Montante clocks in as new AC football coach

Thirty-two days came and went, now American Canyon High has its fourth football head
coach in eight years.

American Canyon’s administration coupled with the Napa Valley Unified School District
appointed John Montante to lead the program just slightly over one month after Larry
Singer resigned. Singer’s reason given for stepping down was to spend more time with his
family. Singer, who will remain at the school as a culinary arts teacher, had been involved
with the football program since the school opened, serving as head coach of the freshman
and junior varsity teams before taking the varsity position from 2015-2017 after Ernie
Lawson resigned. Lawson stepped down after just one season. Ian MacMillan was the
Wolves head coach from 2011-2013.

Montante will join American Canyon High as a full-time staff member as he has credentials
to teach both social studies and physical education.

The 37-year old Montante spent last season as the offensive line coach at Chabot College
(Hayward) after a three-year stint as a co-offensive coordinator at Gavilan College (Gilroy),
also doubling as offensive line coach. Montante was the head coach of Watsonville High
from 2012-2013.

Montante was the offensive line coach last year at Chabot College. He spent three seasons,
from 2014-2016, as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Gavilan
College in Gilroy.

Montante graduated from Monterey High School and Cal State Monterey Bay, earning a
degree in kinesiology, while also getting his state teaching credential. Montante received
his master’s in education from the University of Missouri.

Montante served as the head coach for one year at Marina High in Monterey County. He
was also the offensive coordinator for two years at Foster High in Tukwila, Washington
for two years and was an assistant at Monterey High.

I have not met Montante and nor do I know him but perhaps I’ll get the chance in the not
too distant future. However, I had a chance to exchange an instant message via social media
on Friday evening. Two things that bear watching is a) What will his base scheme be? And
b) Who comprises his assistant coaches?

As for Part A, the Wolves, who open the season Aug. 17 at home against Deer Valley
(Antioch) have run an option based offense from Day One whether it’s the Houston Split
Back Veer or the Flexbone Offense.

“I've coached in a lot of different schemes in the past,” Montante said. “I grew up running
the veer in high school at Monterey High and that's the first offense I learned how to run. I
love the option and was excited that American Canyon is an option offense. I've coached in
spread offenses that have thrown a lot and used zone read and RPOs (Run-Pass Option) as
the focal point of the run game. I've coached in offenses that heavily influenced and rooted
in the West Coast Offense as well. The schemes people will see when they come watch us
will look familiar to American Canyon football.”

That box is a significant one to check because with the exception of Jonathan Bade and
Lucas Gramlick, the Wolves offensive line has never been confused with a Joe Gibbs’
Washington Redskins offensive line. However, at skill positions, the Wolves have always
had speed to burn. It won’t take long for Montante to see that option/misdirection offenses
will use American Canyon’s speed to its advantage.

As for the coaching staff, besides Singer, assistant coach Kirk Anderson left for a position
on the Will C Wood (Vacaville) staff. Montante, however, welcomes the fact a large number
of assistants remain.

“The staff is largely intact,” Montante said. “They have been great during this transition.
They have kept the kids involved and have made me feel welcome. I've been impressed by
the level of knowledge and mentoring ability they possess as coaches, which will come in
handy for our kids on Varsity, JV, and Freshman teams.”

Montante steps into a job that has curb appeal between winning tradition (55-28 record with
six titles in the non defunct Solano County Athletic Conference), great facilities and despite
the administrative turnover is a desirable school for families to send their youngster.

Montante told the Napa Valley Register: “I’m very excited. The previous head coaches and
coaching staffs have done a good job of running that program and turning it into a successful
program. The kids are just so hungry to do well and to learn and build a legacy at that school.
As American Canyon grows as a city and American Canyon High School grows as a high
school, we get to write that legacy and write the traditions and write the history.”

That comment tells me that while Montante wants his era to establish its own identity, he
respects the success that has come before him.

The fact that American Canyon could get a teacher that doubles as a coach on short notice
is significant. I honestly had my doubts.

Montante is also a good fit in that he has coached at the junior college level. American
Canyon has kids on campus now that can play at that level. Montante can a) Show them
how to get there and b) Perhaps convince them that level is a good place to start as opposed
to getting fixated with the Kool Aid based star system leading to a Div. I scholarship.

