Arreola bids farewell as Reseda coach
Being a high school football coach in the Los Angeles Unified School District is never just that. The role requires someone like Alonso Arreola to wear multiple hats, and most of the time, all at once.
“Getting kids on the field is the hardest part, especially if you're the only guy on campus,” said Arreola, who's been at Reseda High for 22 years, and the last 17 as the Regents' head football coach.
“There's paperwork to be done, physicals have to get in, grades have to be met, you have to deal with disciplinary issues if there are any of those,” he explained. “There's no delegating. You have to pretty much do it all. Then you have to prepare for the football game on Friday night.”
It's a brief look into what City Section football coaches take on for being the `head coach'.
Arreola announced last week he's stepping down from the position, but will continue to teach physical education and health at the school. He took over in 2005 and since then amassed more than 100 victories, three Valley
Mission League titles, and won a Division I City title in 2019.
“I'm going to miss it,” he said. “I'll miss the kids and relationships.”
Don't mistake Arreola's aforementioned explanation of the job for complaints. It's simply time for a new challenge, and one he may embark on in the near future, but not this fall.
“My coaching days aren't over,” Arreola said. “But they're over at Reseda.”
LAUSD approved $171 million renovation project at Reseda, part of a $7 billon bond measure passed by voters in 2008 aimed to modernize schools in great need of improvement, many of them San Fernando Valley campuses opened in the 1950s. Reseda's plans began this year and are scheduled to be completed by 2026.
According to the district summary of the project, there are no plans to renovate or improve the football, baseball or softball facilities.
Arreola graduated from Reseda in 1995 and played for Joel Schaeffer, who was the football coach for 23 years until 2000 and served the LAUSD for 40 years as teacher. Arreola hasn't been teaching for that long, but his three children grew up under the Friday night lights that shine bright off the corner of Victory Boulevard and Lindley Avenue.
As much as Arreola praises his coaching staff, all of which are offcampus or voluntary coaches, he admits none of his day-to-day, week-toweek operations could be done without his wife of 14 years, Rocio.
“I literally couldn't do it without her,” Arreola said of his wife's support. “You're not doing this on your own, even though it looks like that.”
Reseda is expected to announce its new head football coach in the coming weeks.