

I am, I am, I am. Second generation. And uh, you know, I learned a lot from my father. He's probably forgotten more football than I'll ever learn. But um, you know, he him and my mom were just, you know, they didn't push it, but it was just something I really enjoyed and I just fell in love with it. Wow.

SPEAKER_04:

So not from the Coachella Valley, where are you? You said you're from El Paso, Texas.

SPEAKER_02:

From El Paso. Okay. Uh went to school out there, uh, high school, and then I ended up uh going out to northern Arizona for a year. Okay. Uh but I was a walk-on and then uh I couldn't afford it out of state tuition.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But I came back home in El Paso, walked on to UTEP. Wow. Played there for a year, and uh it was great. I loved it, but I just didn't want to be home. I needed to get out, so I thought, where's the furthest place I can go, but still be in state? So I went to University of North Texas up in Denton.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So I finished my playing career out there in uh 94 and 95 for my last two years there.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, so you had a pretty long career then in as a player then, huh?

SPEAKER_02:

Um no NIL. Um right. There wasn't uh petitioning the NCAA to get a fifth or sixth. I mean, I got five years, but I didn't get a sixth or a seventh year. So I did my five years and got out. Wow. Learned a lot from being in different programs, I bet. Yeah, I I've learned a lot uh what to do and what not to do with some of these head coaches that I played for and uh who I worked for too in college. I I was a GA for three years at North Texas and then uh got my first job at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. But my wife didn't want to move. She said, I can go, but I'm not leaving. So I figured what to do then. So I just went the high school route. So I got my first job in high school in 1998, and I've been doing it ever since. 1998. Wow. It's my 30th year of coaching. Wow. Right when I graduated.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I mean, you're you are a lifelong, lifelong coach, man. So any uh all throughout those those years, how you can you speak to some of your mentors and some of the guys you kind of followed and learned from?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, you know, when uh my dad first and foremost, uh he was a defensive coordinator, and I was a defensive guy for the longest time, but I played in college. So I learned a lot from my defensive coordinator at North Texas, Bill Michael. God rest his soul, great man. He actually worked at UTEP back in the early 70s in Oklahoma with Barry Switzer. So he was nothing but a a like a father figure to me. You know, he just took me under his wing. I was a defensive fan for him, believe it or not. I wasn't very big, but um but he's yeah, it was fun. I mean, but he he taught me a lot, you know, how to run a defense, how to call a defense. And then somewhere along the way, I just made my way over to the offensive side and haven't looked back. So it's it's worked out because now I know both sides of the ball. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

It's important when you're head coach.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, it is. I mean, so when you're watching film, you're not just watching one side, you have to watch them both, you gotta watch special teams and gotta be able to process it all and you know, come up with things. And I have great coaches on my staff, so they they do pretty much everything. That that helps a lot. So um but then uh I would also say my um my head coach at North Tech is Matt Simon, another old fellow Pashold gentleman who went to Burgess High School. Um and he knew my father and knew um you know what I wanted to do with my life, and you know, he gave me a lot of tips on what to do, how to do it, how to build a resume, how to just sell yourself to become a coach.

SPEAKER_04:

That's awesome. Yeah, I mean you have to have mentors, right? You have to have people that kind of show you the way. It seems like your first mentor was your pops, which is kind of cool, man. Yes, sir. Um just following in the family training.

SPEAKER_02:

Like I said, I was socialized into it, um, just something he loved to do. Um, and I just there's those like six, five, six months there he wasn't around, but I understood what was going on. And um commitment for sure. He was very committed to it. But he did end up leaving the profession when me and my brother got into uh high school, and he said he didn't want to do it anymore. He wanted to watch us, and so he was uh really good about that.

SPEAKER_01:

It was nice. So he didn't he didn't get to coach you guys though in high school?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh my eighth grade year, uh I played Pop Warner. Um so he was my coach I'm at the night grade, and it was it was fantastic. Awesome. But uh at the same time, it was kind of tough because I got it on the field, I got it on the car ride home. I got a dinner table of like, okay, uh enough being my coach, just be my dad for real.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm uh I have a son and I I have to constantly remind myself like I gotta be a dad right now. I can't I can't coach him up. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, I forget that all the time. Yeah, it's tough, man. It's tough.

