Santa Maria High School’s got a new head varsity football coach. Dan Ellington, who was the head coach at Pioneer Valley High School from 2010 to 2014, is taking over the program from Gabe Espinoza, who headed up Santa Maria High’s football team starting in 2011.
Espinoza will remain a part of the program, just not as the head varsity coach, according to Santa Maria High Athletic Director Brian Wallace.
Santa Maria High’s football team just finished a losing season with one win and nine losses; four of those losses were league games. The Saints’ one win came against Hueneme High School out of Oxnard, according to the Max Preps website. Pioneer Valley’s team fared better, but is also coming out of a losing season, with five wins and six losses. PV did make the CIF section playoffs, but lost to Palmdale High School in the first round.
Ellington’s record as head coach at PV was 12-28-0, and he’s got high hopes for the future of Santa Maria High’s program, according to a press release.
“I am exicited,” Ellington said. “The pieces are here to have a successful program. I am looking forward to putting the pieces together.”
His coaching history stretches back to 1991, when he started coaching football at his alma mater, Ernest Righetti High School, where he also played football. He graduated from Righetti in 1982. He coached football and baseball at Righetti from ’91 to ’95, after which he coached at Concord High School before returning to the Santa Maria Velley in 2007.
At Pioneer, Ellington coached football and baseball as well as track and field. He also served as an instructional aide assistant in the special education department there. With a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Phoenix, he’s currently enrolled to get a master’s degree in special education at National University, and is now a special education teacher.
He believes that athletics and acadmics play important roles in building responsibility, a work ethic, and helping students become better citizens, according to the press release.
“My motto is it turns boys into men using the tools of football,” he said.
Santa Maria High Athletic Director Wallace said in the release that he knows Ellington is the right man for the job.
“The team will be taking a community and collaborative approach to our upcoming season,” he said. “The school is pleased in [Ellington’s] approach, and we expect to have a competitive team in the future.”
This article appears in Jan 1-8, 2015.