Bellarmine coach Janda stepping down
SAN JOSE >> Bellarmine’s Mike Janda, the all-time winningest football coach in Central Coast Section history, announced Friday that he is stepping down after 36 seasons.
He coached at the school for more than four decades.
“Forty-one years, that’s a long time to be coaching here at Bellarmine,” Janda said. “It was just time. There was not any one particular reason. I knew at some point I would know when the time is right and it turns out that the time is right.”
Janda, who will turn 69 next week, led Bellarmine to six Central Coast Section and 14 West Catholic Athletic League championships. His team won a Northern California regional crown in 2015 and played in three state title games.
He finished with 286 wins. In a news release sent by the school, Janda added, “I would especially like to thank John Amarillas, Dan Burke and Mike Henry, with whom I have coached for the past 19 years. The memories and friendships that I have made through the years will be with me for the rest of my life.”
Amarillas, Burke and Henry also are stepping down from coaching, though Amarillas, Henry and Janda will continue to teach at the school.
Bellarmine was a Bay Area power for decades under Janda but had fallen on hard times since one of the coach’s most memorable triumphs, a stunning victory over Folsom in the 2015 NorCal Division 1-AA final that made Janda’s the CCS’s winningest coach.
Since that night, the Bells have won just 16 games.
Janda said he discussed the idea of stepping down with his longtime assistants, and they decided the time was right for all of them.
“We started talking about it and when I went, John and the rest of them as well said, ‘I think it’s time for us, too,’” Janda said. “It’s time for a new beginning, a fresh beginning for Bellarmine varsity football.”
Appreciation for Janda poured in on social media and interviews with his peers.
“Class, that’s the one word,” said St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno, whose father, Ron, also coached against Janda’s teams. “When I got the head job back in 2013, he was one of the first guys I called. Just a great guy to go in the offseason and have a beer with and talk. Just a good, good human being and a heck of a football coach that won an awful lot of games.”
Serra coach Patrick Walsh called Janda a friend, remembering some of his team’s epic battles against Bellarmine.
“When I got to Serra, it was a time where we were looking up at Mike Janda, everything he does at Bellarmine,” Walsh said. “I basically modeled a lot of the things in the WCAL that I did at Serra around who he is, the type of coach he is. The way the team plays at Bellarmine was everything I wanted the Padres to be.
“That’s a testament to him, Coach Amarillas, his assistants. Basically, four guys hung in there forever and just the camaraderie and continuity was something we wanted to model at Serra.”
Along the way for Janda, there were many memorable games, against St. Francis, against Serra, against Valley Christian and even against De La Salle.
Bellarmine nearly ended the Concord power’s now 29-year unbeaten streak against Northern California opponents in 2011 but lost 26-23 in double overtime.