SPEAKER_04:

It's a rough, it's rough in my house during the season. We don't we don't get along sometimes, but uh that's the life of the coach.

SPEAKER_01:

But so um how how did you work your way out here in California?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I mean, uh at first I was uh like like I said, I got into high school in '98 and I just bounced around the Metroplex area in the Dallas Fort Worth area. I mean, I did that. And then I ended up in San Antonio, Texas. My last stop here in a small 2A podunk town of Ingram, Texas. Great people. It was it was just a nice experience, just small town living, and I absolutely loved it. But in Texas, when your head coach and athletic director, who are the same people, get fired, everyone gets fired. Yeah. Um, so uh they needed my position. I was a special ed teacher at the time. And when the new head coach wants to bring in his guys, they need the teaching position. So we don't have union protection.

SPEAKER_04:

They took your teaching to position as well as your coaching position.

SPEAKER_02:

They did.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow, man, that wouldn't fly in California. No, no, it did.

SPEAKER_02:

So uh I answered a um a job posting that was on football scoop. It's just a big old website with a bunch of college and high school jobs, and I saw Palm Desert. I looked it up, I saw near Palm Springs, and I think I got duped though. I mean, the way Coach McComa put it down as nice resort town.

SPEAKER_01:

No, a bunch of pictures of palm trees and pools. It was beautiful. Yeah, I thought I can I can live there for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

And then we come rolling up in June of 2017, it's 122. And I'm thinking, what did I get myself right to? Where's the indoor facilities? Right?

SPEAKER_04:

It's in Texas, man.

SPEAKER_02:

But it's hot in Texas too, right? I mean, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04:

It's not it's not cool in Texas, but I don't think you're ready for the 120 degrees.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I mean we did get new 90 degree weather with 90 degrees humidity, so yeah, you gotta pick your poison. That's true. That's true. That's pretty cool. But it gets a lot cooler in Texas much quicker. So late September, early October, you're wearing a sweatshirt or a white jacket. Yeah, I'm still wearing shorts in October. I know.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, November is when we really change.

SPEAKER_02:

Winter doesn't really come sometimes.

SPEAKER_04:

Sometimes it's always hot.

SPEAKER_02:

Two seasons, hot and hotter.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's it. So you make your way out here, how how what's your first impression of desert football when you get here?

SPEAKER_02:

It's really good football. I mean, I I compare it to El Paso football. There's a lot of great teams in El Paso. Uh there's like 32 high schools, um, a lot of great kids, a lot of great coaches. Once you start heading east on the 20 or the 10, you get to the Midlands and the South Lake Carrolls and all those bigger one horse towns, it becomes a little different. It's a lot harder. Same thing here. It's great football in the valley, but once you start heading west on the 10 to Orange County, yeah, it's a different animal.

SPEAKER_04:

Go over that hill, man.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a little different, right? 45 minutes to Beaumont. I mean, yeah, we took a thumping in our in our scrimmage. Yeah, that's a good coach over there. Oh, yeah, he's a great dude. I mean, nice man. Uh tons of coaches, tons of kids. And it just is kind of crazy. You think 45 minutes over the mountain, past those windmills, you're like, wow, it's a different, different animal all together.

SPEAKER_01:

They have one school for that whole area, too.

SPEAKER_04:

So 2200 students, yeah. Ridiculous. Yeah, but they have a much bigger population pull though, you know, the pull from as opposed to us fighting 15 schools fighting for a small population. Same kids, yeah. Yeah, that's another podcast altogether. But so you get over here, what's your so you're impressed with desert football, and then you take that offensive coordinating position, right? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, that was the job. Um, and I really enjoyed it. I I really did. Where I was last before I came here, I was the offensive coordinator by title. You know, I'd had some play calling duties. I was the offensive line coach, uh, but my head coach did most of the play calling.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So when I got here, he said it was all mine. He gave me total autonomy, you know, car carte blanche, if you will. And it really worked out. We we caught lightning in the bottle for six straight years. Yeah, you guys are hard to beat. And uh, you know, we rattled off, I think, 31 league games. Uh only lost two in those six years. And then uh I took over and it just everything kind of stopped. It's kind of hard beating the man after the man if you will.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it is it is true. But you were always well during that time though, Palm Desert was known for their offense. That spread offense. You got I mean, you had a good defense, but you guys put up some, you had some talented offensive players. We did.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I was lucky. We had uh the blueprint always at uh Palm Desert since I've been there. You put your best 11 on the defensive side. That was McComb's thing, and uh whatever was left over, I had to make do.

