He feels like a patrol car running out of gas, sputtering to the finish line. The uncertainty troubles Johnson athletic director Eural Smothers, who will have to hire the school's fourth football coach in seven years if Dimino quits. I'll have to hold the law hostage. There is a reason for the full-time push. Football is the primary money-producing sport at most high schools.
Administrators know a strong football team can carry an entire school's athletic program.
Frank Negri, the only football coach Foothill has employed since opening 36 years ago, retired last year as a teacher. Rich Barboza, Folsom's coach for nine years, teaches at a nearby elementary school. Steve Marks was a physical education instructor at El Dorado in Placerville last year, lost his position and took over the football program at Sacramento High. He works full time in real estate, commuting from Woodland. And James Campen is a fixture at Ponderosa despite not teaching there.