EP#32-How Coach Flip & Desert Mirage Built A Run-First Program Without A Feeder System

A head coaching job lands in your lap one week before the season. You’re 25, you’re leading kids who are basically your little brother’s age, and you’re trying to build a winning culture without a feeder program. That’s the reality Coach Jesus “Flip” Philippe shares as we head to the east side of the Coachella Valley to talk Desert Mirage Rams football and the real work behind the record.

We get into how Coach Flip learned the craft from mentors like Coach Sandoval, Coach Perry, and others who modeled energy, accountability, and putting players first. He explains why Desert Mirage is built to run the ball and play physical, how offensive line pride creates an identity, and why you still have to adapt when defenses stack the box. We also talk player development when many athletes are brand new to football, plus what it takes to coach safely, earn parent trust, and keep kids coming out year after year.

Then we zoom out to the big picture: the new league setup, the playoff algorithm, scheduling headaches, and what travel games (including trips to downtown Los Angeles) mean for a program that’s often on the road. If you care about high school football coaching, leadership, and building a program the right way, this conversation delivers.

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Transcript

Meet Coach Flip And His Start

0:24

Welcome back, everybody, to Desert Valley Blitz, it's Coach's Corner Edition. And today we're going to the east side of the valley because today's special guest is the head coach of the Desert Mirage Rams, Coach Jesus Philippe. Thank you for coming in, man. Coach Flip. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. So I we always ask first thing, how did you get into coaching? Like, what made you want to do this? Um, honestly, my coaches. So again, uh, I had a good group of coaches when I was in high school. Um, so once I finished my time, so I basically, like I was saying earlier, uh, I started at the youth level, or even before that, I started doing spring ball with my high school to help out a little bit because uh some of our coaches would work during spring ball, so I'd help out sub in. And then once I started playing college, I did a year at COD. Um, once I was done there, I realized you know what, I started working honestly. And once you start working, yeah, you start making money. You're like, you know what, football? Do I go out there every day and do this? It's a lot of fun. And then uh I got a call that year to help out on the JV level at DM. So DM's the only spot I've ever really looked at to coach at. And um, I got a call there. At the time I couldn't do it, my work schedule didn't work out. It was under uh Coach Perry. Coach Perry was a guy, man. I love Coach Perry. Good dude, man. To this day, Coach Perry, he he'll he'll give me great advice and uh shout out coach, stuff like that. Yeah, and then um I didn't do it that year. Uh the year after my coach, one of my mentors in high school, Coach Sandoval got the job at DM, and he called me. And once he called me, I was like, okay, maybe it's time to do it. I've been called three times. Maybe it's time to go try it out. I went and tried it out. I went on as the uh defensive coordinator my first year. And I was saying first year? Yeah. They threw you right to the wolves. So they threw me right in there. O-line and then uh O-line and then D-coordinator. Okay. That year went by. We went to the summer. Uh Coach Sandoval again, we he's like, oh, you know, because he's he's great at bringing up young coaches. I'll I'll give him all the credit for that. He asked me for my input on everything. Any moves we were making, he asked for a coach's input. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna be brutally honest with you. I'm an offensive guy. You're the defensive guy, you go out there, run your dogs, I'll go out there and I'll move bodies with my O line because that's what I love to do. Move the linemen around. If you make holes, it's not hard to run. It's not hard to it's football again, it is what it is. But if you're able to create running lane, it's a fun time. So from there I took over the OC job for two years. Coach Sandoval ended up in the summer right before season, he ended up getting promoted to a uh assistant principal job. So they made him give up the coaching gig. And uh, I had been on there probably the longest, me and him and uh one of the other assistants, uh Coach Harmon, who played for DM as well. Um so they ended up asking me, Oh, do you want to try to do the M term job? At first I was hesitant. I'm like, yo, you know, I'm 25. Wow, a lot of yeah, much older than the players at that point. Yeah, so I would even tell the players out there when I started, I'm like, you're the age of my little brother. So it's like I see that's the thing about me and the way I coach is uh it's family first, and then from there, if the kids know you love them or if you care enough about them, they'll run through a wall for you. They'll do a A through Z. I've had kids play out of position, never complained once. I've had a kid do all kinds of stuff. But yeah, so since Coach Andoval got promoted, um, I took on that job, uh the head coach job, and it was legitimately probably a week before the season started. So a week? You had the you got the job a week before the season? It like we went up, we went up to a camp up in the mountains, and I remember it was a football camp, and coach was like, you know what, they're promoting me. So I'm uh I don't trust anybody. I want you to run it. Like I trust that you've picked up what I've put down pretty much. And uh that first year I went out, we ended up going two and eight. Again, we're still installing some of the the stuff we're putting in football-wise, teaching the kids the game. And then uh yeah, so that was my first year, and then from there it's just been now I'm on about to be season five. Wow. So you got the job a week before the season started. How is how does that I mean that's gotta be nerve-wracking, right? I mean, going from just an assistant preparing as an assistant, and then bang, this is your show. First year head coach. Yeah, first year head coach, man. Yeah, already young. That had to be kind of a sink or swim moment, right? Um, at first it was, uh, but again, it's if you're if you're on a staff, eventually you want to try to have your your program at one point. It just came a little earlier for me. So, and the great thing again, like I said, I can't get enough, uh, give enough credit to Coach Sandoval. He he's again took the admin job, but he's like, I'm not gonna leave you to dry. He still came out and he volunteers as a D coordinator. I was gonna say he can still be on the staff, he's still and he does it voluntarily. Yeah, that's that's awesome. So that's why I said he's the reason I have the job, and again, I'm fighting to keep it because you know it's it's tough out there at DM. It's a bunch of coaches. Uh it's it's it's just trying to keep the program going and keep uh coaches coming out and kids coming out. So I always say that head coach's job is one of the hardest jobs you can do. I mean, you're in charge of everything out there, and it's all encompassing. So I always tip my hat off to all head coaches, man. It's a it's a grind. It is, man. It is. Um,