SPEAKER_04:

And uh really so usually it's opposite of that. No, right?

SPEAKER_02:

He was defensive minded. So he we've had many arguments about this kid gonna be a receiver, no, he's gonna be a DB. This kid's gonna be an old lineman, no, he's gonna be a defensive lineman. So um but we got lucky. You know, we we had some great running backs back in 2018 and 2019 with Jordan Garcia and Simon Gaetti both rushing over 2300 yards and yeah, 30 touchdowns leading this you know state of California and rushing. Uh so we just got lightning in the bottle. It was really, really exciting and fun to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, you guys made a good team. Definitely, man. But like I said, that offense, man. I I just remember those years. You guys were quick quick strike kind of offenses sometimes, man. You guys had some big play guys. We did.

SPEAKER_02:

We really had uh, you know, our first two years of quarterback, Carter Stokes, just big old 6'4 kid, you know, who had a rocket of an arm. So I mean we were throwing the ball. But we still had great running backs behind him.

SPEAKER_01:

So always ran the ball well.

SPEAKER_02:

We did. It was uh it was a pla it was fun to run the ball. And we uh that's what I pride myself on is you know the run game, uh being an offensive line coach. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And then uh most important spot in my opinion, Olive.

SPEAKER_02:

It is, and uh it was it was very, very easy for me because I enjoyed what I did. You know, I loved working with those kids, the offensive line. And then in 21 or 22, my son's senior year, I got to coach my son for four years. See, that's awesome. He was uh he was the center and uh probably the easiest year of football in my life. I just gave him I said, son, you know what to do. Go ahead and do it. And he was calling the protections, he was calling the plays. I mean, wasn't the quarterback, but he was the the leader of the backfield, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

He was coach on the field.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, sir. Yeah, that's awesome. An extension of me, so it made it really nice and easy. He knew everything.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's dope. When you came over from uh Texas, did you bring your offense with you, or did you kind of meet with the head coach and say he tell you what you wanted to run? Or well, how how did that kind of come together in terms of the city?

SPEAKER_02:

We had many um many uh Zoom calls. I guess back then, I guess it was Skype. Yeah, we had Skype, uh, and we had about three or four of those. And I was on the whiteboard in front of the camera, and he was asking me questions about this, that, and the other. And it was just a combination of things that I picked up over the years at being at different high schools that you know, bits and pieces that I I really enjoyed uh as far as the run game, the quick game in the past game. Yeah, um, and it's just kind of evolved, and over the years I've just kind of added more and taking stuff out, you know. So I've really kind of made my own. But football's football, really. I mean, you just still from everybody really and just call it something different. But um, you know, I I learned a lot my last four years in Texas with uh Coach Kowalski uh as far as the quick game was concerned, just getting the ball out of the quarterback's hand, uh the power read that we like to run.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean he was doing it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

He he was a big proponent of that, and he always said if you have a quarterback who can run, I mean they gotta defenses gotta watch the quarterback and your running back. So that makes it a little harder for defenses because they got respect both, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Especially high school kids, you know, easy to confuse them. Right.

SPEAKER_04:

Um working your way up, um, I always, you know, I always this is a lesson I learned. As a coordinator, you know, you're just responsible for one side of the ball, but then you get the call, like, hey coach, this whole thing is your show now. You know, that that year you get that call. What are some of the biggest changes and differences that you observe going from that OC position to now you got to lead the whole team? I know some some coaches are real great coordinators and they get up to the be the head coach, and it's not not as easy as they think. More hats.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, more hats, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04:

So, what did you see in that transition?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh I was lucky enough to uh to be a head coach once before back in El Paso. Uh, I did that for seven years from uh 06 to 2000. Oh, so you you already I had I had some experience in being a head coach. Now I worked at a small private all-boys school in El Paso. Um but the problems are the same. There's a lot of stuff that's coming across my desk as far as parents, uh, grades, discipline. There's just so much more that comes across my desk that uh I have to deal with on a daily basis. And now you throw in the fundraising and everything else that it entails, it it was a big change. I mean, it it was never easy. It still isn't, so right. Um But I think the biggest I think for any head coach who wants to be a coach, you gotta hire good guys. Guys that you can trust, guys you're gonna be loyal. Um, and you know, once you walk out that door, no matter what they think of your idea, they're gonna follow it and they're they're gonna think it's the best idea in the world. Right.

