EP-#26 How A Local Legend Built Consistent Winners And Shaped Generations-The Pat Blackburn Story

What does it take to turn a high school program into a perennial contender without chasing trends or making excuses? We invited Coach Pat Blackburn—the godfather of Palm Desert Aztec football—to share the straight story: how mentors at Utah State lit the fuse, why college coaching’s churn sent him back to build at the high school level, and how a simple, relentless philosophy—alignment, technique, effort—became the backbone of 22 seasons of consistency.

We walk through the early Rubidoux years where one formation and two coverages carried a team to 13 straight wins, and we revisit a raw, honest look at Notre Dame’s pressure-cooker—position switches, jammed depth charts, and the reality of fighting for snaps among 130 scholarships. Those lessons became guardrails for leadership: set standards you can see, demand effort you can feel, and earn the right to coach players hard by showing up first and leaving last.

From there, we zoom into Coachella Valley football. Blackburn breaks down the golden era of local semifinal runs, the power of true rivalries, and the sting of quieter bleachers that dull home-field edge. He digs into the widening playoff gap with Orange County programs—where speed at the perimeter and year-round development raise the bar—and explains how to close it with sharper fundamentals, staff alignment, and schemes that match your roster. Then it gets tactical: the shift from I-backs to spread spacing designed to run the ball, deep study of Chris Ault’s pistol, and why two-way toughness still separates great high school teams. Along the way, he spotlights players who never came off the field and assistants who kept the culture tight.

If you’re an aspiring coach, Blackburn lays out a path you can start today: cut your teeth with the freshmen, master film, coach both sides of the ball, keep your word, and protect the program. If you’re a player or parent, you’ll hear how trust, clarity, and accountability turn talent into habits and habits into wins. Subscribe, share with a fellow coach or fan, and leave a review—what’s the one standard you won’t compromise this season?

Transcript

Meet Coach Pat Blackburn

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back, everybody, Desert Valley Blitz, Coach's Corner Edition. And today we have a local legend in the house. Special. Very excited. The godfather of Palm Desert Aztec football, Mr. Coach Blackburn. Thank you for coming in. Yeah, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Thank you, guys. Nice to be here.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Yeah, we've been waiting a long time to have you in, so thanks for coming in.

SPEAKER_04 0:22

Coaching's a crazy game. Uh, it's almost a sport in itself. How did you get involved in this crazy sport we call coaching?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Well, I was in athletics all my life. My last couple years at Utah State, when I played there, I was really influenced by Bruce Snyder. I don't know if you know what Bruce Snyder is. Uh he was the head coach at the time. He le ultimately left and went to the Rams. He was the running back. I'm not going to look him up, coach. But uh he just sparked something in me. Yeah. You know, the way he handled himself, the way he did it, you know. And I was a phys physical education major and I loved football. So I just said, you know, I want to go, I want to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

You know. So you're starting to study before you were even the coach, huh?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

You started watching a little bit? I don't know about that. No. Really? Not not really. Okay. You know, what happened was I needed units, and that was another thing. So I I couldn't, I didn't graduate on time. And he goes, It's okay. I'm gonna take care of your schooling so you can graduate. In the meantime, I was kind of an assistant GA. So I was involved in all the coaching and the meetings and stuff like that. And that's where it really lit the fire. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

Watching him strategize and breaking down films and uh talking about stuff on the field and learning, yeah.

College Mentors And Coaching Spark

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, all that stuff. So our defensive line coach, Rod Marinelli. I don't know if you ever heard of it.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Oh, yeah. Sure. Pretty famous. Uh pretty famous. Some say the best, D-line coach.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

He hooked me up with Leo Brohard in Rubido High School in Riverside. That's where I have my first coaching job. No, that's um first year there we were six and four.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

And you were head coach right up the no, I was defensive coordinator.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Leo, Leo was head coach. And then our second year, we won 13 straight and lost in the title game. And we had eight guys sign division one off that team. Wow. It was unbelievable the talent.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

13 wins will do that.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

And we only ran one formation on offense.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

What'd you run?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Triple I, double tight.

unknown 2:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

We didn't throw the ball on the ball. Triple I, huh?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

We threw the ball. We threw the ball maybe five times a game.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

It was also always a fake the off power backside wipe, wide open for a touchdown.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

I do like those old school formations.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Well, you know who he's a disciple of is Bob Stangle at Colton and uh the Bloomington coach, Markham. Don Markham is where he first started coaching with. So he was all about run. Back then, everybody, you know, the toss power. You guys do it?

