The University of La Verne has hired Richard Sanchez as its new head football coach, the university has announced. He replaces Chris Krich, who resigned in January after 13 seasons atop the program. The Leopards went 0-10 in 2024.
La Verne is a Division III school located in La Verne, Calif., between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. The Leopards compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Sanchez comes to La Verne from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, Calif. In three seasons there, Sanchez went 37-11 with three appearances in the CIF North Coast Section championship.
Sanchez has experience up and down the college football coaching ladder in all three phases of the game. He came to Cardinal Newman from Southeastern University, an NAIA school in Florida, where he was the program's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In that time, the Fire averaged 35 points and 435 yards per game, and quarterback Cooper Jones was named the Mid-South Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2020.
Prior to Southeastern, Sanchez was the safeties coach and a special teams assistant at San Diego State. In his first season on staff, Sanchez helped the Aztecs place two safeties on the All-Mountain West team. He has also served as the special teams coordinator at Sacramento State, where three specialists earned All-Big Sky nods under his coaching, and also served as the defensive backs coach at Valparaiso (FCS - IN), as the running backs coach at the University of San Diego, and as an offensive line GA at San Diego State.
And in a full circle move, Sanchez's career began as the head coach at Montclair High School in La Verne from 1994-98. He was named the Mount Baldy League Coach of the Year in 1995.
"I would like to thank President Dickson and Athletic Director Panatier for their trust in me and the opportunity to be part of the La Verne community. This is a dream come true. We're going to build a winning culture based on hard work, alignment, and discipline. I'm excited to lead this program to new heights," said Sanchez.
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