Recently in Rick Bray Category

Thanks to a very good San Diego Torrey Pines football team and a bizarre set of circumstances that led to the halftime resignation of head coach Rick Bray, Friday was a very bad night for the Colton High School football program.

Any lasting satisfaction left from last year's CIF-SS Central Division title disappeared in the span of two quarters, as the Yellowjackets were whipped by Torrey Pines 35-7 and might have lost their coaching staff in the process.

Bray, last year's All-Sun Coach of the Year, left the game at halftime after addressing his team in response to his son, assistant coach B.J. Bray, being pulled from the sidelines in the second quarter by the Colton High School administration. Another one of Rick Bray's sons -- Richard Bray Jr. -- led a shaken team in the second half.

"They pulled my brother off the sidelines and my dad isn't going to allow one of us to be treated like that, so he left too," Richard Bray Jr. said after the game. "He talked to the kids at halftime and asked the rest of us coaches to get the kids through the second half."

According to Richard Bray Jr., B.J. Bray was disciplined Friday as a response to his actions at the Colton Joint Unified School District's school board meeting May 5, the one where Rick Bray's contract to coach the Yellowjackets was renewed after a lengthy soap opera in which the school district opened the job because Bray, a campus security officer, is not a credentialed teacher.

At the meeting, B.J. Bray emotionally defended his father, yelling at the parents of former CHS running back Tyler Irvin, who criticized Rick Bray during the open forum session.

When asked why the Colton adminstration waited until Friday to mete out punishment, Richard Bray Jr. didn't have an answer.

"I'm really not sure what to say and what I can say," Bray Jr. said. "All I know is that this team might not have a coaching staff. I really don't know what the next move is. This is a tough night for all of us."

Colton athletic director Harold Strauss did not comment when asked about the situation.

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.

Colton football coach Rick Bray will reapply for his position as Colton football coach after an upwelling of support on his behalf from the community according to a text I received from Bray and the Colton football Facebook page.

The Facebook entry, written by "Colton Football Coaching Staff" says the following:

Coach Bray would like to thank the community for the endless support he's received since he made his decision friday afternoon. It's because of this support that he has decided, he will not let one mans ego decide the fate of a program he's... help build over these last 25 plus years.

We will still need every community members support.

The Colton Joint Unified School District will be accepting applications for the job until Friday and from there they'll make the decision. And quite frankly, if they decide on anyone but Bray, it will be one of the most stupefying decisions that I've encountered in my years as a sports journalist.

In possibly the most surprising phone call I have received in my four-plus years of covering sports for the Sun, Colton football coach Rick Bray has indicated that he will not be the Colton High School football coach for the 2011 season after the Colton Joint Unified School District's school board decided to fly the position outside of the district at last night's meeting.

"I applied for the job, as I have to do every year, and the school board last night decided to fly the job outside of the district," Bray said. "I'm tired of the fighting and the lack of loyalty and I just don't want to have to deal with it any longer."

Being a campus security officer instead of a certificated teacher, Bray knew he had to reapply for the job every year due to the Rialto Rule, which states that an open position must be flown to certificated teachers within the school district before they can hire teachers or other personnel from outside of it. Bray knew that coming in, but didn't expect the district to open up the job after no other in-district teacher applied and after the Yellowjackets won their first CIF-SS title since 1978.

"I understand that this was going to a yearly thing, having to reapply, because I am not a teacher, but once I saw that no teachers within the school district applied, I felt I was Ok," Bray said. "It's definitely a shock right now and I have a good idea of where it's coming from, but I don't want to name names.

"As loyal as myself and my staff have been, having the team in good academic standing, getting four kids scholarships to college, not to mention winning a championship, this is all a slap in the face. I'm done - they can find somebody else because apparently my staff and I didn't do everything they wanted.

"Right now it's more anger than anything else. It's my way of letting people know that I'm tired of the fighting. I had to apply three separate times for this position last year because they kept adopting new rules. I'm tired of fighting it. We worked our butts off, our kids have worked their butts off in the classroom and on the field and our parents have been great. I thought we did the right thing, but I guess it wasn't good enough."

Having been born and raised in Colton and been an assistant for the Yellowjackets from 1985-2009 - minus a four-year hiatus - before taking the head coaching job from Harold Strauss, Bray is admittedly devastated with today's news and can't imagine the possiblity of going to coach for another school.

"I'm a Colton guy and I love this job," Bray said. "I was born and raised here and have been coaching at Colton since 1985. I don't want to go anywhere else."

CENTRAL DIVISION
Offensive Player of the Year - Travis Champion, Rancho Verde
Defensive Player of the Year - Devan Hussey, Colton
Coach of the Year - Richard Bray, Colton

Offense
Xavier Browne, RB, Jr., Chino
Tyler Ervin, RB, Sr., Colton
Chyl Robinson, RB, Sr., La Quinta
Superiorr Reid, RB, Sr., Arlington
Devonte Jordan, RB, Sr., Rancho Verde
Travis Champion, QB, Sr., Rancho Verde
Thomas Carter, QB, Sr., Cajon
Paul Rodriguez, OL, Sr., San Gorgonio
John Taylor, OL, Sr., Colton
Tyler Burns, OL, Sr., Chino
Kyle Lass, OL, Jr., Palm Springs
Eric Amidel, OL, Sr., La Quinta
Cris Soto, OL, Sr., Rancho Verde
Samson Kafovalu, OL, Jr., Arlington
Kody Kabeary, WR., Sr., Palm Desert
Quinton Pedroza, WR, Sr., Chino
Damontae Kazee, WR, Jr., Cajon
Brandon Charles, WR, Jr., San Gorgonio
Junior Pomee, WR, Sr., Rancho Verde
John Pena, K, Jr., Rialto
Nephi Garcia, Util, Sr., Palm Springs

DEFENSE
Tavion Smith, DB, Sr., Carter
Hastens Roberts, DB, Sr., Colton
Promise Amadi, DB, Sr., Chino
Sean Longerer, DB, Sr., La Quinta
Anthony Goodall, DB, Sr., Palm Desert
Ryan Henderson, DB, Sr,. Rancho Verde
Dion Thompson, DL, Sr., Cajon
Ryan Hunter-Sims, DL, Jr., San Gorgonio
John Taylor, DL, Sr., Colton
Eric Quintero, DL, Sr., Coachella Valley
Mark Williams, DL, Sr., Palm Springs
Brandon Acid, DL, Sr., Colony
Isiah Brennes, DL, Sr., Chino
Devan Hussey, LB, Sr., Colton
Ronald Valonia, LB, Sr., Chino
Nuuvali Faapito, LB, Sr., La Quinta
Desmond Dukes, LB, Sr,. La Quinta
Rodney Hardrick, LB, Sr., Colton
Blair Brown, LB, Sr., Rancho Verde
Spencer Collins, P, Sr., Palm Desert
Marcus Allen, Utility, Sr., Valley View

After nearly six months of waiting, redrafting job ads and indecision, Colton High School decided that it was best to not mess with a good thing.

The Yellowjackets selected from within the Colton football family to replace Harold Strauss Thursday, as it hired longtime assistant coach Rick Bray. Bray, who has been an assistant at Colton for 21 of the past 25 years, including the entirety of Strauss' tenure, was approved at Thursday's Colton Unified School District school board meeting.