High school football: Eight new coaches take the helm this season

For the past several decades names like Jason Franci, Tom Kirkpatrick and Ed Conroy have dominated the coaching ranks of Sonoma County football, but this season, unlike many before it will welcome a new era of coaches to the Redwood Empire football scene. Eight new head coaches will make their debut at the helm of different North Bay League and Sonoma County League programs this season.

Here is a look around the league at the fresh coaching faces:

After 28 years at head of the Cougars program longtime Rancho Cotate football czar Ed Conroy, finally stepped down. Rancho Cotate grad Gehrig Hotaling, who was the team’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons, will fill try to fill the massive hole left by Conroy, but Hotaling is embracing the pressure. “Obviously the shoes to fill couldn’t be much bigger, but I feel like I’m at my best in a high pressure situation,” said Hotaling.

Replacing Conroy will be a difficult task on many levels for Hotaling, which is something he is not taking for granted. “When a coach like Ed retires, it’s hard on every kid and even the whole program,” said Hotaling who played under Conroy himself. “It was hard for me to leave him when I graduated high school.”

Hotaling said he is still getting use to the day to day as a head coach, especially the “mountain of paperwork.” But he won’t change much of what Conroy instilled, “except some new spicy uniforms,” said Hotaling. He is happy with how the Cougars’ summer workouts and practices have gone, for which Hotaling credits Conroy. “Things have been easy,” he said, “because this team has an extremely high football IQ, which is a tribute to coach Conroy.”

After an up and down coaching search at Windsor High School - at one point school administrators had Cardinal Newman’s Paul Cronin queued up to take over for Tom Kirkpatrick - the Jaguars program is now in the hands of Kevin Bellatore. Bellatore, a first time head coach, who spent the past decade as the Santa Rosa Junior College’s offensive coordinator, said the transition has been “smooth so far.” A former college quarterback for SRJC and Southeast Missouri State, Bellatore is happy the way his players have responded to him early.

“The kids have been great. Everyone has adapted positively to the change,” said Bellatore.

He said he’s been surprised with how fast the Windsor community has accepted him. “I’ve learned quickly that if I need help with anything, someone is out there who wants to help,” he said. “I’m just so impressed with the community. It’s definitely tight-knit.”

Bellatore isn’t the only former Bear Cubs signal caller to take over a Sonoma County football program. Tony Keefer, a SRJC Hall of Famer, will look to turn around the Montgomery High School program, one that hasn’t had a winning season since 2013. Keefer has bounced around from Tamalpais High School, Santa Rosa and Maria Carrillo in years past, but hopes to build a dynasty at Montgomery similar to legendary Montgomery coach Jason Franci.

Speaking of coach Franci, one of his most successful former players, Marcus Ezeff, will now enter the Sonoma County coaching scene at Healdsburg. Ezeff is a former Cal defensive back who had a brief stint with the New York Jets. He has spent time coaching at SRJC and Santa Rosa High School’s junior varsity team, but this will be his first head coaching gig at the varsity level.

For the past couple of seasons, Analy has been consistently at the top of the the SCL standings and a lot of that had to do with head coach Daniel Bourdon. Bourdon was undefeated in league play in his last five seasons at Analy, but in a surprise move decided to step away from coaching to spend more time with his family. Enter James Foster, a 2006 Analy grad who has been coaching in Analy’s JV system since 2010. He’ll look to continue building on Bourdon’s success. Bourdon, who is still a teacher on Analy’s campus, has supported Foster in every step throughout this transition.

Former Santa Rosa High coach Denis Brunk will take over Casa Grande’s program, which was left vacant after an unexpected dismissal of longtime head coach Trent Herzog, who is now a part of Keefer’s staff at Montgomery. Brunk lead Santa Rosa to its best season in nine years last season.

Taking over for Brunk will be Russell Ponce, a familiar name around the Panthers program. Ponce, a Santa Rosa graduate, was the Panthers’ coach 2006-09. Ponce spent time coaching at Montgomery and with the Santa Rosa Stallions youth team before getting rehired at Santa Rosa.

After a coaching change in 2015, athletic director Madison Lott took over the Elsie Allen football program for the 2016 season. Lott, who is also the boys basketball coach, worked closely with Derek Hester, a former Lobos junior varsity coach, in hopes of grooming Hester to take over as the lead man in 2017. Luckily for Elsie Allen, that is exactly what happened. Hester will now have sole control of the Elsie Allen football team, which has struggled in the past.