Prep football: Dean Sexton announced as head coach at Windsor

Windsor High School didn’t need to look far to find its next varsity head football coach.

Dean “DJ” Sexton, the program’s junior varsity coach, is stepping into the role, the school confirmed late Thursday and announced in a release on Friday morning.

Sexton has served as the interim head coach since Paul Cronin stepped down on March 18. He accepted the school’s offer for the permanent position on Thursday afternoon.

“At the time (I took the interim position), I really wasn’t planning on taking the job,” Sexton told The Press Democrat. “I was planning on just waiting until they found a permanent varsity coach and then I was going to stay as the JV coach. Then as things kind of transpired, it just kind of happened and we got it done. I’m really excited about it.”

Windsor Athletic Director Jamie Williams said she is excited to work with a coach of Sexton’s “caliber and character.”

“He cares and he’s invested,” Williams told The Press Democrat via text message. “The athletes respect his leadership and play hard for him. They trust him. Dean is the real deal. In all actuality, I’ve been working with Dean since Paul’s departure and from the moment he came back to Windsor last spring, he’s been a dependable go-to coach for me as an athletic administrator. I’m proud he’s going to lead the Jaguars at the top!”

Windsor Unified School District Superintendent Jeremy Decker echoed his support in Friday’s release.

“We’re so pleased to have someone of Dean’s caliber available to step into the varsity position at WHS,” Decker said. “His record speaks for itself, and he is already a member of this community and has been for many years. I can’t wait to see where he takes the program.”

Sexton and Cronin have a long history on the sideline together. Prior to coming to Windsor, Sexton — a native of the city — served as JV coach under Cronin for 10 years at Cardinal Newman. Sexton also played for Cronin at Cardinal Newman during Cronin’s first two years as head coach in the early 2000s.

“He’s been a mentor to me as a person and as a coach,” Sexton said of the second-winningest coach in Sonoma County history. “He’s somebody I really respect. We’re really excited about this opportunity, and we had a lot of great coaches around me and great young men coming back so we’re really excited.”

Cronin accepted a job with a school in Ohio this spring but later resigned, saying it wasn’t a good fit, and is back in Sonoma County.

Sexton began his high school career at Windsor and transferred to Cardinal Newman for his junior and senior years before graduating in 2005. He went on to star at Santa Rosa Junior College and Elizabeth City State University, an NCAA Division II program in North Carolina, before returning to Sonoma County.

Upon his return, he spent several years serving as an assistant at Analy, Cardinal Newman and Windsor before settling in as the JV head coach at Cardinal Newman.

This will be his first head coaching job at the varsity level.

“I’m feeling really confident about it,” Sexton said. “Obviously, it’s big shoes to fill, but I’ve been a part of a lot of the things that (Cronin has) done and I’ve learned a lot. Like I said, he’s been a mentor to me as a football coach and also as a person and he’s somebody that I have a tremendous amount of respect for.”

In Cronin’s one year at the helm of Windsor, the Jaguars went 11-2 overall, finished second in the North Bay League-Oak, won the program’s second-ever section title and went to the CIF NorCal playoffs for the first time ever.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge,” Sexton said. “Just because you take over for a team that was successful last year doesn’t necessarily equate to instant success, so we definitely know that we have our work cut out, but we’re prepared for the challenge.

“We have the coaches in place — I have a great staff with me, most of the guys that have been there are staying ... so I feel real confident about what we can do and we’re really excited about getting started and I know the kids are going to be really excited and ready to hit the ground running.”

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.