His two-year record at Watsonville was 7-13 and according to a Santa Cruz Sentinel report
in January 2014, his resignation was based on philosophical differences with the
administration. I see neither as a negative. For openers, Watsonville has had just two
winning seasons since the calendar turned to 2004 under four different coaches. I can’t
speak for the strength of the Pacific Coast Mission League, where Watsonville competes
but at American Canyon, the Wolves have the athletes to regularly compete for titles in
the newly formed Vine Valley Athletic League. American Canyon is joining the CIF North
Coast Section after having spent its first seven in the Sac Joaquin Section. On the clash
with administration, I say who gives a damn. It happens all the time. Football coaches are a
hard-edged breed governed by emotion, which does not always sit well with administrators.

Having said all of this, the Vintage Crushers are viewed by some as the early favorites to
win the VVAL. The status has merit. The Crushers enter their third season under head coach
Dylan Leach and are firmly establishing their culture. I was high on the Leach hire when it
happened and remain that way now. Who knows though, the Wolves might just have a say
in matter.

The Montante era begins.

Regulating baseball shifts would be an affront

Shifts? Depending on what model vehicle you drive, you can find it behind the steering
wheel, between the driver and passenger seat. If you have a 1960s model car, the shift could
be “three on the tree” or “four on the floor.”

Shifts can also be used to describe a block of hours in which you work. Shifts are also
frequently used as a sports strategy, such as moving your offense or defense to help a team
gain a matchup advantage.

The type of shift that has been a hot button issue is the defensive variety in baseball. For
those who do not ardently follow the sport, a shift defense against a left handed batter has
the first baseman heavily guarding the foul-line. The second baseman shifts even closer to
first base than normal or even into short right-field. The shortstop is either directly behind
the bag at second base or a few feet on either side. The third baseman is somewhere near
where the shortstop would be or sometimes directly behind second base. Conversely, the
shift defense against a right-handed batter involves the third baseman, shortstop and second
baseman lining up between second and third base. Meanwhile, the first baseman stays on the
right side of the infield in order to record a potential forceout at first base on a groundball.

The premise behind this defensive alignment is because the analytics show that said hitter
seldom, if ever, hits to the opposite field. For those not in-tuned with baseball, the term
opposite field hitting means a right-handed hitter putting the ball in play to the right side of
the diamond. Hitting to the left side for a right-hander is known as pulling the ball. For
left-handed hitters, simply switch sides of the analogy.

The defensive alignment was used several decades ago by the Cleveland Indians against Ted
Williams, one of the best to wear a Major League Baseball uniform. With shifting defenses
becoming a heavy norm in recent years, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred
said recently that there is growing momentum to regulate the strategic move. While the
change is being considered there is no imminent change forthcoming. Nonetheless, the
discussion has raised the ire of many people.

As I was listening to sports talk radio on Wednesday while on route in Martinez and
Pleasant Hill, CA, there were two arguments I heard in favor of regulating the shift. The
first was seeing batters get rewarded for hits that would normally be hits. The second was
that “baseball was not meant for a second baseman to play in short right-field.”

Many people in baseball fear that defensive shifts have simply made it too difficult to get
hits, even as home runs increased in recent years. Currently, there are no rules dictating the
placement of defenders other than the pitcher and catcher. But in the future, new rules could
restrict the movement of defenders on either side of second base.

Having said, that, I have one request, Mr. Commissioner, please don’t. If you do so, it will
be an affront not only to baseball but sports in general.

The whole purpose of sports is winning the game. Sorry to giving a peerless insight into the
obvious but I digress. Winning games also involves putting your team in the best possible
position to win whether that strategy involves maximizing your team’s strength and
minimizing your weakness. Conversely, it also involves maximizing your opponent’s
weakness and minimizing their strength. Last time I checked, teams are judged on their
win-loss record.

The shift in baseball is no different than say using a zone defense in basketball against a
subpar perimeter shooting team. It’s no different than a defense in football facing a team
with a pedestrian passing game. What might that team do? Crowd the line of scrimmage to
stop the run, play their cornerbacks in press-man coverage and put their safeties within 6-8
yards of the line of scrimmage and dare the quarterback to throw the ball deep. I could give
an enormous list of comparisons but in the interest of space, I won’t.