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SPEAKER_02:

That's the biggest thing. And I've been blessed to work with some great guys.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Chain of command is very important in our in our line of work. And I always tell people the reason I'll always get a job is because I believe in the chain of command. Once I leave the staff, you know, I'm not bad mouthing or saying we should have done this and done that. Like as a as an assistant, you got to know your place. And you know, when you get that head job, you see why some of those decisions that they make, you know, it's it's a lot different than being a coordinator, you know. It's a different totally, you got to look at the big picture. Only one guy can drive. Yeah, you gotta look at the big picture. I I I compare it in the business world of being like the CEO of the company and then being like a manager of a department. Like OC is a manager of a department, but as a CEO, you got to look at the whole company, you know, and that's what a head coach has to do. So shout out to you for making that transition, man. That's a tough transition, man. Not a lot of coaches can do it.

SPEAKER_02:

It I mean, it's it's uh it's not easy. I mean, any head coach in the valley will tell you it's it's a big job. It's a big job. Um, and it starts with the administration, too. I got great administration that makes my job uh really easy because they're very supportive. Um, they give me everything I they can. Um but like I said, it's the guys that I work with. I'm only as good as the guys that I hire and that I work with. My defensive coordinator, my offensive coordinator, I mean, they know what I want and they they they do it. You know, I there's no second guessing any of those guys. I mean, I'll throw my comments in. And but for the most part, uh it's it's awesome. I do I don't do as much coaching as I used to. That's the one thing about being a head coach, it's kind of a drawback. I do um overpaid timekeeper, if you will. Yeah, blow up.

SPEAKER_04:

Keep it on schedules and right, and making sure kids got grades. Someone's gotta do it, though. I mean, it's a big part, it's a big position, man, especially at a big public school. Yes, sir. Because you're dealing with hundreds of kids, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, we have it's a big football class this year. I have over close to 60 freshmen, it's the biggest class I've had since I've been. Um, so you know, all the problems that come with each individual kid, each parent. And then you got teachers asking you to help out with discipline. Yeah, and then I think the biggest factor is from here to let's say Texas, is that not all the coaches work on campus. I have it's me and the defensive coordinator who are on campus. Everyone else has, if you will, nine to five.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was one of those guys. Yeah. Right. It's hard. Yeah, it's it's tough.

SPEAKER_02:

It's tough, you know, and sometimes things come up where they can't make a practice. Now you're adjusting staffs to cover a position and whatnot. And sometimes I'll get to jump in and coach the offensive line because our offensive line coach, he's he's got a family, he's got another regular job, and he's working on his masters to get his teaching credentials. So things are always gonna come up, so you just gotta fill it in when you can. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Defensively, uh, is it the same stuff that McCombs was running? It looked like are you changing a little bit?

SPEAKER_02:

We're running a 4-2. Yeah. Um uh some of the verbiage is the same, but of course uh Coach Wiltrout, Aaron Wiltrout, he's been in the valley for quite some time. He's he's worked at Palm Desert under Coach Blackburn. Then he opened up Shadow Hills back when they first opened up.

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, and then he made his way back over to Palm Desert, and that was that was a blessing in disguise for me because he uh great football mind.

SPEAKER_01:

Takes a lot off your plate.

SPEAKER_02:

He does, he does, and uh he has that defense rolling.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, he always always tough, tough, tough unit. DNs play really well, and it's it's tough to uh trust me. I went against it a few times. It's tough.

SPEAKER_02:

It's uh you know, like I said, that's been always the blu blueprint of that palm desert. Just make the defense as good as possible and yeah, and make do of what you have left over on the offense. And we got a lot on the offense that I'm pretty proud of, you know, and we're doing a great job and we're putting points on the board.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I love those wide receiver screens this year, man. You guys are they're they're working nice.