SPEAKER_04 3:13

I love favorite players.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Well, everybody back then thought it was a sweep.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So they're all overrunning. Overcommit.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

And we just cut back. Yep. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Tailback goes to Oregon, the fullback goes to Utah, tight end goes to Arizona. And then over on defense, we had 25, 26 interceptions on defense. And I ran two coverages, three and cover one.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I just let them play football.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Both corner, corner to Colorado, corner to SC.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Wow.

Rubidoux Breakthrough And Simple Schemes

SPEAKER_00 3:44

It was just nose guard to Colorado. It was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

I'm a big fan of keeping it simple on defense. Yeah. Yeah. Just let them play.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Especially if you got great athletes.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

They know how to play football.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah. They know what it looks like.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Well, that helps having great athletes. Yeah. Make you a much better coach.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

I learned a leader. Yeah. Yes. You learn from the guys that you assist. And he taught me one thing that stuck with my whole career is if you want your players to play for you, they gotta respect you, and you gotta be the first one in the locker room and the last one to leave.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Yeah, that's true. They they gotta trust you.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

And when they see you like that, then you can coach them hard.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

You can get in their face a little bit.

unknown 4:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Because they do trust you. Yeah, they trust you. You're for them.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

So taking you back a little bit, you were a great athlete yourself. We don't want to sell you short. You were recently inducted into the hall of fame of your high school. So for two sports, correct? Yes. So why foot? You were great at basketball, but why football? You you kind of you could have done both. Why'd you pick the game of football? What was the love affair with the with the football?

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Well, basketball, you know, I had a good year, good couple years, 70 points, 12 rebounds. But, you know, I was only 6'3, 6'3 and a half. You know, at the college level, you better be 6'5, 6'6. Yeah. Um, football, I excelled at it. What I really regret, to tell you the truth, is I didn't stay with baseball. I was really a good baseball player. And I got in yeah, and I got into football and kind of took off. And actually, my sophomore, after my sophomore year, I I quit baseball to focus on football.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

So a lot of a lot of athletes do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yes, specialize.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Yeah. Especially now.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Which I think is wrong.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Right. I think the recruiters are looking for multiple sport athletes, correct?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Absolutely. At least two sports you gotta play.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

At least.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

You know, hopefully they don't overlap.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

But I never told a kid not to play other sports. Because I was never told that. And it's the only time you get to play all those sports. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Once high school's over, it's hard to get on a bet.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:06

Basketball team.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

If you happen to go to college, they're not gonna let you go to another sport. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Yeah. So it becomes a business at that point in college. Yeah. So after high school, where did your playing career kind of take you? Because it was Utah State, correct?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

No. I had a full scholarship to Notre Dame.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

Notre Dame, fighting Irish. Yeah. Wow. Okay, tell that story because that's that's pretty impressive. I mean, that was when Notre Dame was Notre Dame, like when they were defending national chance in the country.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

I mean, well, I'll tell you a story. And I was so naive back then. So I pretty much let my coach deal handle everything. He took me up on a baseball field and he goes, Pat, where do you want to go? And I never even I didn't even think about it. He goes, Where do you want to go? I go, Josh Coach, I don't know. He goes, and he goes, Well, here's who's offered you so far Washington, Arizona State, USC, UCLA, and Notre Dame. Wow.

SPEAKER_05 7:08

And I go, That's quite a sheet. And I said, Notre Dame?

SPEAKER_03 7:16

I was okay. There was no visit. There was no time.