Taking Over A Week Before Kickoff

5:44

so your first year you get kind of thrown to the wolves. Um then how do how did you kind of at Desert Mirage, you guys are kind of known for running the ball, you know, playing defense, running the ball. Is that something that is that kind of your philosophy? Is that something you kind of took over? How did you kind of build that type of program? Um, well, again, I played at DM. So even running the ball a long time ago. Even when I played the bridge days, right? Yeah. Coach Perry days is running power. And even before that, uh, my head coach was uh Coach Tabillac. Okay. We run a sort of, he's now the one of the recruiters for COD too. He's out there all over the valley. Okay. But um, yeah, another great mentor taught me a lot of stuff about loving kids. And but uh even when he was there was Melvin Harmon and Hesusa Angel. They used to call him uh Thunder and Lightning back then, and that was that 2018 era. Yeah, yeah, I remember that. So running the football at DM is just part of the culture. Yeah. Now uh that two and eight year we ran the football well, and then I ended up moving one of my tight ends a quarterback. Because trust me, I want to open it up. I don't I don't like running against 10 people stacked until you're gonna say 10 boxes all the time. I know that's when we in India, whenever we played DM, we were 10, we're 10 in the box. So the free safety put that free safety up there because you guys are not you guys are not gonna deviate from what you do. So yeah, as a coach, you're already kind of seeing that there's adjustments that need to be made, right? Yeah, so that second year, I ended up I took a baseball player. For some reason, baseball players can throw football all the time. And I played baseball as well. So yeah, took a baseball player, stuck in a quarterback. Um again, we ended up throwing the ball that year. That's the year we went six and four. So yeah, so far, uh I don't want it to be, but that's our school's best record right now. We didn't end up making playoffs that year. Wow, but yeah, six and four didn't make the playoffs. Yeah, and we won, uh, I want to say that year we won two league games. Yeah, and we just we I think they gave to Linwood that year. Yeah, it's the way the algorithm got you there, huh? Jeez, algorithm monster. So you've so you've had like one of the most successful seasons at DM in the recent memories, right? Record wise, yeah. Record wise, I would say so, yes. And that's that's a testament to what you and your staff do because like we're kind of talking beforehand, you guys don't really have a feeder program, right? You gotta take kids that have never played football and teach like the basics from the beginning, you know. You gotta teach them how to put on the helmet, you know, you don't even know how to put on the helmet at that point, right? So you got you got guys that are fresh and new and you gotta you gotta build them up, you know. Yeah. So it's not it's not the it's not like you're gonna get recruits that are gonna come in and help you right away. You gotta really build them up. And I think that that shows because your your your tradition says, you know, by the time they're seniors, they're gonna be able to play pretty well for you, right? Yeah, that's and that's that's what we have this year. I have uh my sophomore class, freshman class, they're now juniors and seniors. So they've been having to play varsity and get beat up, beat up. And now it's like, all right, now we're the big kids. You know what I mean? So they just make them better. Yeah, it'll make them a lot better. And uh it's I see a pattern again. I've been there seven, eight years now at DM. So I see a pattern that um is really a roller coaster. Yeah, and the thing right now is my seniors, I have a senior heavy team this year, so we should have a a good amount of wins this year. We should have some success. But um, it's just I gotta figure out a way, like you said, there's no feeder programs, I gotta figure out to get kids interested in football now. Right. Yeah, so that's that's a big confidence thing too, because I'll go out and I ask a hundred kids, oh, you want to play? They're like, no, I'm I'm good. I don't want to try that. And it's like okay. You gotta convince the parents too, right? Yeah, parents, you gotta again, it's not it's not the safest sport, but trust me, we teach the kids how to play to where they're we try not to get anyone hurt or ourselves hurt. There's a way to practice to make it safe. Yeah, it's definitely getting a little safer though. I'll say with the equipment and the changes in the rules and how much we can hit in practice. It's a safer game than when I played. I played in the in the late 90s and we were Neanderthals the way that the game is played now. I mean we it was a totally different sport. So uh safety is definitely, I think, has dumped something that's built into