SPEAKER_02:

They are, they are. They're just they're great kids. They've bought into the system. I mean, we're working out.

SPEAKER_01:

You're good boys out there, too.

SPEAKER_02:

We really stress that. You know, uh I also have another good coach. I mean, all my coaches are good, but uh, I hired uh our wide receiver coach, Dylan Miller. He was the head coach. Shout out to Dylan Miller. Shout out to Dylan Miller, he was the head coach of Modesto High School. Oh, wow. And uh he moved down the desert. He's getting married to uh a Black Hawk. Uh oh. Uh oh. So I said, I won't hold that against you. I'll still bring you on. Right, right. You get those receivers to block. He can put up with a lot. Yes. So it's it's been great. I mean, I have a uh Palm Desert alum in Ryan Clark. Ryan Clark. He played football at Palm Desert for Blackburn. And another one in my office of line coach, uh Dustin Mueller. He graduated, I think, in 2010 under Bla uh under Blackburn. So we got a guy, a lot of guys who love valley football, who love Palm Desert football. And that's what you want to do. And they they want to be there. They want to stay there. So they're not looking to leave. At least I don't think they are. Hopefully. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And Blackburn's still coming around a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

I haven't seen him around.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

I did see him for the uh he did visit a practice for the Xavier.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And then I think he was at uh he may have been at the Xavier game. I didn't see him. But um he usually likes to text me to ask me how things are going. And uh but didn't hear much from him during that week. So I guess he was just because I know him and Dockery are still really good friends. And uh Coach Blackburn's really been good to me. Uh when I first got the job, he took me under his arm and yeah, just told me what to expect from getting out here.

SPEAKER_01:

And he's a good guy.

SPEAKER_02:

He's a good dude. Yeah, we're gonna get him in here too.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, he's he's coming on. Hopefully in the near future. Yeah. Gotta get some legends on here.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. And I know they just what recently named Armstrong Field.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was there. It was awesome, man. A lot of old alumni coming back. I saw a lot of rings um in the in the stuff, you know, on the on the alumni's. It was just fun to watch. Just they dedicated. It was a long time coming.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's great. I mean, I got to coach against uh Coach Blackburn, not Blackburn, uh Armstrong in 2017. Oh, awesome. Yeah, last year. Yeah, you got them right at the tail end. Yeah, it was that triple overtime epic game. I heard about that. Yeah, I wasn't there, but yeah. It was crazy. I've never been a part of I mean, I've been in part of some big games, but I don't know, my heart could have taken a fourth game over time.

SPEAKER_01:

Was that at home or at La Quinta? It was at La Quinta. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, so everyone said the flag game you you gotta experience one time. So I'm like, okay, well, let's see what it's about. Yeah, I looked it up online before I came out here, and I think it was the 2015 game at Palm Desert. And I thought, oh my god, place is packed. Yeah, packed. Yeah, and then we go out there in 2017 and did you ride the bus late and get on, or were you guys still doing that? No, we didn't do anything. No, Arshawn loved doing that.

SPEAKER_01:

Armstrong, he did do that. Warm up at the field at La Quinta, get on the bus, get a police escort, and just walk in and just walk him playing. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, so triple over time. It was just it was a great atmosphere, great football game. I don't know if I'd ever want to do it again, to be honest with you. Your heart might not uh take another one, right? No, not at all. It was crazy, but it was fun to say the least.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Kids get pumped for that one, man. They do. That's they do. That's fun.

SPEAKER_04:

I always like to ask our head coaches, like, what you know, they always say, like, the you never forget the the losses. The losses are all like the wins are cool, but you expect them, but the losses just stick with you, man. And yeah, is that is that something that you've kind of experienced? It's like you just can't stop thinking about those ones that got a lot of.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, I never like to bring them back up just because it makes me mad. Yeah. Uh but at the same time, yeah, I love the wins, but I really don't get to enjoy them much. You gotta get on to the next uh to the next game. Yeah, and it just it's a it's a funny business. I mean, it just you you lose sleep over other people's kids. You know, you're relying on 16, 17, sometimes 18-year-old kids to do the right thing. And now with so much going on in social media and this, that, and the other, it's just it's hard to rein them in sometimes, but you gotta trust them.

