Recently in Don Markham Category

Common sense finally washed over the Colton Joint Unified School District at their school board meeting Thursday night, as the CJUSD school board unanimously approved the rehiring of CIF championship coach Rick Bray by a 7-0 count to end what has been a sometimes ugly political soap opera.

"I'm just glad to be back to work," an emotionally relieved Bray said after the vote was passed. "We are here for the kids and I can't wait to be their coach again."

36 hours ago, it looked as if Bray - who led the Yellowjackets to their first CIF-SS title in 32 years in his first season as head coach this fall - might be out of luck. Legendary coach Don Markham, a teacher at Colton High and owner of 309 career wins, was recommended for approval by the board as he filled the qualifications of the Rialto Rule, which gives preference to certificated teachers over walk-on coaches like Bray, who is a security officer at CHS.

But Markham, who was hired for the Compton job two months ago, had a change of heart Wednesday night and withdrew his name Thursday morning after Compton was able to give him a full-time teaching position.

"I applied for the Colton job because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get a job at Compton," said Markham, who will be a full-time weightlifting teacher. "But they came through and after thinking about it, I decided to go with Compton. Colton doesn't really need me and Compton really made me feel that they wanted me."

Several players, parents and members of the community showed up in support of Bray, although it wasn't unanimous. The parents of outgoing senior Tyler Ervin criticized Bray in the open discussion part of the meeting for not honoring their son with a plaque at the awards banquet and for not helping him with recruiting, causing assistant coach and Bray's son, B.J. Bray, to retort angrily.

An emotional B.J. Bray was still stung by the process but happy that his dad was still in charge of the Colton program.

"We do a great thing here and we do it all for the kids," Bray said. "This isn't about winning football games. It's about creating doctors, lawyers, businessmen. The amount of kids going to college in this area is low and we have done everything we can to help every kid in our program get to that point. And we are going to keep doing that until they force us out."

Look for more on this story in tomorrow's Sun.

Former Bloomington and Rialto head coach Don Markham will be recommended to the Colton Joint Unified School District as the next coach of the Colton football team at Thursday's CJUSD school board meeting according the CJUSD agenda released Tuesday.

Markham, who is a teacher at Colton High School, was hired as Compton High School's head coach in the offseason. His recommendation for the job, which was held by Rick Bray last year, puts the district in accordance with the Rialto Rule, which gives hiring preference to certificated teachers. According to Colton athletic director Harold Strauss, who otherwise refused comment, the only qualification for applying for the job was previous coaching experience, something that the 71-year-old Markham has plenty of with 309 career victories.

Markham's last coaching at the high school level came in 2007, when he led Bloomington to a 6-5 record. He coached at American Sports University before being hired by Rialto in January 2010. He never coached a game with the Knights, resigning in April 2010 amid allegations of mistreatment of players.

Bray, a security officer at Colton High School and longtime assistant before taking over the head job last year, led the Yellowjackets to their first CIF-SS title since 1978, winning the Central Division with a 17-7 victory over Moreno Valley Rancho Verde in December. Bray was also named the all-Sun Coach of the Year.

Markham needs a simple majority vote -- at least four votes out of seven -- to be approved by the school board. Bray, who was recommended to the school board at the last board meeting April 21 but rejected due to Rialto Rule considerations, has reapplied for the position and will almost certainly have plenty of support at Thursday's meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at the school district office.

The Rialto football job, which reopened last week with the resignation of Don Markham, has not been reposted, but former RHS offensive coordinator Gavin Pachot has been named the interim coach pending school board approval according to Rialto Unified School District Director of Communications Syeda Jafri.

Pachot has served time as an assistant at Redlands East Valley, Fontana and Rialto, spending the last three seasons with the Knights under former coach Eric Rodriguez.

As for the permanent position, it will be posted in the near future, with in-district applicants getting first priority.

"We'll open it up in the district, see who applies and move on from there," Jafri said.

Don Markham's second stint as Rialto High School football coach ended before he coached a game, as the veteran coach resigned Thursday in the wake of an investigation by the Rialto Unified School District on allegations of misconduct by the coach.

Markham delivered the resignation to Rialto athletic director Dan Williams Thursday morning at the prompting of Williams and Rialto principal Andreas Luna. Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF titles in an illustrious career, tried to rescind the resignation later in the day but was told that it was final.

Recently hired Rialto High School football coach Don Markham has been placed on administrative leave by the Rialto Unified School District after allegations were levied against him according to RUSD Director of Communications Syeda Jafri.

Jafri indicated that Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF championships in his illustrious high school coaching career, was suspended Tuesday after the allegations were filed to the school district's offices.

"Mr. Markham has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the upcoming investigation by the school district," Jafri said. "We take all allegations seriously and we believe in due process for both the accuser and accused."

Jafri didn't specify on the length of the investigation or the nature of the allegations, but did say that Markham was prohibited from stepping foot on the Rialto campus during the investigation. Because Markham is a walk-on coach employed within the Colton Unified School District, his leave will be of the unpaid variety according to Jafri.

"(Markham) is a walk-on coach until July 1, so that makes the administrative leave unpaid instead of paid," Jafri said.

Markham's leave comes at a bad time for Rialto, as spring football is set to start next month.

In the midst of call-in chaos tonight I got a call from Rialto Unified School District Director of Communications Syeda Jafri saying that Don Markham has been approved to be the next Rialto football coach by the RUSD school board. So the double-wing genius is officially back. Clay Fowler will have a story on it in tomorrow's Sun.

According to Rialto Unified School District's Director of Communications Syeda Jafri, legendary coach Don Markham will be named the next football coach at Rialto High School pending school board approval.

"It's on the agenda for the school board meeting on Jan. 13," Jafri said. "Don Markham's name has been submitted for the job."

Markham, who has won 309 games and five CIF championships during an illustrious high school football coaching career, will be making his second stop at Rialto High. He coached the Knights in 2000-2001, leading Rialto to a 13-9 record and the only two playoff berths in the school's history. He left for a six-year stint at Bloomington before spending the 2008 season coaching American Sports University in San Bernardino to a 10-4 record.

More on this to come.