FOOTBALL: Maddox emerges as new Monrovia football coach.
Ryan Maddox, an assistant head coach/defensive coordinator at West Covina High School the past three years, has been selected as new head football coach at Monrovia.
Left: New Monrovia head football coach Ryan Maddox.
Question: What are your thoughts on this hire?
By Scott Galetti, Staff Writer
MONROVIA - The long and tedious journey finally is over at Monrovia High School.
Nearly seven weeks after Steve Garrison stepped down as head football coach after 15 seasons, the school has a successor.
Ryan Maddox emerged from the field of hopefuls to become the Wildcats' new coach.
"I think he's a wonderful candidate and Monrovia is happy to have him," Monrovia athletic director Dave Moore said.
"Monrovia is fortunate to have a coach who has been so thoroughly prepared with a broad range of experiences at one school. I think he'll bring energy and enthusiasm to our program."
With a talent pool in excess of 25 candidates, Maddox was selected over finalists Fil Lujan and Northview coach Jim Arellanes.
"I'm excited for the opportunity," Maddox said. "I think that's a special place."
Maddox, 36, comes to Monrovia after spending the last nine years at West Covina.
He served as JV coach in 1999 and spent two seasons as an assistant who helped with defensive backs and wide receivers.
The South Hills graduate was the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator in the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons.
Maddox took over as assistant head football coach/defensive coordinator in 2004 and served in that role for the past four seasons.
West Covina won the CIF-Southern Section Division VII title in 2004, his first season as defensive coordinator.
His familiarity with Monrovia is what attracted him to the Wildcats' position.
"We've played them in the past, and Steve Garrison has done a fine job of building a winning program," Maddox said. "I know they have a good tradition and they have amazing community and parent involvement."
Maddox will have many challenges to tackle as the season approaches.
The biggest hurdle, perhaps, will be to find replacements for the handful of players who transferred from the school citing safety concerns in the city. They included Josiah Thropay to Bishop Amat, Dwight Smith and Brandon Golden.
"I see my role to help these young men become successful, both on and off the field," Maddox said. "The foundation is built on character and the culture of the program. Having community and parent support, kids will want to come to your school and play football."
The Wildcats' new coach plans to get involved with the community by holding youth camps and reaching out to area elementary schools.
Maddox is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton and holds a Master of Education from Azusa Pacific University.
He is a social science teacher and will finish out the school year at West Covina before teaching in the same capacity at Monrovia in the fall.
Monrovia was 6-6 in 2007 and tied for first place with Blair in the Rio Hondo League.
Garrison stepped down on March 10 for family reasons. He compiled a 111-56-6 record.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Coach maddox is a coach that eats, drinks and sleeps football. He does not have wallpaper at home, he has game tape. He can outscheme any coach with or without athletes. He and Ed Rycroft may still find a way to hook up and help each other out. Then everybody look the hell out. Good luck coach Maddox. fight on! Grago
Hey Scott, I was wondering if you or anyone else knows if Hoover High School has yet to select a head coach. I know it's not a solid program, but i have a friend who interviewed for that job.
Monrovia monster,
first off if those stats are true which Im sure you did your research, know that monrovia will be playing the competition of a school like Charter Oak. I think that this is a wonderful choice for monrovia. I just wish it was made much sooner than what it was.
Stang Fan,
I like your comparison with pete carroll. I too like this move, I know everybody wanted Lujan, but really I just wanted someone to come in already. I think there would of been more pressure on Phil to bring Monrovia back to the dominance that it once was. Since not to many people know bout Maddox there isnt as much pressure since he is coming from outside the community. But yeah Im for it to revive the program and take it in a new direction
You're a class act, Dan.
As I mentioned, Rycroft has been on and off as Monrovia DC since he got back from Viet Nam. I think he is a class of 1969 MHS grad and his number 61 is on our scoreboard. He has not coached at Monrovia though since the 1995 season. He and Lujan both tried helping Leon Ward during his last disastrous year in 1992 and then they both helped Garrison during his first few years as Head Coach. Lujan was there from 1992 - 1996 helping with the turn around.
Out of respect for Lujan, Rycroft and now Coach Maddox I am not going to blog about this anymore. I disagree with the way things went down and won't forget it, but I think Coach Maddox will probably do well and am happy for the change.
If anybody wants to discuss off-line, send me an email at NewYork91016@yahoo.com
Golden, send me an E-mail.
New York,
I didn't mean to suggest that Maddox is a superior coach to Lujan or
Rycroft, only that I believe he will succeed at
Monrovia and the fans at M-Town will be happy with him. As for the West Co vs Monrovia series while coaching always plays a role, I believe it was more a question of who was more talented that year than the coaching. I have only followed West Co since 99, and I think the most recent West Co vs Monrovia series started
in 2001 and ended in 2006, I noticed that in the years that Monrovia won, West Co had mediocre teams [02 & 03] and 2 of the 3 the years West Co won Monrovia had mediocre teams [04, 05]. The year that both teams were good was in 06 where we had a very close game the could go either way. As for where did Maddox play his college ball, I think I heard that he played at Cal State Fullerton but I'm not positive, I know he went there and to APU but I believe he played at Fullerton.