Multi‑Sport Roots And Notre Dame Story

SPEAKER_00 7:21

No, no, we had two weeks, two weeks later, he goes, Okay, Pat, we got your you're gonna go on a recruiting trip. But they need I forget what it was, 1100 on the SAT. You've got to pass that. Wow, that's that's not a low bar, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:39

1100 is not easy.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

So I go, okay, coach. He goes, Well, we've got three weeks, so we're gonna give you a tutor. So I mean, every morning for school, I was the tutor, do, do, do. The recruiting thing comes up. I go, I fly out there. Of course, Friday night, my host takes me to like two different parties. I didn't drink, you know, because uh and I got a haircut for the whole thing, you know, you know, the whole shop. So the next morning, get up, take the SAT test. Now, this is where it gets very sketchy. I take the test, I go to lunch, watch a highlight film. He goes, Okay, we're gonna take you in to Coach Parcisia. I take him in. He goes, Congratulations, you passed the test. I'm going, at the time I'm going, great, but now I think about it, takes like five, six weeks to get your test back.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

They had a grade in two hours. You were done on time.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

I'm going, okay. Now I'm going, I think that was a little fishy.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Maybe he was talking about the night before where they tried to take you to two parties and drink. Maybe that was the real test.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

I don't know, but uh doing little things a little differently back then, huh? Just keeping you, keeping you.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

So, of course, of course, I said yes. And you know, I was signed, I was recruited as a tight end. And our offense at high school, we averaged six points a game. Yeah, but our defense, we gave up two points a game.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Wow. That's like a baseball score.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

We went through our whole uh schedule. Back then you only had nine games, one touchdown in nine games. That's impressive. One touchdown, then about five field goals. Very dominant defensive performance. But we had no offense, everybody wanted to go play defense, and our whole front seven got D1 scholarships. But anyway, as a beast. So I went to Notre Dame. In in retrospect, it was too far away from home for me. Um not to say I was a you know, I was a homesick.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Yeah. But you're young. But I was yeah, you're young. And you're from California, you go to that Indiana wet that first winter in Indiana is like shocking, right? I mean, especially.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

And even the summers are so humid. But anyway, here I am going in here and defending national champs, and my coach put a lot of pressure on me. You know, he made it sound like the only reason I got the scholarship was because of his recommendation. And that, you know, don't embarrass me up there, and blah, blah, blah, and blah, blah, blah. I reported at 240, and within a week and a half of two days, I was down to about 214, 15 pounds. Okay. Just stressing out every practice, you know, scrimmage, everything. And uh I did well. I got up there, and that was back then where they didn't they didn't have scholarship limits.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

So they could have like 10 Doctors in Notre Dame, too.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

There was 136 guys on full scholarship.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

136 guys on school.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

So I walk into the locker room, I look at the depth chart over, and then they switched me to defensive end in the middle of summer. I don't know if you guys remember this, it was national headlines. There was four football players going to summer school. Back then, the only school they accept transfer credit was from Holy Cross, where Rudy went. Yeah. So you had to stay and go to that school. Well, these four guys sexually assaulted a girl in the dorm. Uh three of them were defensive ints. So they called me in the middle of the summer, said you're now a defensive end.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

You just moved up the depth chart. So I'm working on blocking and running routes and all that. Okay. But I walked in and saw that depth chart, and there was like I started going down it and looking for my name. This is before we started even first practice. I was six strings. There's 140 guys out there. Yeah, and the difference between one and three strings.

SPEAKER_05 11:47

Yeah.

Transfers, Depth Charts, And Big‑Time Football

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Tiny. Yeah. So it was an experience. And we ended up uh going to the Orange Bowl, played Alabama, we beat Alabama 13 to 11 to prevent the Bear from getting a national title. Where the year before we won to win the national title. That was Parcis's last year as a coach. You know, he lost the two teams you don't lose to in Notre Dame. That's SC and Purdue.

unknown 12:14

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

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SPEAKER_00 12:44

I actually, after Rubidau, the second year of Rubidau, Bruce Snyder offered me a job on his staff back at Utah State. So I went back there, did a GA, then he left for the Rams, and I was hired by the next coach who happened to be my position coach when I played. He hired me as a linebacker's coach. Well, two years go by, you know, he got fired, so everybody's fired. And that really disheartened me on college football coaching. Because we got fired, all the assistants are fired, everybody's on the phones going for jobs that I'm going for the same one you're going. Yeah. So nobody says anything. Well, what do you got going? Nah, nothing.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

I think I'm done. And when I got hired full-time at Utah State, my salary was$18,000. Wow. This is back in 1982. Wow. And there was 50 applicants for that job. And I just, you know, it's not who you what you know, it's who you know. Absolutely. Yep. So I just go, you know, I need some more security.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

And then you can't do this every three or four years.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Because unless you get on with a great young head coach and ride his coattails, that type thing, it's a lot of moving. I can tell you, my 22 years as coach at Palm Desert, there was one guy named uh he was an offensive line coach. I used to make fun of him because he must have come by in like six different shirts of colleges he was at. I was going, Mark, man, how do you do that? He's got a family with kids.

