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When Cardinal Newman football coach Richard Sanchez graduated high school a little more than three decades ago, he decided that he’d follow in his father’s footsteps, hitting the open road in a big rig and becoming a trucker.
It didn’t take long to figure that wasn’t it.
“I was driving big rigs at 18,” Sanchez said. “About a year into it, I said, ‘All right, Pops, I’m going back to college.’ He said, ‘It’s about time.’”
If Sanchez knew then that he’d be crisscrossing the country for football coaching jobs frequently in the next 30 years, he might have kept the long-haul truck.
In the midst of his first season leading the Cardinals, Sanchez knows he has quite the challenge ahead of him, with an impressive act to follow at a school where performance is paramount.
But it’s far from the first challenge for the 54-year-old San Diego native and longtime coach who has worked at the NCAA Division I and NAIA levels, in the community college ranks and with high school football, with almost each step of the journey involving uprooting his family and moving on to the next opportunity.
When Cardinal Newman football coach Richard Sanchez graduated high school a little more than three decades ago, he decided that he’d follow in his father’s footsteps, hitting the open road in a big rig and becoming a trucker.
It didn’t take long to figure that wasn’t it.
“I was driving big rigs at 18,” Sanchez said. “About a year into it, I said, ‘All right, Pops, I’m going back to college.’ He said, ‘It’s about time.’”
If Sanchez knew then that he’d be crisscrossing the country for football coaching jobs frequently in the next 30 years, he might have kept the long-haul truck.
In the midst of his first season leading the Cardinals, Sanchez knows he has quite the challenge ahead of him, with an impressive act to follow at a school where performance is paramount.
But it’s far from the first challenge for the 54-year-old San Diego native and longtime coach who has worked at the NCAA Division I and NAIA levels, in the community college ranks and with high school football, with almost each step of the journey involving uprooting his family and moving on to the next opportunity.