What years did Lujan & Rycroft coach at Monrovia?
getting tough to get a comment to fly...submission error, not sure why
SG - I saw Barkley at the Nike Combine last Sunday...talented kid.
Maddox was 31-17-1 in his four years as assistant head coach at West Covina, including a CIF title his first year as assistant head coach. His defense did hold Division I Mater Dei with Matt Barkley to 28 points in 2006. That in itself says something to me. And, i hate to rub it in, but after he took over as assistant head and defensive coordinator, WC beat Monrovia three straight times. The two schools didn't play in 2007. I say give him a chance to prove himself.
SG
posts are still being held up
With the exception of a couple cheap shots to the scrotum, Lujan can verify from comments here that his football knowledge and most importantly, his character, are respected by Cat alum and others familiar with area fball. From comments earlier it appears he interviewed intelligently, came with a plan and was well prepared. I am sure this was one man who knew this opening was a rare shot. The Monrovia program has been poised to go over the top for awhile now..some are surprised, others frustrated it has not happened already.
There are a bunch of kids waiting to put their cleats on and win some games over there. Time to forget about who went to Amat. O-cat...where are you man?
The bottom line is - it is possible this is the absolute right guy. There is cause for great optimism in M-town.
Good luck Coach Maddox.
NY...
I agree with you on the Rycroft situtuaion....He was and probably still is one Mean..Nasty straight to the business kind of coach. The Kind you Love to Hate and Hate to Love. He go's as far back as my Jr. All american years..He used to scare the Hell out of me in practice but come saturdays I would put my helmut into the guts of the other team and feel that it was all worthwhile. He also was very instrumental in preparing our my freshman team to an undefeated and un scored upon season. He is very deeply rooted in all of the Monrovia neighborhood...if you ask any African American about Rycroft he would have nothing but Love for the Man..as would any other race in Monrovia. It surprises me that he never took the reigns as head coach at MHS. Maddox kind of looks like him back in his hay-day I wonder if he has simmilar coaching tactics. Rycroft would call you out in a minute if he felt you were'nt giving 150% even in practice. That is the kind of discipline you are going to need to win championships...I hope this Coach has what it takes to bring that sort of Hard-nose football back to Monrovia....The talent pool is still there regardless of some of the transfers....I'm quite aware of some promising guys still coming out of the Pop Warner that will bring life to the future of the Wildcats program....very few schools have had the luxury of having such a great talent pool to choose from. Good Luck Coach, lets put the disruptions behind us and move on with some serious coaching and discipline.
Dan,
You have always been insightful with your posts, and I believe that with Coach Maddox Monrovia football will probably be more successful than we have been the past 5-8 years. But let's be honest, we have been slumbering most seasons aside from 2002. We last played WestCo in 2006 to a very close game, but a far less talented Temple City team really kicked our butts. What does that say? It is not as if WestCo has been a consistent juggernaut either. They have had their problems as well. Using victories over Monrovia during the past few years should not be a proxy of success for anybody who had comparable talent to work with.
I was hopeful for Fil Lujan for many reasons, including that Ed Rycroft and Akil Harris had committed to joining his staff. I know that Maddox has a reputation for defense, but Coach Rycroft has had a lot of success Coaching Monrovia's Defense for at least four different head coaches going back to the 1970's (Watson, Clegg, Ward, Garrison and maybe others). Each of those guys invited Rycroft. Why? Because few (maybe no other) people understand Monrovia kids and Monrovia football players better than Ed Rycroft. What has Rycroft done lately? 19-0 this year as DC with the Foothill Firehawks and 18-0 with the SGV Rhinos a couple years ago. And Akil Harris coaching our running backs! Dang. Oh yeah, Rycroft is 2-0 against West Covina, while we are on the subject and Lujan 2-0 as well. I have a feeling that some of the candy-asses responsible for hiring fear guys like Rycroft and Lujan and prefer people who will drink the Koolaid and say that things around Monrovia football have been great in recent years. If Rycroft vouches for Lujan, that is good enough for me. However, some people are afraid of that. It is almost as if being a Monrovian is a penalty.
I know Maddox will have some good seasons, but the committee overlooked some other important qualities that long-time Monrovians do value.
Does anybody know where Coach Maddox played college ball?
For you Wildcat fans who are having doubts, insider is right, I've watched Maddox coach for the last 4 years and he is a great teacher on the field, last season West Co had 6 sophmores & 7 juniors starting on varsity, that is why Charter Oak did what they did to us. If you'll remember, with Maddox as defensive coordinator West Co beat Monrovia the last three times the teams played, two of those by scores of 38 to 0 and 42 to 0.
I wish Monrovia would have hired Fil Lujan so that we could still have Maddox at West Covina. Good Luck Coah Maddox, I know you will be succesful. Wildcat
fans, I think you will be happy with your new coach.
Personally, I would much rather have a coach who has actually “won” or was part of a CIF Championship team, then a coach who had success in league play, then washed out and got out coached in every big game they played in. This way when the Head Coach talks to his players about what it takes to win the big games they actually know what they are talking about. I’d rather have a contender then a pretender leading my troops……Just one fans opinion.
