Thomas Leach, previously the head football coach at Temecula Chaparral and Diamond Ranch, will be recommended for board approval on Tuesday as Etiwanda High School’s new head football coach, according to the Chaffey Joint Union High School district board agenda. If approved, Leach will replace Steve Bryce, who resigned following last season, his seventh season at the helm for Etiwanda.
Leach coached Temecula Chaparral for five seasons before departing after the 2010 season. He was an assistant coach for Norco last year. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Chaparral, he was the Diamond Ranch head coach in 2004 and 2005 following a stint as an assistant at Huntington Beach Edison. Etiwanda athletic director David Masucci declined to comment prior to Leach’s board approval.
Leach won a CIF-SS Inland Division championship at Chaparral in 2009 after winning a Southwestern League title in 2008 before losing to Corona Centennial in the CIF championship.
Leach posted a 47-19 record in five seasons at Chaparral, never finishing lower than second place in league. His teams won at least nine games his first four seasons before a 4-7 season in his final year at the helm that still resulted in a second-place finish in league.
In 2004, his first season at Diamond Ranch, Leach posted a 9-3-1 record, shared the Mt. Baldy League title with Chaffey and reached the CIF semifinals. The next season was the only time he has missed the playoffs as a head coach, posting a 2-8 overall mark and tying for third in league.
Etiwanda, which was 6-4 last season, made the playoffs five times in seven seasons under Bryce, sharing Baseline League titles in 2009 and 2007.