SPEAKER_04 14:27

A lot of movement.

Path Back To High School Sidelines

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah. So anyway, I was at Alamany High School. Okay. Catholic school up in San Fernando as the head coach. I was assistant a year, and then I got the head the head job, and I was a golf coach. And for Easter, we'd come out here for a high school tournament. And I would just go, man, I love this place. I go, 130 golf courses? Yeah. Oh, I want to come out here. Well, I I went 20 and 20 at at uh Alamani. It wasn't good enough. We were we were in the league with Al uh Loyola.

unknown 15:04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

St. John Bosco, big time pro St. Paul, St. Francis.

SPEAKER_04 15:09

Ain't messing around up there. Yeah. And I you know 500 records, not bad. No, yeah. Going toe-to-toe with some good schools there.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

But anyway, we Yeah, they decided to let me go. Well, I got on with John Burroughs High School as a defensive coordinator. And I'm going, you know, I could have applied for some jobs, but I said, you know what? I'm just gonna hang on. And then after that year, the Palm Desert job opened and I applied for that. Well, what happens is it was between me and a guy from Michigan, they took the other guy. He lasted a week and then he quit because he hated the heat.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

I don't get you, man.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

So Daryl calls me up and goes, Hey, do you want the job? I said, Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

I didn't know that's how I ended up. So it all worked out, huh? It all worked out. It was a twist of fate. I heard a rumor that you were on the sideline too for the first Palm Desert game ever.

unknown 16:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Is that true? I was the head coach at Montclair Prep. Small, small private school. Actually, that was my first head coaching job for two years at Montclair Prep. I had 30, 32 kids on the roster. Oh, jeez. And we played Palm Desert at our place, and we beat them 14 to 7.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

So you gave Palm Desert their first loss on the program. How ironic is that? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

And it helped when I interviewed because Darryl remembered me. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Yeah, that's pretty ironic, right? Yeah. You got the guy who's going to come in and build the program. He gave you the first L to the program. Yeah. Yeah. But that's so, I mean, so fate there, right? Yeah. So you get out here, what's the state of desert football when you get out here? Are you like, uh, this is gonna be an easy job? There's not as much talent as there is out in LA. What was your kind of first assessment of it?

Landing Palm Desert And Early Rivalries

SPEAKER_00 16:55

No, I didn't, I did not think that at all. Um first thing was dealing with the heat. Yeah, you know, do you know Kurt Huff? No. Well, anyway, he he I've known him since high school. He was a high school teammate, uh, college teammate, and we just happened to run into each other up in the valley. I didn't even know where he was. And he said, Yeah, I'd love to coach. So I brought him with me. The day we moved out here, it was like 116. We're just looking at each other, going, man.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

What I get myself into.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yeah, but as far as talent goes, I knew that Palm Desert had been successful and only been in school for what, six years?

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Yeah, relatively 87.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

You know what the first thing that I was told to be is beat Indio.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, hey, we were your rivals.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Palm Desert was always the team that could beat us. Coachella's your main rival, but Palm Desert was the other guy. And that was a that game was always tough, man. Even when they were not the biggest program, they still were tough. Oh, they were really tough games. People forget about them.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah, you gotta you had to be physical.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Yeah, yeah. We run the ball, you know, yeah, 50 times a game. Yeah, tough kids.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Uh so that was about you gotta beat NDO.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