Maddox will also be teaching social studies in the fall for MHS which probably played a role in the hiring.
Having Reale coach the frosh and likely having Darnell and Fluker coach the JV would have been great. Reale was two for two with frosh championships back in the '90's. More than that, though, his teaching fundamentals layed the foundation for those two classes to compete in the CIF Finals.
"Committee",
If you truly are part of the selection committee, you are losing all credibility with your slander against Lujan and Reale. You call Fil pompous? You are mistaking confidence that is grounded in accomplishment and accumen.
This looks like it is a good hire and at the same time a terrible non-hire. Frankly, if I thought this process would actually bring in an outsider I would have tried to find the number that it would take to bring Coach Mooney over. It is what it is.
I think Coach Maddox will have a lot of success with our program. As I would have expected with Lujan, I think Maddox and the Cats will win CIF within a couple years.
Coach Maddox, welcome to Monrovia.
insider
A good interview hardly translates to the lofty claims of success you are guaranteeing.
I've heard the "Valle Vista shall dominate all" theory as well. It might be wise to at least acknowledge RHL opponents first, before seeding Maddox deep into the CIF playoffs.
A focused, aggressive defense could very well put M-town in the drivers seat. I actually agree with you and see the potential should Maddox be the defensive strategist and motivator you describe.
Maybe a better approach is to go easy on the accolades and hype and allow the man a chance to coach.
Monrovia Monster
Don't just look at last when WC had exactly 0 LBers and ended up moving two DBs to play LB. Go back 2004, 2005, 2006. His defensive teams carried WC. The year they won CIF they posted 5 shutouts and avraged giving up 7 points a game. In the CO games this year 21 points off turnovers, 14 points off special teams. CO had much better players than WC did. Maddox is the best DC in the area and prepares his players better than anyone. Ask anyone of his former players before you go on here and spout about knowing success. Last year his defense played awesome in first round upset of top seeded Mayfair. He will win a CIF title at Monrovia within 3 years at Monrovia, he is that good and it shone in his interviews. Prevailing opinion is that valle vista league will dominate division now. Maddox with outwork and out coach anyone in that division. Call Bogan (SH), Farrar (CO), heck even Garrison. They'll all tell you how good his defenses are. If I'm not mistaken, WC won the last three or four games of monrovia vs WC games. M-TOWN hired a great coach. Good luck Monrovia and coach Maddox.
Who will be the new volleyball coach at Monrovia?
Don't get me wrong.I am sure Lujan is very capable of running a successful program.But anybody that knows the man knows what a pompus,arrogant,know it all he is.And Realle you were just hoping to get the Freshman job I heard,so spare us with"stand up guy"comments
Wow!! This one is definitely surprising.
I, too, thought that Lujan would get the job. I have a buddy who lives in M-town and I've seen some of the games on tv and Fil seems to be a knowledgable guy, but more importantly a stand-up kind of cat that our youth needs.
On the flip side, sometimes a hiring like this can reenergize a program and a guy like this can bring in some things that tradition sometimes thwarts. I think all schools prefer to have "their guys" run the show and keep things the same, but hell Pete Carroll certainly wasn't an SC guy and look what he's done.
Good luck Coach.
I normally don't post to this blog but I do enjoy reading it. I wish Coach Maddox the best of luck in his new position. If he is better qualified that Fil Lujan then the Wildcats are in good hands. Fil is the most knowlegable football man I have ever known. I got the opportunity to see his playbooks and coach's handbooks and was very impressed with the preparations he had put into getting ready to fill the job if he was appointed. He will continue to be the voice of the Wildcats on our local game broadcasts and the luck viewers will continue to learn from him.
We are lucky to have Fil in our community and the brain dead comments of "Committee" do not reflect the feelings of people who love Monrovia football
Interesting that Maddox was both DC and OC. He needs to tighten up his bananahammock and get rolling ASAP.
Oh yeah, and Ryan....don't believe any of that crap about a rivalry with TC.
It is just another game...........
I took a look at the Tribune blog, and Fred even said "I do not know a lot about Maddox." Sounds likes sleeper candidate. I am curious what the thought process was in M-town, considering there was a strong in-house candidate.
Thank Goodness the commitee saw past the charade known as Fil Lujan.Finally some fresh blood to take over for the oldest coach in the valley.Were going to miss you Garrison but let the valley be known this coach we brought in was by far the most qualified OF ALL THE COACHES INTERVIEWED.Hey Lujan maybe the Duarte Hawks are lookin for a Head Coach down there... lol...
Not sure why they would go with someone not already entrenched in the M-Town community. This is my fist time posting but I am a long time reader and can echo all of New Yorks words regarding Lujan as a coach and person. This is a head scratcher for sure.
i just checked on maxpreps and in two games last year playing charter oak he allowed almost 100 points. how is he more qualified than someone who personally knows the program or a coach who understands success?
SG,
I think we need some background on the new hire.
NY,
Sorry to see the candidate you thought so highly of did not get the ticket