As for baseball not being meant to have a second baseman in short right field, I can shoot
that argument down in a few ways. Football was not meant to have a defensive lineman drop
into coverage while a defensive back blitzes. It happens, they call it the zone blitz. Football
has also evolved from Vince Lombardi’s power sweep to Paul Brown’s West Coast Offense,
popularized by Bill Walsh. Basketball was not designed for point guards like Tim Hardaway
and Mark Jackson to post up while 7-footers like Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Durant are
shooting 3-point shots. It happens anyhow.

The root of the increasing number of shifts is because about ⅓ if not more of the at-bats in
Major League Baseball finish in either a home run, strikeout or walk. Translation, the art of
small-ball, which is described as moving runners up a base through either bunts, hit-and-run
or sacrifice fly, has been de-emphasized. The art of hitting to the opposite field, which can
move a runner on second base to third with either a groundball to the right side of the infield
or a deep flyball, has also diminished.

The problem is not so much power hitters having high strikeout totals, that has always been
normal. The problem is, you have too many small in stature hitters trying to hit home runs
when they are not power hitters. In baseball, you have two different kinds of players. Your
middle of the order hitters (3-6) are trucks. The rest are trailers. The trucks carry the team.
The trailers put the trucks in a position to carry the team.

The coaches and players at the minor league level need to figure out if they are fortunate
enough to reach the big leagues, what is going to be their role? Are you a truck or a trailer?

If you want to eliminate a shifting defense, then learn to be a more complete hitter. There is
a reason why defenses never shifted against Rod Carew, Pete Rose, Tony Gwynn or Paul
Molitor to name a few. If they did, they would have about 6,000 career hits each.

If you want teams to shift their strategy, then shift your game into being a more complete
player. One of the inherant beauties of any sport is watching players evolve. Opponent takes
away a player’s strength and forces him into weakness. The player works on that weakness
and improves enough to be a more difficult opponent to beat.

Napa High football identity looks like a departure from past

Though outsiders think of the Napa Valley and see miles of vineyards adorning the
landscape, those who make the fabric of the community have contributed to a
coveted high school football tradition in various pockets of the valley.

That tradition starts from American Canyon to the South. American Canyon High
opened its doors in 2010 but in a short time, the Wolves have made some noise.
Venture North on Highway 29 and Napa, Vintage and Justin-Siena have had their
days in the sun. Go even further North on Highway 29 where the communities are
rural by population but urban by energy, St. Helena and Calistoga have also had
their Golden Ages of football.

As the 2018 season approaches, one would be hard-pressed to find a program
where 2016 seems like yesteryear more than Napa High. As Archie and Edith
Bunker once sang: “Those were the days!” The last 18 months have one firestorm
after another with soon-to-be former Napa Valley Unified School District
superintendent Patrick Sweeney and Napa High principal Annie Petrie along with
the NVUSD Board of Trustees being the biggest lightning rods. The school has
been through four athletic directors in that time: Brian King, Kelly Van Winden,
Thomas Sims and now Tom Petithomme, who has since been named the interim
football head coach.

The Reader’s Digest version: For openers, Napa High will no longer be known as
the Indians. The mascot will be formally retired on June 30, 2018. Troy Mott, who
is a 1989 Napa High graduate, resigned in March 2017 amid a philosophical dispute
with both the school’s administration and NVUSD. The dispute centered around a
hazing scandal and the powers that be wanting control over which assistant
coaches Mott, who is a former Napa High quarterback and three-sport athlete, kept.
Mott and his assistants played hardball and resigned.

Several applicants submitted their resumes but rescinded their names from
consideration upon hearing of the incendiary situation that surrounded the school
and program. School officials mandated to either find a head coach by June 15,
2017, or cancel the season. Perhaps, it was an idle threat but Napa High without a
football season? That would have gone over like a screen door in a submarine.

Jesus Martinez, who is a 2004 Napa High graduate -- and like Mott -- a former
Indians quarterback, stepped in to replace Mott (94-35 from 2006-2016) when no
one wanted to go anywhere near that job. The team struggled to a 3-6 campaign
in 2017. While Martinez was not viewed as the perfect coach, the thinking was that
with a quieter (at least in public) and entire offseason, the program could get its
footing back. Martinez was on the JV staff for ten years, nine as an assistant and
one as head coach.

