After 13 years in the football program, the last five as head coach, Montclair’s T.J. Fiorenza has resigned.
Fiorenza cited the desire to go into administration. He has been working on his credential in that facet of education and it caused him to misses some time on the practice field with his team late in the season. That ultimately led to his decision.
“It wasn’t fair to those kids,” he said. “We ask them to be on time and not miss practice and here I was having to leave early once a week. I was just trying to get through the end of the season but this was the right decision for everyone.”
Fiorenza’s teams were 20-30 in that five year span the best mark coming in 2012 when the team went 6-4. The school has struggled in the sport largely because the lack of a Pop Warner or Junior All-American Youth program. Kids that live in the school boundaries play in the youth programs in surrounding communities and the better players end up going to high schools in those areas.
Fiorenza is working on an administrative credential and master’s in education through a University of Concordia-Irvine satellite campus in Glendora.
He has three children, ages 2, 6 and 9 and is looking forward to a more traditional work day that comes with a position besides being a football coach.
The school will go through the normal channels in finding his successor but he is backing his defensive coordinator Eric Kennedy.
Fiorenza’s resignation leaves five schools without coaches – Montclair, Chino Hills, Ayala, Garey and Jurupa Hills.