SPEAKER_04:

Right. Yeah. What do you what is your current outlook on the the space, not just of valley football, but high school football in general? I know in the last couple years the rules have kind of changed, just with the transfer things and money starting to creep in slowly into high school. What is your overall state? What do you think the overall state of high school football is right now?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I mean, I think it's uh at a point where it's it's it's still pretty good. I don't think it's changed much since I played. I mean, my last year was in uh 1990. Um course there was no NIL or any of that. There weren't phones, there weren't social media. Um but I know some of the bigger schools around the state are even down south, you know, Georgia, Alabama, um, you know, where that's it's a religion. Even in Texas, I mean it's just it's just it's do or die. You know, and I still like it. I mean, I like it here because it's it's still real kind of natural, community-based down here. Yeah, you know, whereas some of the bigger schools in Texas and even the down south, it's like I said, it's cutthroat. Yeah, you win or go home. I mean, sometimes you get one one year and then they're not cutting it. You gotta go. You gotta go. You got coaches uprooting their family, moving, getting a new house, and then a year later you're done. And you're like, okay, what am I gonna do now?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I always say it takes three years. Give them three years.

SPEAKER_02:

At least three.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

But I've been on, I mean, uh I've been to many games at Odessa and I've watched the coach get fired on the field after the game. Wow. Right after the game. Right after the game. Oh, Jesus. Didn't even give them time to go to the locker room. Hardcore. Wow. That is cutthroat. The Friday night lights. I mean, Odessa Permium, it's either you're gonna win or you're you're not gonna be around long. Wow. There's for sale signs in the you know, in the yards. I mean the movie depicted it very, very realistically. Wow. Believe it or not. Yeah. You think that's Hollywood, but it's not.

SPEAKER_04:

Jeez, man, that's the cutthroat, man. Yes, sir. I'm glad we I'm glad that hasn't crept into our community. Yeah, I don't think I'd like it. A lot of us be unemployed right now, you know. But um the transfer thing, that thing's kind of that's changed in your time, right? How where kids can kind of transfer a little easier. What do you what do you make of what do you make of that?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know how it works down in Orange County, but I know like the Trinity League, they're getting kids left and right.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, like same year, playing the same year.

SPEAKER_02:

Nothing really seems to happen. Now that this year with Bishop Montgomery, something happened. I don't know, maybe the whole team got suspended. The whole team got suspended. But uh here in the Coachella Valley, I mean, everyone, athletic directors and head coaches alike, take it very seriously. Yeah, making sure that the kids actually made the full family move. Right. The uh, you know, the electricity's turned off and then turned on at the new address, you know, the whole nine yards.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, it's uh it really is hard to uh to get a kid to transfer unless you just have you know a hardship case or something like that. So but in all the years that I've been at Palm Desert, I think we've had maybe two or three big time transfers, really. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, no, that's not a big number.

SPEAKER_02:

It hasn't been a big number. We had a kid from Palm Springs uh transfer, Eliza uh Sanchez. He ended up playing at the University of Idaho.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_02:

Offensive lineman, a really, really big kid. Um had another kid's COVID year, moved from the Shadow Hills area to play with us. And uh I think that shadow that that COVID year was kind of lax as far as you know, letting kids kind of do little things just because of the situation America was in. But yeah, it it's hard to get kids into your school without going through the proper channels.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, and like and the 80s do the 80s do a good job down here kind of communicating with each other. Still still a small town, Phil. Like everybody knows everybody in this community. So if you haven't moved and you're trying to move schools, somebody's gonna be alerted to that.

SPEAKER_02:

So that's a small town, is uh I'm still trying to get used to it, even though I've been nine years here, nine years. I mean, you'll you'll hate the guy across from you on a Friday night, but you'll you'll see him on a Saturday together at an in and out. Yeah, yeah. And I just I haven't I haven't learned that yet. I haven't I don't get that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. I played against Palm Desert, you know, a big rivalry game, and I but I see those guys I played against and it's all love, man. Because we just remember the the plays that each other made, and um, yeah, we wanted to win, man. But yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02:

It's I mean, and they're all playing in the the Pop Warner Leagues, the FNL, PDLQ.

