Ben McEnroe will certainly not be the only new face on the sidelines this fall for the CLU football team.
The coaching staff assembled by McEnroe, who on Saturday began his first training camp as just the fourth head football coach in school history, is impressive in its diversity of backgrounds, yet is grounded in the Kingsmen football tradition, too.
The eight-man staff assisting McEnroe when training camp opened on Saturday included two holdovers from last year’s assistants: Clay Richardson, the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, and former CLU receiver Geno Sullivan, special-team coordinator and inside linebacker coach.
Beyond that, the offensive side includes McEnroe, who will coach the offensive line (“That’s my passion,� he says), student assistant Jacob Claborn, who will assist with the offensive line; wide receiver coach Erik Monson, who last year coached linebackers at Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.); and running back coach Ed Garcia, who was one of McEnroe’s assistants in his previous job at Chaminade High.
Scott Beattie, whose background includes stints at San Diego State and Sacramento State, but was most recently a high school coach in Texas, will be the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Defensive line coach Tony Bowman was previously director of football operations and assistant defensive line coach at Graceland University (Lamoni, Iowa); he’ll be assisted by former CLU player Joseph Hadle. Al Silva will assist in coaching defensive backs.
The three CLU alumni each played for one of the three previous Kingsmen head coaches — Beattie for Bob Shoup, McEnroe for Joe Harper, and Sullivan for Scott Squires. “So we’ve got somebody that represents every era of the program,� said McEnroe. “I’m happy with that.�
He’s also happy with the variety of experience the staff brings.
“(Beattie’s) an alum, but he’s well-traveled,� said McEnroe. “He’s coached at every level of football. Clay’s been here a long time. It helps to have that guy that’s the rock and knows his way around here. Monson has been in the Midwest; he’s from the Pacific Northwest so he has some background with the schools we’ve played up there. Bowman is a unique guy — 23, 25-year Marine Corps veteran, did some junior college coaching in that time, ran some base teams, Okinawa, different places.
“I’m one of those guys — I don’t think I know everything about football. I don’t think there’s one specific, right way to do everything. So I encourage their input. I want them to have a lot of input in what we do. The best way I know to do that is to have that diverse group with great experience.