Joe Diamond & Charlie Kaloustian
Pierce College, an institution not known for its prowess on the football field, announced the hiring Kevin Moore as head coach in a news conference Friday afternoon.
Accumulating only six wins in the past three seasons and with the resignation of head coach David Banuelos, the football program was in dire need of rejuvenation.
With his football knowledge and ability, and a knack for recruiting and attaining local talent, Moore is bringing in the right people to elevate the team to the next level, according to Bob Lyons, Pierce athletic director.
Formerly the defensive coordinator from the 2004 season, Moore was responsible for leading the team to a conference-best defensive landmark in holding opponents under 285 yards.
With ten years of coaching experience at the high school level and having amassed a record of 85 wins and 22 losses, his .794 winning percentage proves that he has been a success.
Of the 2004 team, more than 20 players went onto 4-year universities, half of which came from the defense. He also helped place more than 50 student athletes into division one and two programs straight out of high school.
“Pierce is very special to me and I just want to rebuild the football program into the power that we would all like it to be,” Moore said. “I have high expectations here. We expect to come in and win right away. We don’t see this being a two or three year rebuilding process.”
After the 2004 season, Moore stepped away from the game in order to focus his attention on his family. He and his wife of nine years, Wendy, have two children together, daughter Kelsie, 7, and son Kyle, 3, and now reside in Santa Clarita Hills.
“Football’s in my blood and it’s just something that I’ve always done,” explained Moore as his reason for returning. “Playing, coaching, or scouting, it’s just something that I do. I really missed it and when the opportunity came along, I jumped at it.”
With the Brahmas coming off of a winless 2005 season, the new head coach and his assistants are going to face many obstacles. One challenge that they’ll face will be maintaining the unity of the team over individual egos, a problem that players said plagued it last year.
“Teams really play good football in this area. College of the Canyons and Moorpark College have excellent programs,” Moore said. “Valley College also has an up and coming program and we really like challenges here.”
“We have the opportunity to do what they could have done last year, this year. Moore knows what it takes to be a winning program,” said Ronnie Gibson, defensive back coach.
“We’re going to play smash-mouth football and run the ball down their throats. [We’ll use] a USC West Coast style of offense, pass-run, 50-50 and control the ball,” said Moore of their offensive strategy. “We have a lot of athletes that can run and catch the ball and make big plays. If they get touches and do what they do, we’ll play a fast, high brand of football.”
Not only is Moore implementing this methodology to game play but also to practices. He plans to follow the philosophy of USC head coach Pete Carroll in preparing quickly, doing the necessary homework, practicing fast and all at a high tempo to instill a new atmosphere on campus.
“We’ve upgraded the talent level and we’re getting back to the basics, working on fundamentals and techniques,” said Moore. “Football is going to be fun again.”
With the spring 2006 season approaching, Moore and his staff are accepting the challenge of molding this team. Already practicing as a unit, the team can only improve upon the 0-10 record from last season.
“We can never tell until training camp what we want, need or are going to get.” said Gibson. “But it’s our best opportunity from last year. It was the worst situation I was ever in. Motivation starts from the top to the bottom and it’s up to us to lead these kids in the right direction.”
Currently the team is conditioning by weight lifting and running. The next months will be rigorous physically and challenging mentally as they work on fundamentals and techniques from April through June, accompanied by mini-camps and learning the offensive and defensive philosophies.
“My philosophy is we’re not going to mention last year. Starting from my first day, it’s all about today, tomorrow and the future. We’re not going to go backwards. We don’t have time and it wouldn’t do us any good anyway. So everybody has a fresh start. Players and coaches, we will evaluate everyone. That’s what we’re going to be doing over the next three months. It’s an evaluation period, so the slate is wiped clean.”