In mid-April, Sims resigned as athletic director. Six weeks later on the first week of
June, Petithomme was named athletic director. Less than two weeks later, Martinez
was shown the door and Petithomme was named the interim coach.

Suffice it to say between the mascot changing, the district’s handling of the hazing
scandal, the resignation of Mott and dismissal of Martinez along with a few other
messy parting of ways from coaches of other sports, community members and
alumni alike have fired verbal slings and arrows, things have been an industrial
strength mess. Though I graduated from Justin-Siena in 1991, I am not a Napa
High alum but with several family members having graduated from there, I am
one by osmosis. Therefore, I have felt outraged by this chain of events.

The 2017 season marked the end of an era for Napa High football while 2018 marks
a turning of the page. From 1979 to 2017 coaching transitions went as follows: Les
Franco to Bob Herlocker to Jerry Dunlap to Troy Mott to Jesus Martinez. The
common denominator was that the transition went to a fellow assistant coach that
was already on staff. The new coach may have had a different leadership style but
the identity of the program would largely stay the same in that most of the assistant
coaches would remain, the schemes would not deviate and neither would the
expectations.

Martinez, however, had some deviation from the norm in that Mott’s entire varsity
staff walked out but being a Napa High alum himself and the fact that he had fellow
alums like Juan Martinez (his brother), Manny Aguirre and Jeremy Wooten on staff
ensured that there was still a connection to the past. As of this writing, Petithomme’s
two varsity assistants are Alex Russ and Anthony Armstrong. There are a total of
nine coaches between the freshmen, JV and varsity levels at present with the
intention of perhaps adding more.

For 40 years, if not longer, Napa High football stood for something. In that span, the
program was about the following to name a few: a) Being more physical and better
conditioned even if you did not have better athletes, b) Team first culture that
prepared the next generation. Translation, win or lose, Napa played with a hard edge.
They were “all day suckers,” with the underlying message being, “Suckers, we’re
going to be here all day.” Granted, there have been a few Napa football players that
went on to play Saturdays and Sundays like Steve Hendrickson, John Boyett and
Mike Gibson to name a few. For the most part, however, Napa football was also
heavily compromised of getting mid-level kids to buy into the team first concept.
Eighth graders dreamed of wearing Blue & Gold, some of which lived in Burgundy
& Gold -- as in Vintage -- territory.

This is the end of Napa High football as we knew it for 40 years. Don’t get anything
twisted, I’m not writing a program obituary. I do not know Petithomme and nor do I
wish to disparage him but the program will look and feel different from the last 40
years. What does it translate to in the win column? I do not know but I hope for the
best.

From the outside looking in, however, it feels like the powers that be have the
mindset of eliminating what they perceive as a “Dukes of Hazzard mentality.” It’s
like they feel Napa High football was too much the good old boy network.
Unfortunately politics are the lifeblood for some, as if they are trying to cleanse for
a just and noble cause. Loyalty and dedication have been fibers for Napa High
football but this administration’s actions reek of seeing those qualities as a threat.
Is it because they don’t value those qualities? I don’t have the answer.

Any more, I feel like I’m out of answers and I believe I am not alone in that sentiment.

So what defines a good fan?

The common description of “sports fan” is that the word is a derivative of the word
“fanatic.”

In my near 46 years of living, I have seen the word defined many ways. For some,
it is attendance based? Do you show up to the game looking like you came from a
Halloween party? For others, it’s how often you where the team’s clothing. Some
have shown their love through tattoos.

The term bandwagon, fair-weather and today’s popular word “hater” get thrown
around loosely. I avoid usage of the term “hater” because it sounds like a Miley
Cyrus fan that hasn’t reached puberty. Bandwagon and/or fair-weather is often
described as someone that supports the team when they win but is not heard from
when they lose. These terms along with “hater” are also used to describe fans who
support the team but are critical are when the team plays poorly. I beg to differ on
this issue because being a fan does not involve singing “Kumbaya” when the team
sucks. I respect fans that admit when their team stinks much more than the
“Kumbaya” crowd because at least they are honest.  

