Many high school football programs have begun holding spring football practices and are gearing up for summer seven-on-seven competitions, which are the springboard for the fall season.
But some schools, like Pasadena, La Mirada and San Gabriel, still need to hire a head coach.
Pasadena’s situation has dragged on the longest. DeJuan Shamburger resigned as head coach in January. He’s now an assistant coach at Baldwin Park for head coach Robert Maxie, who was previously on Shamburger’s staff at Pasadena.
Nearly three months have passed since Shamburger left the school, but a head coach should be named soon, explains Pasadena athletic director Laurel Nellison.
“We have offered the position to someone and we’re just waiting for the paperwork to be finalized before making an announcement,” Nellison said. “It’s most important to get this going and moving the program forward. We hope we can make our announcement very soon.”
The new coach will have big shoes to fill.
The Bulldogs had their most success in decades under Shamburger, who had a 41-32 overall record in seven seasons at the school. Pasadena won the Pacific League title the last three seasons. The Bulldogs also beat rival Muir twice, which included a 47-0 win this past season.
Pasadena was 24-5 over the past three seasons and advanced to the CIF-SS Division 7 semifinals in 2021.
Some ot the players that were expected to return for Pasadena have transferred to other schools since Shamburger left.
NOGALES’ MARTINEZ A FINALIST AT LA MIRADA
La Mirada is in the process of interviewing the finalists for the position of head coach for its football team.
One of the finalists, according to a source, is Nogales coach Gus Martinez.
Martinez played at St. Paul before eventually graduating from La Mirada in 1991, and the school seems to want a coach with ties to the school.
Martinez previously coached at Sonora before he was hired by Nogales in 2020. The Nobles were 6-4 this past season.
FORMER MONROVIA COACH CHRIS WILLIAMS BEING PATIENT
Chris Williams has spoken about his interest in being a head coach again.
Williams resigned as Monrovia’s head coach in December after learning the school was likely to part ways with him. Monrovia has since hired Jose Casagran to take over.
During Williams’ five years as Monrovia’s head coach, the Wildcats were 35-14 and won three Rio Hondo League championships. The team went 18-4 overall the past two seasons, although it lost in the first round of the Division 6 and 8 playoffs, respectively, in those two seasons.
Williams said he has been offered several assistant positions since he left Monrovia, but he wants to consider head coaching opportunities before making a decision. Williams said he applied at La Mirada after Matadores coach Mike Moschetti resigned and was hired by St. Paul. Williams said he never got an interview at La Mirada.
Williams also said he applied for Pasadena’s opening, but never heard back.
At San Gabriel, coach Kevin Encinas resigned last week, so the Matadors are in the early stages of looking for a new coach.
“I still plan on coaching somewhere,” Williams said. “I was interested in La Mirada and was disappointed I didn’t get an interview, but I think they had certain targets they were looking at from the get-go.
“Spring ball is starting, but I’m still keeping my options open should something become available or something works out. But yeah, one way or another, I’ll be on the sidelines this fall, that’s the plan.”
PASADENA POLY ASSISTANT AD LEAVING
Pasadena Poly assistant athletic director Thomas Sale is leaving the school to become the athletic director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Texas. Sale was the assistant AD at Poly the past 12 years.