But that was the old Imperial League.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Yeah. We go down to Calexico, we go down to Central, and that's starting to come back now. I think I think we're gonna see more.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Interesting thing about Clexico, I got thrown out of the game in Calexico. What happened? So we're we're up 30, I don't know, 36 to nothing. I mean, we're just hammering them. And then ref throws a flag, comes over to me, goes, Coach, and he brings uh Josh Sallas over. Oh, yeah, he's pretty good, Josh. Yeah. He goes, Josh. He goes, goes, he doesn't have a butt pad in. That's a 15-yard penalty. And I and you know, you guys could say, whenever you go down to Imperial Valley, the refs, I gotta say it now, they hose you. A little home cooking, yeah. So anyway, I send I send in kid next play, flag. He brings over Terry Seachin. I remember Terry. Yeah. He goes, he doesn't have a butt pad. That's another unsports flag on the bench.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Coach, you're out of here.

Standards, Trust, And Player Accountability

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Wow. What?

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Just like on the bench for a whole half.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

You hear that, Terry? It's your fault.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

You know what I did to those guys? I go, okay, next week in school, you're wearing your hip pads and your butt pads to school. And I'm not gonna tell you when I'm gonna check on you. But if I check on you and you're not wearing those, you don't play.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Dang, that's some old school right there. I like my language right there. I like that. I don't think we could get away with that anymore. I think uh we might be run out of town trying to do that to see kids now, but that's that's an awesome story. Through you out because of that, huh?

SPEAKER_04 19:56

I've never heard of that. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

So you get down here, you got a pretty good program already going. Um, I just the things that kind of stand out about your program is the consistency over the years. I mean, you were one of the consistent powers from, you know, pretty much the time you got here, right? 22 years, you made the playoffs 18 times. I mean, what were some of your what were some of your keys do you think to that consistency? I mean, you were you were pretty much built a program that was always going to contend for a league title every year.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

I I uh my philosophy is three letters, ATE alignment, technique, and effort.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

So if you can get everybody on that field aligned properly, using the technique they've been coached to do, not what they think is right, and then effort. And that carried us a long way, uh you know, being fundamentally sound because we never had the biggest, fastest guys year after year. So I think that set us apart as far as being coached. We had good assistant coaches. I was lucky to have, you know, we had Ed Munson coached for me. Did he really? Yes, and so didn't my head coach at Indio.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

You coached him from Indio, huh?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

And so did Rivnas. Dave Rivnas.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Munson was a very good offensive mind, man. That guy was like a massive. I loved it. I loved Ed.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Ed was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

So that's how you got Bubba over there.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Yeah, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Dave Rivnas, Munson, and also Rick Holman.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Oh, you see, you took the whole crew, you took the whole band over there. No wonder we were losing all our games.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

All our staff, man. You were messing around. Beat India, okay. You're poaching all our guys, man.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

I mean, that was that's a core of our when I got to the school, that was the core of the coaching staff right now.

Sustained Success And Staff Culture

SPEAKER_00 21:44

So no wonder we kind of so you know, at one time or another, those guys came over um and you know, bust because those guys, you know, a funny story about Ed. You know Ed, you know he loves Don Markham, and he loves. That double wing office. Well, in 2005, we play him in the quarterfinals. And we beat him, but we ended up, I think we forced him to punt twice. You know, Markham. He never punts. So the first time they punt, Ed is up there. He was gonna have a heart attack. They're punting, they're punting! He screamed, hey, they're punting. Okay, yes. He goes, Coach, you just don't know what that means. So, all right. He was a great guy. And Dave, you know, Dave's Dave. Dave doesn't talk much. He brings his chair out there to do the O-line and gets it done. Yeah. Yeah. But that really helps a lot. I think our numbers, you know, we could always depend on having 60, 65 freshmen.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

And you know what really bugs me is you get 65 freshmen, and by the time they're seniors, you only have 25 of them. Yeah. There's a big gap of they fall off. Yeah. Yeah. So you know, one of the things I said when I address that, I say, you know, I gotta have a good freshman staff and make sure those guys have fun playing the game.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Yeah. You know. So they come back, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So they stay in the program.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

I was a freshman at Palm Desert once.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Were you?

SPEAKER_04 23:15

Daryl Salazar was the head coach. Oh boy. Yeah. I had fun. It was fun.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

He he uh were you when when uh we fired the staff halfway through the season? No, no.