Last Season’s Fast Start And Injury

9:42

the game. So um, you spoke about it a little bit, but last year you guys got off to a pretty quick start. You know, you guys were what three and three going into league. You guys won a first couple games, correct? Yeah. You want to kind of reflect on that since we haven't really talked to you about that season. So uh let me go back. First game, we had the great showing against uh Chapel. We came out, and again, we uh we came out that game and it was we didn't throw the ball one time. Didn't have to. We yeah. They the coach even came up to me after and he was like, dang, we didn't you didn't throw the ball once, we didn't pass, or you didn't throw the ball once and we didn't run it once. So they really did not, I think they ran it one time on a scramble. Yeah, yeah. So um, but yeah, that that uh that just showed that we could run the football. Um our running back that game, sadly, he ended up going down. Uh oh, really? The first game. First game. Uh Devion Martinez. Did somebody have like six touchdowns in that game when we got it? Omar Martinez. So yeah, that's right. Martinez. That's what I feel bad about because Devion Martinez had about close to 400 yards, but Omar Martinez had the eight touchdowns. Because he's the short yard. Yeah, he's the get it in there. And again, he got hurt on a hip drop tackle. Uh 80, it was like a 60-yard run. Kid grabbed him by the shoulder pads, he went down. Ankle, ankle, yeah, snapped. So that we had to figure out a new running back. And so that two weeks after that, again, it's no excuse. You're a football team, you figure it out, right? It is what it is. As a coach, you got a next man up. Next man up. Luckily for us, uh, we had uh Russell Wilkerson, all-star. I don't he had the MVP and the all-star, all that from DMs. So nice. Yeah, it's a good thing to go out there for our program and show, like, yo, we got ballers too. Yeah, absolutely. So um, yeah, he came out. I think he went over for a thousand two. He had a thousand yard season, seven games at running back. 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. Got dirty carpets, tile, or furniture? Trust a carpet and tile care company, your family-run experts. We bring Sparkle back to your home with top-notch cleaning services, reliable, affordable, and eco-friendly. Call us today. We can be reached at carpetcare.co. Phone number 760-773-5882. Like

Depth Challenges And Fixing The Details

12:18

I was saying earlier, a lot of our first halves were great. And then it's either a little bit of discipline, which I'm going to put on ourselves because as a coach, it's got to be you to discipline, make sure kids don't jump off sides and practice stuff like that. Uh I put a corner out running back, so he wasn't the great at handling the ball the first few games, so we had a couple fumbles. Um, kids get tired. Again, we're 30-man roster this year, so start getting thin. Yeah, that always doesn't help when you get into that second half of that tough game, man. You got every guy's going both ways. Yeah, well, people don't realize when you you know you get a starter that goes down, you're actually pulling another starter from another position, so then you're refilling that's a good one. I've been there, it's tough sometimes. Yeah, in that situation, I pulled him from corner, didn't even pull him. He played both ways. So he's running. Okay. Oh, so he's tired. He's running both, and he's playing corner again. He made all league for a reason. Yeah. But again, uh like I was saying, most of our four out of my five linemen are coming back. Oh. And again, if you've seen our line, they're big boys. They're big. They're fast, they're strong. Um, it's just gotta teach a kid to run through that that gap and make it work. But um, line-wise, they're my linemen. Uh again, I gotta shout them out. Carlos, Oscar, Frank, and uh Hector. They are losing weight, they're getting stronger and they're losing weight. So they know our offense moves. And I told them a problem last year, you guys can't get to the backers. Uh-huh. And again, in today's high school, it's a lot of screens. A lot of screens I picked up on it. So we gotta get on the horse, get out there, and make it happen. So they they took the initiative and they're they're losing weight in the offseason. So that'll help them block those skinny DBs out there. Help them break down. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of so the boys are working, and I'm excited about next season because I'm a senior heavy team. We have the same staff, that's a good thing. I've always wanted to keep yeah, yeah. I always wanted to keep consistency because for the boys to see a new face every year is kind of tough. Yeah, consistency, especially in a smaller program like yours, is gonna what's gonna equate to some success. And I think that's why you know you guys already have an identity, which is part, you know, partly a testament to you. Yeah. So just maintaining that identity that you came up with with Desmond Raj, because we know when you play Desmond Raj, you better strap it up and and play the run. Because if you don't get in your run fits, it's gonna be a long night. You know, you guys are known to be pretty good up front. Um, Coach Johnson was in here uh a couple weeks ago, and he was, you know, he's giving you guys a lot of credit. You know, you guys were a tough game for them, even though they went undefeated. You guys had you guys had them in the first half, right? It was a neck and neck game in that first half. You're surprised at how tough you guys were. That that one was a again, on it was a crazy game because uh it was a shootout every year. We played them. This year they again, of course, they got the upper hand. We see the score, it's no secret. But first half, I think we went in 12-12. Yeah, halftime was tied, right? And uh I believe we were on the like five-yard line to score, and then we just ran out of time. And I that's a good one. We were going in to take the lead at half, and I had to waste the time out because uh one of the players, but my quarterback had to come out. So I had to sub him in, and then I was like, all right, we need yeah, yeah, I can do more time. Wildcat or something. I legit do my running back instead of running the sweep left. Yeah, well cat. Yeah, so we ran out of timeouts there. I got on the ball, we just didn't run the play, five yards out. Yeah, and then after that, again, uh it's experience. Um we're still learning. Coach came out and he saw my my DB was playing six yards off quick or stop route, yeah. Yeah, quick, and then athletic wise, at athleticism, they they got off. Yeah, I love the hitch route, man. You I mean, you get a good wide receiver on the perimeter, he makes one move, makes that DV fall down. It's it's it's house time. I mean, uh it happens a lot, so it's that's a good, good, good job, coach. Yeah, but I think that that might be another instance where you guys kind of just ran out of gas in the second half because you were right there with them. I mean, this is an undefeated team, probably the best regular season of anybody. Yeah, great season. Yeah, they did. You guys were right there with them, man. So I mean, it might have just been, like you said, one of those instances where you guys just kind of ran out of bodies at the end and kind of you know, it kind of can turn real quick. Yeah, yeah. Cass City, too, right? You guys had a close game against Cass City. Yeah, Cass City, I believe, same thing. We were going yeah, we were going down for the on the game winning drive, and I think they might have stopped us on fourth and one or something like that. Or a rollout, my quarterback rolled out. Yeah, and they stopped us. I think he got eight out of the ten yards or something. So I was like, oh man. Wow. But yeah, that was another close game, another close league game. Yeah, they're turning the corner, it feels like. Yeah. And you got the big boys coming back. You got a tailback coming back, or we have two that have been sitting down watching and learning because again, we last year as a coach, uh, I was like, you know what, let's not do JV this year. Let me get all these boys up and let's get ready for varsity. So they've been playing special teams, they've been doing kick returns. Scout squad. Yeah, a lot of scout squad getting beat up a lot in practice, which helps. It's helpful. They're ready now. Yeah, they are. They're ready to play. So I have three boys, two of them are in track with me running sprints. So they're getting faster. And yeah, so we we have a tellback coming back. Is he a varsity player? No, but uh we have we have weapons. I got a kid that I'm moving the quarterback that we've seen throw, he just didn't want to do it. And now that he's a senior, he's like, you know what, coach, I'll jump in there. You don't want to miss that opportunity. Yeah. So you guys got some you guys got some guys coming back. So 2026 might be doesn't really, man. And and also new league this year.

New League Format And Playoff Algorithm

17:51

I did want to ask you about that. So we're all all the leagues are coming together. You guys are you guys are slotted in that that that third bracket with uh Indio, Cat City, and 29. 29 pops. So I mean from a schedule. That's a good league right there. Yeah, from a schedule standpoint, you just gotta win three games when you're in the playoffs, right? Yeah. I mean, so how how you feeling about the new league? Uh I like it. What do you what's your what's your opinion on it? I I I like it for for the reason that it's gonna be more competitive, you know? And uh it's like you said, to get in the playoffs and all that, but uh it's pretty much people that we've played against before, anyways. So like Indio, we hadn't seen them for a couple years, but we played them back when uh shout out coach zero coach zero was there. Yeah, yeah, shout-out coach. But uh we played him when he was there, and since then I think that's the last time. But yeah, I'm I'm I'm excited about it because 29. We've we've gone up this year, they got us two. Again, inexperience on the line. They just blitzed the back or blew up the sweep. So yeah, yeah, kid, kid didn't understand uh step out instead of polling on some place. So get the angle down correctly. Yeah, I mean it it happens, but um, yeah, I I'm excited about it. And uh again, we should be competitive in our league. Yeah, I mean, that's uh it's pretty it's pretty cool that you guys got those three games to really make a a championship season out of it, no matter what happens in the first uh seven games, right? Um Coachella's now not I know that's one of your main rivals, the date bowl. So they're not you're in your league anymore, but that game is still on the schedule, correct? Yeah, well they haven't been in our league since we went to the game. That's right. Yeah, it has been a non-league game for a long time. Yeah, so we have them for the date bowl, yeah. What week is that? Do you do that? I believe it's still seven, but uh, I'm gonna be honest with you, they've moved our schedule because uh they moved our schedule around because a couple teams, oh, we don't want to play, or stuff happens schedule-wise. You know how it is in high school football. So uh they should be week seven, that's what they usually are. Okay. So date bowl's still on and popping, we're still playing that game every year. Yeah, we we're playing CV. Right, and hopefully we can you got them at home this year? Yeah, get them. Um, I believe we're over there. Okay. Oh good to see that's still on the schedule, though. I know Indio and uh Coachella had to move. I think they're playing in week four now. Crazy. The Bell game had to move because they're not in league anymore. So, but we can't get rid of those games. No, those are important to kids love them. So good to hear that the date bowl is not going anywhere. Um, so we've kind of talked about the playoffs. We're all a slave to the algorithm these days. So what's your we're asking all the coaches that come in here because some some love it, some hate it. What's your opinion on this new algorithm that's kind of dictating our state playoffs and our playoff seedings? What's your take on it as a head coach? Um, I mean, like I said earlier, we kind of got the bad end of it when we had our great year, but uh I you really just gotta win really league games, right? Win your league games, because we had a I think that year we won two and then we won four in pre and we didn't end up making it. But yeah, I mean I I I'd be lying if I was saying I was a hundred percent familiar because I'm just coaching football, I'm trying to get wins. Right. But yeah, I know for because again, DM we're trying to make the playoffs, we're trying to get a winning record. So I'm trying to worry about getting there and then once we get in, yeah. I know that year we did have a our AD did submit for us to get in and we didn't get in. But yeah, um, to me, I'm just trying to win football. Yeah, I mean you're just gonna let the let the field let the field take care of itself. You go and play ball and win those three games that you gotta win. I mean, it does simplify the equation, right? I mean, now it's like okay, just win these three and you're in. But the new league, yeah. Yeah, I mean that that does that does help. I know it's tougher for some of the teams that have like more competitive, and yeah, for us, I'm just trying to trying to get in the wins. Right. I mean, you think about a team in the DEL or at the top of the top of the league, you know. I mean, that's a tough stretch, man. I mean you gotta win, you gotta win three out of the five games to even have a chance. So, you know, uh it's for the smaller schools, I think it benefits you guys because you guys will have a little bit more competitive balance here. You're not going to have to go and play these big uh these big time schools. Speaking of that, um, how does it change your scheduling at all? I know you kind of mentioned your schedule's kind of up in the air, but uh you as a head coach, uh, how involved are you in the schedule? And does this new algorithm kind of change the way you're looking at the schedule? Um, for us, I get texted and the co uh the athletic director usually puts our schedule together, but he'll ask me for opinions on who we want to play. But it's the same answer. Like, well, we just want to play football, honestly. As long as I get 10 games out there. Because this year, what was gonna happen is uh I believe we were gonna end up with nine because of a scheduling issue, and then he ended up getting the game in, and I was like, you know what, just get whoever we can, we'll play. Yeah, so we do have a 10-game schedule, so we're we're set, we're we have a schedule and uh we know our opponents already, and so yeah, we're uh but no it I don't think it affects how he schedules our games because he's just trying to get us games that where we'll get experience for the boys early, and then towards towards the season we get a little more challenging, yeah.

Road Games And Downtown LA Trip

23:00

I saw that you had a couple games in LA, downtown LA this year, right? Yeah, you guys take the bus and play a city school. How was that experience? That's kind of cool, man. The kids get to go. I mean, you guys were like I saw the picture. You're like a downtown, downtown. Yeah, we're building, there's skyscrapers around the school. Yeah, I believe it was we played at Belmont, Belmont High School, and we played uh Mendez. Mendez, okay. And that's an inner city school, right? Right, right in the and you guys ended up winning that game, correct? Yeah, we went out there and we just again ran the football. I don't think we threw it. We ran, I think it ended up yeah, they scored one time on a they threw a pass up, kid got over my corner, caught a touchdown. But yeah, it was we went up there, but yeah, for the kids, it was a great experience because they they really don't get out of the desert. I mean especially, yeah. It's fun to play someone else out of the desert, yeah. And it was it was 70 degrees, I believe. So beautiful. It was like probably like September, right? So it's like 110 here. Let's get out of here. It was great. So that was awesome. We played right in front of like the the city lights were behind us and all that. So the boys were excited about it, got a cool Instagram pictures, all that stuff. Yeah, I saw it. I thought that was pretty cool. Like DMs out there represent. Yeah, yeah. You guys won. Yeah, I think you won pretty handily, too. It was 40 to 40 something to six. Yeah, so I mean, hey, that's that's awesome. Are you playing them again? They are one of the teams that picked us up to help us out. So they're coming back into the heat though now, huh? We're going out there. Oh, we're going out there. Hey, that's good, man. We're going out there. I'd rather do that than out here. Yeah, you don't want to play here. So they picked us up, but they're we're going out there. So again, we're we're uh we're on the road a lot this year. Last year, I think we had three home, it's the same thing this year, just because of the schedule. We only have three home games? Yeah, but again, giving away that's how it was last year. It's such a nice stadium though. I know the gym. It's nice, yeah. You guys have never been out there, like it's a beautiful stadium. Probably the one of the best stadiums, one of the best ones in the desert, I would say. So it's kind of far out there, isn't it? It is a little far. But if you've been there, you know it's a beautiful stadium. So only two three home games. What a yeah, that's tough, man. You guys can be some Road Warriors this year. Yeah, but again, like I said, I'd rather have the the games, the 10 games, and then for sure. Yeah, for sure. We gotta travel. It is what it is. Right. It's fun for the boys too. The memories is when I played, it was always fun traveling. It is tougher to get them locked in on a bus. It is, it can be. Yeah, so that's as again, as me, I gotta I gotta get on them and we gotta get them right in the head to be on the long road drives and stuff like that. But yeah. Right. Who do you guys open with this year? Uh we have Chapel. Chapel again. I think, yeah, it's uh I think we I think we did a contract with them. I'm not sure though. That's AD stuff, yeah. Okay, but yeah, um Is that at home? Is that a home opener for you guys? They should be better this year. We're over there. You're over there. Yeah, and then should be a good game. Yeah, they're they got their two two weapons, they're seniors now, I believe. I think uh the receiver might be a junior. Receiver is no joke, man. Yeah, quarterback, quarterback's good too. Yeah, they put up numbers, man. You're gonna have your work cut out for you on the defensive side. You're just gonna what's the your philosophy kind of going into that same thing? Just ground and pound. I mean, until they stop it, yeah. Yeah, until they load the box and move over the top. Like uh Coach Tablack used to say, sweep till they weep, you know? I like that. I like that, man. So we're gonna have we're gonna, I mean, that that's a style that's a style bank fights, right? I mean, they're gonna throw the ball 60 times and you're gonna run the ball 60 times, right? Yeah. It's just whoever executes the best, huh? Wow, okay. So that's a nice little desert rivalry brewing here. We got Desert Chapel and Desert Mirage Week One. I think uh that'd be an interesting matchup. Yeah, that'd be nice.

Mentors Who Shaped His Coaching

26:25

All right. Um, you kind of spoke to it already, but who are some of the people that kind of helped you along the way to get to where you're at to be the coach you are today? You have any mentors that you like to kind of talk about and say what they did to kind of get you to be the head coach that you are today? Um, so again, a lot of my coaches. Uh so I might started my when I started playing, again, I started in high school, like a lot of kids in the East Side do. We don't have a chance to play until high school. So um my first head coach was uh Coach Alfred, Ron Alford. Okay, huge. He's going back. No, that was my first head coach, and uh what I got from him was uh a lot of like player development stuff. So like again, I uh even back then I was kind of paying attention to like how the coaches were and how I felt about him as a player. And Coach Alfred was a great coach. Um after that, it was uh Coach Reese was on that staff. He was one of the assistants. Coach Reese. Coach Reese was one of the assistants on that staff, and again, he comes out with the energy every day. Like you wouldn't know if that guy's having a bad day when he was at DM, it was just always positivity. Yeah, I know. He's the same. Yeah, same. I I seen him at uh I believe the All-Star game, and we talked about it. He's the one that told me you gotta go back to school, man. Hell yeah, which is true. So I gotta go back and get it's easier to coach. It is easier to coach and get on campus, man. Yeah, and more opportunities are presented. But yeah, Coach Reese again came every day in a great mood. That's what I try to do. Um Coach Tabalak, which was my first uh like uh he's the guy that pretty much showed me like uh to love a player first. So we we would always talk to him again. Coach Sandoval was on the staff with him as well, so that was just a big family, family bond, and that's that's what I took from him the most is if a kid loves you or cares for you and you show you care for them as well, it's it's it's a different ballgame. They'll they'll do things that you didn't know they could do or they could do. If they don't trust you, they're not gonna let you coach them. Yeah. And then um another coach I had my baseball coach, Coach Beck, you know, uh passed away recently. But um, yeah, he was another coach. If if it was a a bad game, we wouldn't know he was just a great energy, great guy. Uh yeah, so a lot of my coaches throughout the years, Coach Sandoval, like I said, he set me up, got me in a great position to succeed, and uh he's still helping me out on the defensive side. So, yeah, uh a bunch of people that have inspired me mentor-wise. Uh Coach Hondo, Coach Hondo helps me out a lot too. Coach Perry, if if I have questions, I know I could go to Coach Perry. He's uh one of my mentors too, man. He's a good dude. And uh Coach Hondo's the one that told me he's like, you know, you know you got Perry in your backyard right there because he teaches at DM. Yeah, so he's like, you know, you could ask him about anything. And I was like, okay, so maybe I need to start talking. He's a great motivator, man. I mean, he can he can motivate the with the best of them. So when he was coaching DM, they were tough. They were tough, man. That's the toughest DM teams I've seen. They were they were just they were running the ball. They were running the ball, playing defense. Running power. Yeah. So that's awesome, man. So you guys seemed like you had a lot of good influences coming up along the way, huh? All through sports, yeah. Right? Yep.

Recruiting Pitch To Families And Athletes

29:31

Uh, you kind of mentioned that sometimes you have to like go out there and convince kids and parents to come come out to try this game of football. What would you tell a parent or a kid, maybe at DM right now, watching this episode, why why they should come out and play, play for your team if they're if they have a little interest in the game. They should play because first and foremost, your your uh child is gonna again get a second family, because that's what we do at DM. It's you're either part of the family or you're not gonna want to play, because that's how close we are. And I still live in the community where I coach. So I'm down the street. The boys will come, coach, I got an issue, they'll call me, come outside real quick, and we'll talk about stuff, right? Lifestyle, stuff like that. So again, I wouldn't say to join for the football, football is just the the fun part of it. So we we get to go out and we hang out every day, hit each other, play football. Again, that's that's the fun part of it. But along the way, I would say they should come out because they're gonna get a relationship that you can't get anywhere else. If you've played, you know, if you've coached, you know, football relationships are different. And um again, record-wise, people always say, Oh, I don't want to play at DM, it's they're not doing too great. The reason we're not doing too great is because they don't want to play at DM. So if your kid comes out, you never know your kid could be the one we need. So that's how I look at it. If there's athletes out there, they're just you just gotta find them. Yeah, yeah. So if you're if you're a parent and again, we're gonna put them in the best position to succeed. Again, I spend most of my off time hitting up colleges. It's tough when you have a a low record, but my goal is to get kids out. It's I've had kids get offers, but you know, and on the east side of the valley, it's tough because once they graduate, they're like, I gotta go help mom and dad pay bills. That's true. So different mentality over there. Yeah, it's like why would why would I go to them as being selfish? Why would I go play football when I need to help out at home? But that's the mentality I'm trying to change. Because if you go do your four years, your parents are gonna be fine, you know, they're gonna figure it out. And then you come back, that's when you can really help. Help them even better. Yeah, out even more. Yeah, come back educated, and you can who knows what you can help with. A lot of stuff that, you know, not even thinking about. So I mean, that's a that's a I mean, there's a lot of athletes at DM because your soccer program is always one of the top in the nation. I mean, you guys are always in the finals, you're always winning, you know, you're always winning all these championships. So the athletes are out there. You just gotta get them on the football field, yeah, correct? Yeah, yeah, and sometimes you're right. It it really is only one or two players away from having a successful season. So yeah, I mean that one freak athlete can come and do do some magical things and change your whole season. And have some great memories on the football field. Some of my best memories are on that football field, and you just give all that up if you don't even play. So yeah. So, I mean, good spiel, coach. I'm ready to sign up. Let's go.

Advice For Future Head Coaches

32:18

But um, so we're kind of getting up against time here, coach, but we always ask our coaches what advice would you give to a kid, a player, maybe an assistant that was thinking about making the next step and becoming a head coach? What advice would you give to that that person? Um again, like I said, and I I know because I watch you guys, I'm not gonna I watch it. So I know first thing is go to school. And I'm I'm doing that, I gotta go back myself. So that's this is me saying, you know, get on it. Practice with your PG. Yeah, get back to school, get it right. Um for me, like I said, uh surround yourself with people that you know you want to coach with because it's tough to be for your first time like outside, you know. It's it's great if you get the experience, but for me, it was always great being at home because I know Coach Sandoval, I know coach who at the time Coach Ramos, at the time Coach Gill. It was just a bunch of people I knew, so it was easy for me to jump in on the staff. And then uh while you're an assistant, just soak everything in. Like I was I was a lineman. So I came in, I had to learn coverages, I had to learn everything A to Z. So I was a sponge my first few years. Just every time a coach was speaking, I was dead paying attention. So that's my advice is just be present, uh, get to know the kids, and then um again, just soak every all the info you can in. That's good advice, right? Good advice, man. I think that's why you're a rising star in the community, man. Yeah, appreciate it. You're a young kid, man, but I think you got a bright, bright future in this in this uh industry. Got that DM program going in the right direction. I'm gonna root for you, man. I think uh DM's an important school. You're doing important work out there, even though sometimes the records are not what you would like them to be. I think you're affecting these kids in so many positive ways. Yeah, and I think you know you guys are close to turning that corner and then really getting out there and showing people what's going on. So and we're always trying to give you guys shine, man. Because we we root for you guys. For sure. You guys are you're under the radar sometimes, but not not here. We know. We know what kind of work you guys are doing. I appreciate you. So, Coach Flip, thanks for coming in, man. That's our time for today, man. Thank you. That's it. All right. So if you guys found some value, you know the routine, like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz. Peace.