SPEAKER_01:

PDLQ, I mean, they're they're all together. They're the same game. Yeah, you know, in and then they split up for high school.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so man, they're still friends, and that's great. I mean, they they have that love for each other. Uh, like I said, my son, when we moved here, we thought there were um football. We thought there was football in the middle school. Yeah, so I didn't when I found that out, I'm like, okay, what are we gonna do? So we put it at PDL Q. He ended up being too big. Yeah, the way he was way too big. Big boy. He was uh say seventh grade at 160. Yeah, not gonna make it. He didn't make it. So I told the co, I said, if I can't find a place for him to play, I'll move it back. Uh I told my wife, too. I said, if he can't play seventh grade football somewhere, PDLQ can't take him and there's nothing else. I mean, I think Shadow Hills had a midget team or something, yeah, but I wasn't gonna drive all the way back. Right, right. And then someone said DCA has a middle school football team. Eight man. I said, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_02:

So we put him in DCA for two years and he really enjoyed it. Yeah, he could never really understand uh going back to our point where friends on Friday night, I mean foes on Friday night and friends on Saturday. He's like, I don't get it.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. It's you grow up like that though, here because all the athletes know each other. Yeah, they compete in everything, they're not always on the same team. I think you know, we kind of grew I grew up against guys and trying to kill guys from LQ and Desert. And you know, you see them you see them at parties afterwards. Do you see them doing fights or fights? There's some altercations, but that was to be expected, you know, back in those days. It's a rough and tumble 90s, yeah, you know. But um, but yeah, I think they we just grew up like that, you know. So we saw each other, like we saw our arrival like at the grocery store. Right, you know at some point you just earn respect for each other, like you know, and it's kind of a cool deal when you when your enemy is now your friend, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

So I mean back in Texas, it was Hatfield and McCoy's all the time. You don't care didn't intermingle at all, huh?

SPEAKER_04:

Not at all. Wow, no, see, no, it was on site, yeah. Well, it's a little bit different in Cali, I guess. We get over things quicker over here. We're a little bit more laid back over here, but um, but we are kind of get time here, coach. We always like to ask our coaches, what you know, what would you tell a young coach getting into the game right now, maybe a younger coach, coordinator, or you know, assistant position coach looking to take that next step to be the head guy, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, first of all, get your degree, you know, get that that degree. And um, because if you want to continue, if you want to move, you've got to be able to have that certificate to take you to a different uh to a different uh high school.

SPEAKER_01:

Be on campus because that's almost mandatory, right? For a head coach.

SPEAKER_02:

And I got kind of lucky. I'm certified in Texas and California. So if I wanted to go back to Texas or move somewhere else in California, I got that going for me. And two, probably learn as much as you can from every position. I mean, some people like to just pigeonhole themselves and say I'm just gonna be a quarterback coach or just a D-line coach or this, that, and the other. Nothing against that, but don't get me wrong, but the more you know, the better your chances of getting a job somewhere. You know, and then you gotta take that seventh grade job or that that eighth grade job. I mean, before I got here, like I said, I did everything. I mean, I coached middle school basketball, boys and girls, I did track, I did middle school football. I I you just gotta do it all. Right. And sometimes uh you gotta take that move and go to a small Pudum town and and do it. And eventually you'll you you'll learn enough to you can move on. But if you're thinking you're just gonna walk in and be the head coach at Modern Day and or a South Lake Carroll or an Allen, Texas, that's that's not the way where you get you gotta put your time in. Yeah, you gotta put your time in. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04:

Gotta pay your dues, man. Yes, sir. You can't fake it and head coach. No, yeah. Why would you want to take that job right off the bat? That's you know, you need years of experience for those jobs, right?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, some people think they they know more than they do.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, the reality will strike real quick. Yes, sir. Well, coach, thanks for coming in, man. It's a blessing to have you. You know, we always love to talk to the top guys in the valley here, and you're definitely one of them. Appreciate it. And uh, you know, thanks for your time. And we'll be bringing you one to talk to you maybe after the offseason, we'll get a little get a little bit more of your knowledge. Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'll bring some uh some uh swag. Yeah, bring some swag for the for the set.

SPEAKER_04:

So my wife is happy that we have everybody represented here, and you know, we want to represent all of the valley here. So thanks for coming in, Coach. Thanks, Coach. And if you guys found some value in that conversation, you guys know the deal. Like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz.