Richard Sanchez, a longtime college assistant coach with decades' experience, has left the collegiate ranks to become the head coach at Cardinal Newman High School (Santa Rosa, Calif.).
It's a return to the prep ranks for Sanchez, who had a nine-year run on the high school level in San Diego.
Sanchez also has multiple stops on his collegiate resumè, including coaching the defensive backs for San Diego State's nationally ranked 2018 unit as well as stints with Sacramento State and Valparaiso, among others.
“It's about that time in my career, you've got to put family first,” Sanchez told YSN365.com, “and my daughter resides here in San Francisco. … I don't want to be a grandfather 2,000 miles away.
“When this opportunity came up, I expressed my interest in it and my wife's on board.”
Sanchez was assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Southeastern University (Lakeland, Florida), an NAIA program that went 5-1 in its abbreviated 2021 campaign.
Sanchez's Fire offense averaged 35 points per game. Sanchez said he'll bring a relationship-centric approach to the Cardinals' program.
“This starts with relationships, everywhere I've been you have to develop relationships to get the best out of them,” he told YSN365. “ … You develop that talent through positive relationships.”