Dana Hills’ former coach has left behind a full cupboard
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Armando Gonzalez has been to a couple of playoff games, and will probably make his way to one this weekend, too. But the former Dana Hills coach won’t be taking notes or storing anything in his memory bank. Gonzalez says he is done for good after 33 years of coaching.
He guided L.A. Franklin to four City Section titles in 17 seasons, opened JSerra but after one year jumped at the chance to go to Dana Hills, where he brought a measure of stability to a program that had been 1-9 the year before he arrived. He was its fourth head coach in four years.
‘I’m just going to relax,’ Gonzalez, 57, said Wednesday. ‘I feel already like a big weight is off my back.’
His son, Eric is one of 16 juniors who started for this year’s team, and Gonzalez says his wife, Genevieve, ‘is kinda happy.’
On Gonzalez’s watch, the school improved its weight room and got a new turf field. It also had one of the most difficult nonleague schedules in Southern California, and that was evident by his team’s record the past couple of seasons. His team went 2-8 the last two years in nonleague games against Orange Lutheran, Los Alamitos, Loyola and Newport Harbor -- all of them Pac-5 teams -- and reigning Southwest Division champion El Dorado.
‘When you play a schedule like ours, the potential to not fare as well is there,’ Gonzalez said. ‘These teams had great tradition, and sometimes things don’t go your way.’
His overall record was 17-34-1, but he said the losses had nothing to do with his decision to retire.
‘I’ve had an illustrious career, I’ve just been doing it for a long time,’ he said, having gone 159-35-3 at Franklin. ‘I was having trouble getting up for the seasons, and really, as you get older, you get more selfish with your time, and I said, ‘If you can’t do it like you did the last 33 years, it’s time to step down.’ ‘
He may not leave with a stellar record at his last school, but he gained a lot of respect from people in my profession for tackling the nonleague schedule that he did. It was gutsy, it was ambitious, it was challenging, and next season, it will pay huge dividends for all those returning starters.
Dana Hills under Coach Armando Gonzalez:
- 2003 -- 2-8
- 2004 -- 5-6
- 2005 -- 4-6
- 2006 -- 5-6
- 2007 -- 1-8-1
- Total -- 17-34-1
-- Martin Henderson
-- Image from www.danahillsfootball.com