IN SPORTS: LODI HIGH HIRES FOOTBALL COACH
George Duenas is coming home again.
On Wednesday, Lodi High Interim Athletic Director Michelle Souza confirmed that Duenas has been named the new Lodi High football head coach. Duenas said Souza called him regarding the decision.
“It was just surreal,” Duenas said. “It’s a dream come true. Not many people get a chance to come back to their alma mater. I’m just excited to be back in the red and white, to be a Flame again. I was just praying and hoping that I can get an interview.”
A 2006 Lodi High graduate who helped the Flames to an 8-4 record on both sides of the line in the Fall of 2005, Duenas will also be teaching physical education classes at the campus when the 2018-19 school year starts toward the end of July.
Duenas takes over for Robert Sperling, who resigned last month due to health reasons after five seasons.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Duenas said one of his selling points to outgoing interim AD Souza and incoming AD Robert Winterhalter was building programs. Those are challenges he’s faced in North Dakota, where he’s called home for the last 12 years.
For the last two years, Duenas has been the principal at Center-Stanton High in Center, N.D. During that time, he helped the school kick-off 6man football. Before CenterStanton, he taught physical education and was the football head coach at Lewis and Clark/Our Redeemer High for five years.
“I have a small town feel for athletics,” Duenas said. “The big part is that I have a lot of passion for it. The opportunity for me to do that for the (Lodi Unified School District) that did so much for me. I think kind of sold them (the interviewing committee) with that.”
Most of Duenas’ family is already in Lodi. His wife, Kori, has been teaching English classes at Pitman High in Turlock since last December. George Duenas noted that Kori, too, was interviewed and hired to teach English classes at Lodi High when the new school starts in July.
“I was just trying to look for jobs (in California),” explained George Duenas, who has four children in ages 10 through 1 years-old with Kori.
Before he graduated from Lodi High in the mid-2000s, Duenas received a football scholarship to Minot State University in Minot, N.D. He
graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He holds a master’s degree in education and teaching credentials.
On Saturday, Duenas, who returned to North Dakota after the interview on Tuesday, will fly back to California.
On Sunday, he plans to meet with Lodi coaches, one of whom is assistant coach Greg Bishop, an offensive and defensive line coach who was the Flames’ offensive coordinator last fall. Duenas credits Bishop, a 1989 Lodi High graduate who was a lineman at the University of the Pacific and the NFL’s New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, with helping develop him into the 30 yearold man he is today.
“That man has been an inspiration to me,” said Duenas of Bishop. “Now I get to be coaching side-by-side with him. Coach Bishop has done a good job running program (before and after Sperling resigned), getting the weights going.”
On Monday, Duenas and the Flames’ coaching staff will hold a meeting for varsity, frosh-soph and freshmen football players inside the school’s weight room. At that time, he will talk to the players about his expectations in upcoming weeks going into the 2018 season. Last fall, Lodi posted a 4-6 record, and was one Tri-City Athletic League win away from being considered for a Sac-Joaquin Section at-large playoff berth.
“Our goal is always to make the playoffs,” Duenas said. “But the relationship to build with students, that’s what it’s all about. I want to make sure that kids are having a great time in the program. I’m excited to build a winning tradition. We’re just going to go in with excitement, try to run with it.”
On offense Duenas plans to run a “high-tempo” pistol base formation in which he’ll call the plays. On defense, he plans to run a 3-4 base.
“We have a lot of spread teams in (the Lodi) area,” Duenas said. “What I like about the 3-4 defense is you have different blitzes, four to five man pressures. The 3-4, you can bring so much pressure from different areas. With the spread, that’s what you need; a lot of movement, a lot of blitzing.”
Lodi will open its season at Ceres in a non-league game on Friday, Aug. 24.