Rise and shine: New coach looking to awaken El Capitan football program
Sleep is a luxury that El Capitan High School first-year coach Jordan Irsik doesn’t have time for at the moment.
Not with a newborn baby at home.
Not with Irsik trying to install a winning culture in a Gauchos program that is on its third head coach in three years and a team that has just three wins of its last 44 games.
“I think I’m running on about two hours sleep,” Irsik said. “I don’t even have time to get a haircut. My wife has been cutting my hair since we moved here.”
Whether or not El Capitan’s new coach is sleep deprived, administrators, players and parents all are hoping Irsik can awaken a Gauchos program that never has gotten off the ground since the school opened in 2013.
El Capitan senior Jeremiah Price said he’s already seen a difference.
“It’s way more organized then what it used to be,” Price said. “It’s a way better program this year. We have coaches on staff who actually know what they’re doing. Kids want to be here
“Previous years — when we weren’t winning — players would quit on us. We have 50 kids out here right now. I’ve never seen 50 kids here at one time.”
Irsik has had assistant coach stops at Wamego High School (Kansas) and Garden City High School (Kansas) before being named the head coach at Syracuse High School in Kansas in 2020.
He also spent one year as the assistant defensive coordinator at Folsom High School and spent last season as the defensive backs coach at Rocky Mountain College (NAIA program in Montana).
Irsik said he’s seen the hunger and eagerness to work from his new group of players at El Capitan. He said this senior group has shown up every day for workouts, weights and practices.
“That’s been the cool part because for them there hasn’t been really any reason for them to want to be here and be successful because of how it’s been the last few years,” Irsik said.
Irsik has installed an offensive system similar to the spread offense Folsom used to win Sac-Joaquin Section and state championships. Irsik said when the team watches film, it’s often video of Stanford, Sacramento State or those Folsom state championship teams.
“We are picking it up,” senior quarterback Brian Carlson said. “It’s a college-style offense that is being run at many D-1 schools. I’m studying a lot and learning a lot.”
Irsik has recruited coaches and players from campus that weren’t involved in the football program before.
“I didn’t care so much about finding football knowledge with coaches,” Irsik said. “I wanted to find guys who were going to follow direction and do things the right way. Then it was up to me to coach them up what I wanted for the scheme or technique perspective with our football program.”
Irsik said the Gauchos starting left tackle Raul Rodriguez is a kid he saw walking the halls at the school and convinced him to come out to play football for the first time.
Many of the athletes from other sports like basketball are now on the football field as well.
“Everybody in Merced knows there are good athletes at this school,” Irsik said. “We don’t need anybody from anywhere else. We just needed to get the best athletes at our school to play football. It hasn’t been that way until now.”
“I’d say the 10 best athletes at our school are playing football,” he added. “That’s a game-changer.”
The team will be looking for contributions from players like Price, receivers/defensive backs Ricardo Ruiz, Diego Ultreras and Dejuan Franklin and senior linemen Keith Kelly and Daniel Canela.
Price said he thought about giving up football, but he was talked out of it.
“I decided to stick it out one more year,” Price said. “People told me to trust in coach Irsik and trust my teammates. This is my school. I love it here.”
Irsik knows building the program up will be a process and it will take more than one year.
“We don’t set unrealistic expectations because I think that sets up for building your culture for failure,” he said. “Realistic for us — we don’t talk about winning section championships in year one — that’s not a thing.
“We talk about trying to get better every day, we talk about setting the standard for the younger guys.”
El Capitan 2023 Schedule
Aug. 18 at Delhi
Aug. 25 vs Cordova
Sept. 1 vs Modesto Christian
Sept. 8 at Livingston
Sept. 15 at Central Valley
Sept. 22 vs Patterson
Sept. 29vs Atwater
Oct. 6 at Merced
Oct. 13 vs Buhach Colony
Oct. 27 at Golden Valley
