Benefield: Rancho Cotate football program turns to Gehrig Hotaling once again

Gehrig Hotaling had a rather inauspicious start in football.

As a freshman at Rancho Cotate High he played soccer, not football. He didn’t have a great experience with the soccer team, so as a sophomore he went out for football. He thought he’d make a natural kicker.

Except that he got beat out by another guy for that position.

While the Cougars’ coaching staff thought he had a second-string foot, they believed he had first-string hands.

Hotaling, a newcomer to the game, played JV his sophomore season as receiver and was made a starter his junior and senior seasons.

The coaching staff got it right: Hotaling went on to play Division III football at the University of Redlands.

Making a track standout and converted soccer player into a receiver wouldn’t be the only time the coaching staff at Rancho, led by head coach Ed Conroy, would take a chance on Hotaling.

After graduating from Redlands, he returned to Sonoma County.

Always keeping an eye on happenings in Rohnert Park, Hotaling spent two years coaching at Piner High. But Hotaling was knocking on Conroy’s door, asking for a spot on his staff.

“I remember pining for a position,” Hotaling said. “I didn’t know where he could fit me in because they had a full staff. I was pleading with him to give me a position anywhere on varsity. He gave me a chance, like he did when I was a player. I was new to football and he gave me a chance to start.”

That was 2008.

Now, for the third time in his life, Hotaling is getting another big chance at Rancho Cotate. After Conroy announced that he was retiring after 28 seasons at Rancho, school officials tapped Hotaling to take over.

After nearly three decades of Conroy at the helm, Hotaling will be the guy wearing the head coach’s headset on the Cougars’ sidelines next fall.

“Just down to my core, I just love Rohnert Park and the community I grew up in and the school I graduated from,” Hotaling said. “Through and through, I just love the school.”

Hotaling, who has run the Cougars’ vaunted offense the past three seasons, has at his disposal a rich, record-setting roster. But he also must follow Conroy, a coach who racked up 197 wins, seven North Bay League titles and two North Coast Section titles in 28 seasons at the helm.

Hotaling called taking over for the legendary Conroy “surreal.”

“He’s a man I respect probably more than anyone besides my father,” he said. “He’s someone I look up to and learned from.”

So it’s fair to call this a weighty assignment.

“He has set the bar high,” Hotaling said. “I understand that. I am someone who knows to my core that if I put in the work necessary and the film study and progress further as a coach, that we can hit the ground running, so to speak. It certainly could be perceived as daunting. I look at it like a challenge.”

Helping him considerably is the fact that Conroy handed over offensive-coordinator duties to Hotaling three seasons ago. He took it from a run-first and run-often system to a spread.

That transition is no small feat, especially when the head coach was sold on the run, Conroy said.

“The whole staff had to transition to it,” he said. “Gehrig had to lead all of that. He did a great job. I had to learn on the job, too.

“He’s got a great football mind.”

Over the past three seasons, the Cougars produced a record of 27-12 overall and 17-4 in the North Bay League while averaging 41 points per game.

“I’m a spread guy,” Hotaling said. “I love throwing the football. I try to keep it as simple as possible, but try to do several wrinkles off our base stuff. I try to make it fun. I want the kids to have fun. I want them to have a good experience.”

And the Cougars will return one of the most loaded rosters around next fall.

Returning will be quarterback Jake Simmons, who owns the single-season school records in both yards passing and touchdowns.

Back as well is Jaelen Ward, a record-setting three-year starter at receiver.

And Kyle Luque at center and Elias Rantissi, a linebacker who broke single-season tackle records as a sophomore, will also be at Hotaling’s disposal.

Also part of the mix is Hotaling’s natural energy.

“I’m ‘gas pedal all the way down’ from the start of practice,” he said.

You also know where he is on the field. He talks - loudly and a lot.

“I lose my voice a lot,” he said. “I can’t be quiet.

“I had a vocal cord injury at the beginning of the year. The doctor told me to stop yelling for a week. I tried for 10 minutes and couldn’t do it.”

While, for some, the idea of change at the helm of Rancho’s squad after nearly three decades will be something to get used to, the new coach said there will not be major changes with the shift in leadership.

“I’m not going to make wholesale changes,” Hotaling said. “(Conroy) has established a culture and history that is rich with Rancho Cotate. I’d be a fool to deviate from that greatly.”

Plus, he’s got Conroy’s endorsement.

“I think he’s going to do a tremendous job,” Conroy said of his protégé. “I’m hoping that he’s better than me.”

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”