KELSEYVILLE — Mike McGuire is a busy man these days after being approved as Kelseyville High School”s new varsity football coach on Tuesday during the monthly meeting of the Kelseyville Unified School District Board of Trustees.
McGuire, 49, brings 27 years of coaching experience to the table and has his work cut out in terms of reviving a Kelseyville program that has fallen on hard times since making the playoffs in 2010. He replaces Rob Ishihara, who resigned his position on April 16 after a three-year run as the Knights” coach.
McGuire spent the 2012 season as head coach at Eureka High School where the Loggers posted a 2-4 record in the Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 and a 4-6 mark overall. Prior to his one year at Eureka, he served two different stints at his alma mater, Arlington High School in Riverside, the first from 1989-95 and the second from 2005-2011. He served in several capacities, including offensive and defensive coordinator, at Arlington, where he helped the Lions win a CIF Championship during his junior year of high school in 1981.
“He has a 27 years of experience,” Kelseyville principal Matt Cockerton said when asked why McGuire was picked from a handful of candidates for the job. “He brings a lot of experience to our school and we like that.”
McGuire also will be an on-campus coach, something that Ishihara was not. He will teach history at Kelseyville High, according to Cockerton.
Married for 23 years to wife Deondra, who he has known for 34 years, McGuire has two sons. Troy, 22, is serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, and Codi, 16, will be entering his junior year at Kelseyville when the 2013-2014 school year opens. Codi, an established offensive guard/tackle, also figures to provide the Knights with a big body up front.
“You can never have enough linemen,” McGuire said.
McGuire relocated to Eureka last year to be closer to his brother. When the Kelseyville job became available as well as the teaching position at the high school, McGuire said the fit seemed perfect.
“We are just thrilled about Kelseyville,” McGuire said. “It”s more to our liking because of the weather. It just seems like a nice place to be.”
With the official start of the 2013 season a little more than two months away, McGuire won”t waste any time getting ready for day one of practice. To that effect, he held his first meeting with players on Wednesday.
He expects to have a full coaching staff of eight assembled by the time the class of 2013 graduates on June 14. That staff will not be divided between junior varsity and varsity, according to McGuire.
“The kids get coached by the same guys for four years,” McGuire said. “They”ll know what”s expected of them the first day of practice their freshman season.”
And those practices will be highly structured, McGuire said. “You won”t see kids standing around. Typically where I”ve been there”s a noticeable difference in tempo. We”ll take twice as many reps as your average high school team. It will be an up-tempo practice.”
McGuire said he”s a fan of the fly offense, which he said could be used in combination with many other offenses.
“We”ll take what the defense gives up. That”s the great thing about the fly. You can do so many things with it … run or pass,” McGuire said. “It”s going to be exciting as the kids pick it up.”
Preparing his players for the upcoming season is another of McGuire”s goals.
“We”re going to have the best weight room in the county and our strength and conditioning program will be second to none,” McGuire said.
Kelseyville”s new coach fully expects some of his players to continue their careers after high school.
“When they leave our campus they”re going to be able to play college ball,” he said.
McGuire”s predecessor, Ishihara, took over the Kelseyville program prior to the 2010 season and led a veteran group of Knights to the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. They finished 7-4 overall. The last two seasons weren”t nearly as kind to Ishihara or the Knights. In 2011, Kelseyville was winless until the final week of the regular season, going 1-9. Last year wasn”t much better. While the Knights won two of their first three games, they lost six of their final seven to end up 3-7.
