Cameron, Thatcher and Dukes have racked up 99 wins in 12-plus
years of coaching together at San Benito High
Hollister – San Benito High football coach Chris Cameron rarely has the time to reflect on the success he has brought to the ‘Balers program in his nearly 13 years at the helm.
So when athletic director and defensive coordinator Tod Thatcher told him a week ago that the ‘Balers coaching staff – which has included Cameron, Thatcher and offensive coordinator Rick Dukes for more than 12 1/2 seasons – was approaching their 100th win, Cameron was surprised.
But with a win tonight against Salinas, the coaching trio will hit the century mark and improve the staff’s impressive record to 100-50-5.
What does it mean?
“I think it’s a big deal but I don’t think any of us dwell on it,” Thatcher said. “None of us are counting the wins. It’s a tribute to what’s been built here over that course of time.”
To Cameron, the milestone is a sign of all the hard work put in by everyone involved with the program since he took over in 1994.
“It means we’ve gotten a lot of miles out of our guys,” Cameron said. “It means is there’s a lot of good coaches here.”
“It doesn’t just start like that off the bat,” Thatcher added. “It’s taken a lot of effort out of a lot of good kids and coaches and the whole community to make it a program.”
Cameron agreed that the lofty win total shows how much the program and the coaching staff have progressed.
“Look at all your new programs out there, guys step in and you get a new staff and it takes a while,” Cameron said. “I can look back to year one, two and three and see how far we’ve come in terms of not just winning games, but the things we do. You get tighter working with each other and then you understand each other in terms of coaching styles a lot better and it just flows.”
The mark also is sort of a significant step in the school being considered an elite program.
“Every now and then I’ve thought, ‘I wonder how many wins we have?'” Dukes said. “But you go from year to year and try to make each year successful and judge it by that. Now, we can be defined as long-term. We’re not one-year wonders. Now we’re mentioned up there with the Oak Groves and Los Gatoses.”
Benefiting from consistency
The type of consistency the San Benito staff has experienced is a big factor toward the success of its program.
“That’s the key to high school athletics – consistency,” Thatcher said. “Transition seasons are tough. Having stability of our core and always having great guys to join the three of us, that’s they key.”
“You look around the section and the (programs) that are the most successful have coaching staffs that have been around,” Dukes added. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’re all on the same page that way.”
The consistency has also helped in producing players, as the coaching staff has seen many different families roll through the program.
“The young guys want to be ‘Balers,” Thatcher said. “I think it’s a big deal. It’s caught on. Everybody that plays football, ultimately they want to wear a red helmet and be a ‘Baler.”
As Cameron watched players flow out of the locker room after practice Wednesday, he constantly was reminded of players whose older brother he coached.
“The guy that comes to my mind first is our left guard Danny Gallant, one of our captains,” Cameron said. “His brother played here, he was a junior on our 1999 team … when we lost to Oak Grove in the Division I championship and the next year he was a tackle on our team when we beat Leigh for the Division II championship. I remember Danny used to come around. Danny’s a three-year starter for us now.”
Johnny Sanchez, who broke the school’s career tackle record last week, was a ball boy for the team when he was eight years old and his cousin was on the team. Leading rusher Tim Lango also served as a ball boy when he was younger and sophomore Sam Doty was a ball boy just a few years ago and has three older brothers that have gone through the ‘Balers program.
“It’s nice to have those families that are solid, rock hard families that you get multiple kids out of them,” Thatcher said.
The time they’ve spent together also makes coaching easier.
“It’s great because we have good camaraderie,” Cameron added. “We could look back at any game at any time and say, “Remember seven years ago when we did this and they did that and so we responded with this.”
Relationships off the field
Part of what’s made the 13 years at San Benito so special for Cameron, Thatcher and Dukes is the relationships they have shared both on the field and off.
“The No. 1 thing is that we’re friends first,” Thatcher said. “We all get along and it’s also a little luck. Everyone’s stuck around in the area and we’ve all got stable jobs and we dig living in this community.”
“We’re all good friends,” Dukes added. “We see each other outside of school, not just during the season. We’ve basically learned to count on each other.”
They’ve also shared many important moments in each other’s lives, including Thatcher being at the hospital for the birth of Cameron’s son Kyle and lending emotional support during tough times.
“This last year, myself, Rick (Dukes) and (assistant coach) Shawn Tennenbaum, we’ve each lost one of our parents,” Cameron said. “Things like that you have someone to relate to. There’s all those entwined things that you’re able to go through and share experiences and it’s been really good.”
