Richard Sanchez, the man responsible for turning around Sunnyside High School’s football program decades ago, is taking over another struggling program.
Sanchez will coach Santa Rita’s football team this fall, athletic director Luis Blanco confirmed to the Star on Tuesday. Sanchez has been dean of students at the school since November.
Blanco said the decision to hire Sanchez, who hasn’t coached football since 2010, was made last month. The coach interviewed with a panel before the decision.
“So we just made our cuts and our principal and I talked about it and asked if he’d be interested in doing it,” Blanco said. “He didn’t want to coach, he just wanted to be a part of it, but it worked in our favor.”
Coach Richard Sanchez, middle, will return to the football sidelines with Santa Rita in 2018. The Eagles reclassified to Class 2A after winning two total games in the previous three years.
Sanchez’s challenge is a massive one.
Santa Rita went 0-9 last season under Riki Valdez, and 1-9 in both of the two seasons before that. Santa Rita is just 7-51 since the start of the 2012 season. A reclassification to Class 2A may help the Eagles’ chances this season; their home schedule includes games against San Carlos, Miami, Tonopah Valley, Tombstone and Bisbee.
Sanchez is 157-59 as a high school football coach. He began his career as Sunnyside’s wrestling coach and led the Blue Devils to five straight state championships between 1990-1994.
Sanchez transferred that same bulldog mentality to the gridiron. Sunnyside went 8-4 and reached the state playoffs in 1994, Sanchez’s first season.
The following year, the Blue Devils went 10-2 and made an appearance in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
Sunnyside made the postseason 14 times under Sanchez. He takes over a Santa Rita program that didn’t win a game last season.
Sunnyside went on to play in the state championship game four times, and won titles in both 2001 and 2003. The Blue Devils reached the postseason 14 times in Sanchez’s 18 seasons. In the five years before Sanchez took over the Blue Devils’ football program, Sunnyside went 27-26 and only had won one postseason game since 1982.
In 2014, the Star named Sanchez the second-greatest football coach in Southern Arizona history. Last summer, columnist Greg Hansen named Sanchez the ninth-best high school coach in any sport.
Blanco said Sanchez’s résumé is unmatched.
“I think he’s going to be a great fit and our kids deserve somebody who’s willing to put the time in and willing to teach them the right way and do the right things and share his experiences with them.”
