Editor’s Note: Star-News reporter Miguel Melendez takes a closer look at Monrovia High School coach Ryan Maddox’s upbringing, mentors and work ethic. This is the second in a three-part series following Monrovia’s run to its ninth CIF football finals appearance.
By Miguel A. Melendez, Staff Writer
TWELVE YEARS ago, Ryan Maddox was breaking in as a teacher at Sierra Vista Middle School in Covina, where he also was the school’s flag football coach.
It was a humble beginning compared to the grand stage on which Maddox now finds himself. Monrovia High School’s second-year head coach is leading the Wildcats in their ninth CIF football finals appearance.
Maddox helped engineer an unblemished 13-0 record, and on Saturday night at 7:30 will lead top- seeded Monrovia against No. 2 seed San Dimas (12-1) in the CIF-Southern Section Mid-Valley Division championship game at Citrus College.
The road there, however, required a studious Maddox who, to this day, plans every detail to the minute.
He also required a break.
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Maddox grew up playing Little League baseball and didn’t play football until arriving at South Hills, where he played under then-junior varsity coach Steve Bogan. Maddox went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in political science from Cal State Fullerton before his first teaching job at Sierra Vista Middle School.
In 1998, Maddox was introduced by Troy West to West Covina head football coach Mike Maggiore, who now is in his 14th season at the helm and among Maddox’s mentors.
“We hung out a couple times,” Maggiore recalled. “He came over the next year, and it was obvious he didn’t know a whole lot about the game, but within a day or two you knew he was going to find out about it.”
Maddox’s eagerness to know more was evident when he sat down with Bogan. It didn’t matter that Maddox was coaching flag football.
“It was a little hard once I got to West Covina, because we (South Hills) were rivals,” Maddox said. “But (Bogan’s) door has always been open.”
Maggiore took a chance on the young but bright Maddox, who showed tremendous potential.
Maddox went from junior varsity head coach to coaching receivers, quarterbacks and defensive backs. He eventually became offensive and defensive coordinator alongside Maggiore.
“You ask him to do something, and he’s going to learn everything there is to know about that topic and be as well-informed and knowledgable as he can,” Maggiore said.
Early on, Maddox wanted to be involved as much as possible when it came to dissecting film, identifying tendencies and figuring out patterns.
“I’ve been coaching high school football since 1992,” Maggiore said, “and I haven’t come across anyone that has worked as hard as Ryan. He just has this complete desire to learn anything he can about the game.”
Maddox goes beyond X’s and O’s. First and foremost he’s a teacher, a quality many saw in the way he carried himself.
“I wanted our kids to be around him,” Maggiore said. “I didn’t know when I hired him what kind of football coach he was going to turn out to be, but I knew he was going to be a good role model.
“But the fact he worked hard to learn the game made it such a steal to get someone like him.”
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Maddox was one of seven candidates Monrovia High School interviewed and then one of three finalists for the job when he applied in 2007. By then he had almost a decade of experience to go along with a CIF championship on his resume after helping West Covina to 19-8 win over Bogan’s South Hills team.
It was bittersweet for Bogan.
“It was nice to see good people work hard, have success,” Bogan said.
“Ryan is an architect,” Monrovia athletic director Randy Bell said. “He has the whole program in mind, meets with parents and talks to the kids about college, and he’s very fair in doling out consequences and praise. There’s no favoritism. He’s honest, fair and a great motivator.”
Guy and Linda Maddox travel every game from Newport Beach to watch their son coach, as does Maddox’s wife of three years, Veronica, and 2-year- old son, Jacob. But that’s not why Maddox, 37, keeps his cool, particularly on the sidelines.
Maddox attributed his calm mannerism to his Christian values. He’s part of Bogan’s Bible study group C.O.I.N. (Coaches of Influence), which meets in Walnut. A morning routine for Maddox consists of reading the Bible and praying for the work ahead.
“It’s at the core of my beliefs in everything I do,” Maddox said. “He’s (God’s) got a plan for me. When I pray, I list and leave what I do up to Him.”
Maddox, also a world history teacher at Monrovia, puts in close to 60 hours a week. Sunday is his longest day, when he puts together a scouting report and breaks down personnel and practice schedules for the week ahead.
Maddox arrives at Monrovia by 6:45 a.m. weekday mornings to grade papers, and others notice his early morning routine on Saturdays, too.
“You just seem to keep the same hours — early and late,” said Brad Blackmore, in his 20th year as baseball coach at Monrovia.
“The harder you work, the more you get out of your program. I don’t think that’s any accident at all.”
Garrison, who was at Monrovia for 15 years and knows a thing or two about quality coaches, noticed Maddox’s strong work ethic early on.
“Ryan Maddox is first and foremost a well-organized, smart football coach,” he said. “The guy has a plan so he can have them in the position where he’s at now.
“He has a very strong set of values that I think he was able to develop under coach Maggiore and through his experience. He sticks to his values regardless of the outcome, and because of that there’s been a tremendous player buy-in to the program, and he’s got to be commended for that.”
That Maddox is one win away from breaking Monrovia’s dry spell in CIF championship games is not surprising to Maggiore.
“I knew right away he’d be a very successful head coach,” he said. “He waited for a good situation, and it was the right time and perfect opportunity. It doesn’t surprise me at all with what’s happened to him.”
Turns out the student can become the teacher, to an extent.
“I probably got more out of him than he got from being with me,” Maggiore said.
“The guys playing for him are lucky because they’re going to have someone in their corner the rest of their lives. I have a 4-year-old son, and I would love nothing more than for him to play under a guy like Ryan Maddox.”
Friday: Only one team stands in the way of Monrovia’s first CIF football title, but will the Wildcats succumb to pressure?
miguel.melendez@sgvn.com