SPEAKER_04 23:25

It was when Trevor Thiel broke his wrist that year. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah, it took a lot to get him mom to let him play again.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

He he turned out to be pretty good senior year, huh? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, you talk about an athlete. He was all conference in three sports.

unknown 23:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

But anyway, to answer your question, you know, and then what I said with two is is I want to be the hardest working guy in front of those kids so it breeds off of them, you know, and they're example. You know, if you can get a kid to run through a wall for you that wants to win for themselves, but also wants to win for their coach, yeah, that's huge. Yeah.

unknown 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

And you get 11 of them, it's hard to beat, right? Yeah. 11 on the field at the same time. That's that's tough to beat.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

And there's a real art to that because not every coach can do that, you know. No. They want to, but it's some coaches are better at that than others.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Well, you have to walk your talk.

unknown 24:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

You know, that's what kids, I don't know so much today. No, especially today.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

They're always questioning you. Yeah, you gotta walk your talk. You can't just talk it, you gotta walk it. Yeah, especially this generation.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Like I said before, you have to earn the right to get in their face. And this is the other thing. We always told they always told the kids there's two things that I will get in your face for that is totally unacceptable. One is a mental mistake, and two is effort.

unknown 24:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Because that doesn't take a 500-pound batch, a 440 to know what you're doing and to go all out all the time. It's a choice. Yeah, it's a choice.

Valley Football’s Golden Era

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SPEAKER_00 25:39

The really, really great high school players that I had, From Desert, went both ways and never asked to come out of the football game. No, right? You know, like Kyle C Berry, for example.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Fantastic player.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Quarterback, safety, kickoff, punter, yeah, field goal.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Never left the field. Jeez. Multiple.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

And he never once never once asked to come out of the game. And then he got another guy. He's only a one-way player. It's the first series.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, I'm tired. I've run five routes. I'm tired. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

I'm going, what?

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Yeah. Well, coach, you've had some great players come through your program. I mean, you've had we've seen a couple in the league, like 50 into the into the college and then three into the NFL.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Well, you know, in my college coaching, um, when I was doing linebackers, I had two guys go NFL from there. Uh, my first year at Utah State, I was a defensive line coach, and I had three guys go to the NFL from there.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

So this is nothing new. You get into the league, huh?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

And the other schools I'm at, I've had two tailbacks get scholarships to SC in my career. Uh pretty much every D1 school on the West Coast, I think I've had a kid that's gone there.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

Yeah. It's a great filling as a coach.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Yes. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_04 27:07

I didn't mess that up. Like it's a yeah, you're in the background for brand.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

You know, a lot of the coaches today don't realize, and being a college coach, also, there's a tremendous amount of weight with college coaches on who you recommend. You know, if a college coach knows you're always gonna bring in three guys that are 5'10, 200 pounds, and say they're great offensive linemen, they're just gonna go.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Yeah, they won't take your call. No, no, they're gonna not take that.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

No, so you they gotta trust that you're consistent.

Crowds, Community, And Game Day Energy

SPEAKER_03 27:37

Yes, yeah, that you know what it takes. That's the name of the game, right? Consistency all these years.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

I mean, you had it towards the end of your career, 14 in a row, made the playoffs every year, 14, your last 14 years, you know. Some were saying you were peaking when you when you kind of decided to to kind of hang it up, huh?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

I mean, you know one of the things that I'm the most proud of, and I don't think uh anybody's done it in the valley, is I went seven years in a row with at least one playoff win. Yeah. I mean, I'm proud of that. And I know Laquita didn't do that either.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

So I have to go back and check. There's one, there's one up on Armstrong right there.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

But you know what? I went back through, I don't know if you guys are familiar with Calpreps.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

But I went through the they go all the way back. So I started, you know, since 2000. It was from 2000 to 2015 that uh Desert Valley or what was the other league called? Oh, Desert Empire went to the semis or the championship for 16 straight years.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