I have even heard the question posed, “Are you a bad fan if you don’t watch and/or
go to games if the team stinks?” I say not at all because being a sports fan is about
having the release from the daily realities we face as parents, professionals,
college students, etc. but when watching a lousy product that makes you miserable
as a fan, it is no longer a release.

Before I get into the next layer of this discussion, I have lived all but six years of
my life in Northern California. My following team loyalties are: Nebraska (college
football, also my alma mater), San Francisco 49ers (NFL), San Francisco Giants
(MLB), and San Antonio Spurs (NBA). I’ve never claimed a college basketball
team but generally rooted for whomever Rick Pitino coached. I have found myself
casually rooting for Duke the last 14 years because I had a chance to meet coach
Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K). The experience was pleasurable beyond belief.
However, I wouldn’t call myself a Duke fan per se.

With the 49ers and Giants, I grew up going to games with my dad and brother.
When the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, I disliked them because in
these parts of California, we are conditioned to dislike LA teams. When the Raiders
moved back to Oakland I developed an interest in them because I covered them as
a freelance reporter. Now that they are headed for Las Vegas, my mindset is “I’ll
follow you but don’t let the door hit you.” With the Oakland Athletics, though there
are A’s and Giants fans that despise each other, I’m pretty ambivalent. I don’t
strongly like or dislike them.

In terms of the NBA, I’m a contrarian in that I’m among the minority in the Bay Area
that is not a Golden State Warriors fan. I rooted for them from the mid-1980s to
mid-1990s but when they turned into a 15-year dumpster fire, I decided I needed
real basketball to watch. I never got on the Chicago Bulls bandwagon because it
was too trendy. However, I had admiration for the Spurs and Utah Jazz because
they were the antithesis of what people perceived the NBA to be. They embodied
the “substance over style” motto. I loved watching the Spurs win five NBA titles.
When I tell Bay Area people I am a Spurs fan, sometimes I get cross-eyed looks.
I figure, “Well, if I jumped ship on the Warriors when they sucked, I’d be a fraud for
claiming them as my team now that they have won three NBA titles in four
seasons.”

You are probably wondering how I became a Nebraska fan for college football.
Well, it happened through being a 49ers fan. Stanford and Cal weren’t quite doing
it for me so I needed a good college football team. Nebraska alums Roger Craig
and Tom Rathman comprised the 49ers backfield tandem, one of the best in NFL
history. So I became a Nebraska fan in 1987. Lo and behold, I discovered they had
a journalism program and I got my Bachelors Degree from there. Please don’t
come at me with, “How could a California native want to go to Nebraska?” That
question just reeks of California smugness. I felt going out of state was the best
move for me. Looking back, I felt like I matured more in those four years than at
any point in my life.

For the longest time, I subscribed to the theory of, “Pick a team when you are two
years old and stick with it.” For the most part, I still agree with that notion but in the
pro sports free agency era of the last 25-30 years, it’s hard to ask fans to stay loyal
when players and owners are not.

However, here in the Bay Area, there were San Francisco Giants fans in 2010 that I
didn’t know existed and in 2015, there are plenty of Laker fans that suddenly
became Warrior fans.

So what defines a good or bad fan? First, let’s look at what doesn’t define one.
Spending money on tickets does not make you a better fan. For openers, ticket
prices for college and pro sports skyrocket each passing year to where
above-average income fans are getting priced out. As a father of three kids, I have
not been to a college or pro sports event in seven years, mainly because we are
using that money to put our kids through Catholic schools. I’m OK with that
because I have been to a lifetime’s worth of sporting events. However, I would love
to fly back to Lincoln, NE, for a football game.

Watching every single game even when the team is terrible, while noble, does not
make you a better fan. Before every one of my team’s seasons, I start with the
philosophy of “all in” when it comes to watching most every game as long as my
professional or family life does not sidetrack. However, if the team’s season is going
off the rails, like the 2017 Giants and Huskers, most 49ers seasons since 2002, I’ll
watch the game if I’m home but I won’t go out of my way to do so.

I base being a good fan on how informed do you remain as the season progresses.
You can remain informed about the team (wins, losses, roster moves, etc.) without
watching the games.

Fan might be a derivative of fanatic but the level of fandom is not based on painted
bodies, tickets, wardrobes or TV sets.