Yeah, I mean, you guys were perennial like semifinalists, quarterfinals. I mean, there was a stretcher we had, didn't we have you guys and Pons Maries meeting a semifinal one year? Like like 2007. Yeah, it was the the early 2000s. I mean, the PBL was the power of the Eastern Conference. I mean, we always had teams in the finals, and you were kind of part of that. It was it was like a three-headed monster between you, Fabian, and Armstrong. I mean, one of you guys was gonna be in the finals every year. So, I mean, that's a testament to like that. Was maybe kind of the golden era of coaching we had in this valley of like long-term guys that were building outstanding programs. I mean, each program, I mean, I had to give you fits, you know, preparing for them all the time. But you know, it's a testament to that era. Makes you better though.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

It does. You look forward to those games. I always said the valley was unique, and I don't understand why more people don't go to the games because all these valley games, what is the the the worst is 30 minutes to get to a game? Yeah, and you know what really used to depress me is when I go to the pep rally for the game, and there's 1,800 students there. I'm going, damn, can't at least a thousand of you go to the game?

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Because the players feel it, they feel it when you know rocking.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Yep. Yeah. I remember going to like Palm Desert looking at the game when I played. I there was standing room only. I mean, it was everywhere. And you know, you go, you know, lately it's like, man, I remember when this was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

There were some games this year where I look across there, and I think I could count on count many people in the stance. Yeah. You know, 30, 40.

unknown 30:17

Yeah.

State Of The Valley And OC Gap

SPEAKER_03 30:18

And they're only and they're all home like in the valley games, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

It's only in Rancho Miracles.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Yeah. Yeah. Well, speaking of that, coach, I know you're on the golf course a lot these days too, but what you've been around the game, you still are very connected to the community down here. What is your state what is your state of the union in terms of the game down here in the Coachello Valley right now? What are you seeing?

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Um I think it's you know, with the change in the playoff situation, we're facing uh more Orange County teams. Yeah, absolutely. And you can see a big difference when we do that. You know, we used to face Temecula teams more. Now we don't see them as much. But we do see more Orange County teams. And I always think there's a gap there between us. And you maybe a little less with Riverside County, depending on who you play. Yeah. But uh when you get into Orange County and and Riverside, you know, you gotta step it up. Yeah. You gotta step it up because we're kind of in a a cone here.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yeah, for sure. You know bubble.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

You know, I to me, I always wanted to be the last team playing in the valley.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

You know, the last one.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

I think everybody does.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yeah, they want to be the last one to turn your equipment in. And what was great about the old days is if you made the quarterfinals, you're playing on Thanksgiving. You're practicing on Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

It's always special.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yes. You always thought, hey, this is a successful year if I'm practicing on Thanksgiving. Now you got to get to the championship game. I know. But that's what what I see. I think there's just a little more uh speed, skill positions.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Yeah. The offense has got kind of opened up too, right? If you've seen you see you saw the rise of that spread offense. I mean, when you first came in, we were all running the ball, like you know, and I think maybe you guys were kind of the first to kind of spread it out a little bit, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:19

You know who it was?

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Armstrong.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

No, no, Armstrong's not running the ball. Rick Baum Rick Bauman. Oh, yeah, yeah. They had a tremendous runner cheat offense. That's right. And then they called in the telephone booth offense.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

Uh yeah, the three backs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

They ran the crap out of that too. That's weird.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

They had it uh Eddie Martinez quarterback.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Royce Boone at Tail, yeah, and the uh receiver, he went pros. What's his name?

SPEAKER_04 32:50

Um he was a track guy, Thornburg. Thornburg, yeah. He was a little later though, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah, Jeremy Thornburg, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

Jeff Lambert, yeah, Nick Lee. Yeah, I can we can go on and on, yeah. I know Harrison.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

And they were very tough. I've got Cat City, man.

Offense Evolves: From I‑Backs To Pistol

SPEAKER_03 33:06

So Cass City really was was the while, right? They were the ones that kind of finally spread it out and started throwing it around. And then you guys kind of, I think you guys were kind of adapted to that too, because you guys were throwing the ball early too, I think. And you know, you started kind of adapting your offense to that, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah, because my first I would say maybe five years, it was all I back stuff, you know. And I look at that film now and I go, come on, dude.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

Get you guys run the the wings, but with the receivers too, sometimes, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

That was it could be that was with that was with Dave. We'd run double wing, double wide out. Yeah, we'd run ISO.

SPEAKER_03 33:44

A lot of times you're just spreading out to run the ball, right? You're just trying to spread the defense, right? Yes, yeah. So, but now everybody's doing that, right? I mean, now it's like the common thing. You it's common, it's uncommon when you see a team that just lines up and tries to bully you off the ball and get you know four yards. I think, you know, yeah, but I think we're gonna see it, you know. But football goes in cycles, right? You look at the Super Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks, they just bully people to front, and the running game may be making a comeback here, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

I think a lot of that has to do with your personnel 100%. Because, you know, you know, when you guys pack it in, you gotta be able to vlog an eight, nine-man front.

SPEAKER_04 34:21

So you gotta be able to move people, or post over the top because they're stacking. Absolutely. And if you can't do that, then you gotta be able to do both.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Yes. Yeah. But you've been you've been around to see the ebbs and flows of the of the offensive changes in high school, huh?

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Yes, from the IBAX, I slot to Cat City, really three-step and throw it, you know, run and shoot, totally, read routes, and trying to stop that dang fullback trap by boom to myself. You know what I really did? I really studied Chris Alt and the pistol offense.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

You know, I went and got listened to him speak, then I got his videotapes. VHS. Yeah, of his line and his and him and his uh running back, you know, how to run and everything. And that's when I went to the pistol.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

God, I gotta remember the first year I did that. But you were one of the first, I think, to bring that out here. I think, right? The pistol? Like I didn't see anybody really running that.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

You know, in retrospect, I wish I would have done it with Joe Johnson. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

He's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Imagine him with Zone Reed, yeah, Joe Johnson, and Josh Sallas.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Yeah. Sallas is a beast, man. People forget.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Yeah, he gave me a concussion one time.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

Defense or offense. Oh, he's running the ball. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Put my head in the wrong place.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Josh Sall has had one of the best all-time seasons ever in the Valley this senior year.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

He's ridiculous. Yeah, he's a great player. Shout out to Josh. I don't know if he's listening, man. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Josh, man.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yeah.

Great Players And Two‑Way Toughness

SPEAKER_03 35:59

Well, coach, we're kind of running up against time here. We've had such a great conversation, but we always like to ask our coaches, what advice would you give to somebody that that maybe looking to get in the coaching profession or maybe looking to get you know a long-term position at a as a head coach, what advice would you give to that person?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

You're saying somebody that uh with no experience just wants to get into coaching.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

Yeah, I mean, just uh the kid or a player maybe thinking, hey, I want to be the next Pat Blackburn.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

If you're a if you're a player, um, if you you know, obviously if you respect the coach that you played for, first thing I would do is say, I want to coach with you and start at the bottom, be a freshman coach. You know, a lot of guys think that's a demotion, but you know to me, my most important teams were my freshman and my varsity. You know, because that's how you keep kids in the program. Right. And then just work your way up from that way. Uh study. You know, watch film, watch film, watch film, uh, get training tapes. You know, everything's on Google now. Yeah. Learn your position and be willing to coach on both sides of the ball. Yeah. Don't just stick to one side of the ball.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

I agree with that. Yeah. Be open to everything, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Get out of your comfort zone. You know, maybe you're a D B. So coach the wide receivers or the running back, so you learn the offense. And big thing with a coach is be a man of your word. If the coach tells you what's expected of you, be on time, be dependable, and be a team player. Never talk bad about the program. Yeah. Yeah. That's a big thing. Those are huge. Yeah. Be on time, dependable, don't backstab. Because you're, you know, that happens a lot.

SPEAKER_04 37:54

And it gets out.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Oh, hell yeah, heck yeah. And that will blackball you in a heartbeat. Then you'll never be able to work. Yeah.

Practical Advice For Aspiring Coaches

SPEAKER_03 38:03

Well, Coach, you're a legend, man. You're a legend in our community. And we've been trying to get you on the show. We're happy we finally had you. I'd love to have you back.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

We could have got we could have got another hour.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

Yeah, we'll probably bring you back for the preseason to do the preseason show and we'll get your get some more words. Cool. I'd love to do that. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for having me. That went fast, didn't it? Yeah, it was fast. It does. It does. It does. But thanks a lot, Coach. Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

Well, if you guys found some value in that, you guys know the routine. Like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

Peace.