Jeremy Topete steps down as Hesperia football coach

The high school football regular season has ended, but the first coaching domino has fallen as Hesperia coach Jeremy Topete has stepped down after seven seasons at the helm of the Scorpions.
Topete said his resignation had nothing to do with the incident last week in which Hesperia players vandalized the Oak Hills field and Hesperia ended up forfeiting the game.
“This is something I had talked to my athletic director a month ago,” he said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. The administration and staff has given a lot of support.”
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Topete said he is planning on spending more time with his family, which includes two sons, ages 9 and 7.
“I’ve been devoting my time to other kids for the last 18 years,” Topete said. “Now I need to spend more time with my own.”
Topete said he plans on continuing to teach at Hesperia and will “take a year off” from coaching. He did not say he would definitely coach again, only that he would consider it after a year.
Topete compiled a 25-48 record in seven seasons after taking over the program when Robert Kistner left to become the first head coach at Oak Hills. He led the Scorpions to the playoffs in 2013 and 2014 (winning a playoff game), and was 3-7 this year.
He said he hopes last week’s incident doesn’t mar how people view his tenure at the school.
“The people around us know the good things we’ve done,” Topete said. “It’s not about one incident of a prank that went too far.”
Topete said he got positive reaction after forfeiting last week’s game.
“The reaction I got was nothing but positive, texts from people,” he said.

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More Topete

Hesperia High School will hire Jeremy Topete as its next head football coach, pending school board approval at the upcoming meeting on May 18.

Topete, 36, served two stints as an assistant coach for the Scorpions, most recently as a wide receivers coach this past season. He was also an assistant for the Scorpions in 2005.

“I’m excited,” said Topete, a University of La Verne graduate said. “We have a good thing going here at Hesperia and I’m looking to keep it going and build on what we have. We just had our first spring practice (Monday) and I’m just ready to get started.”

Topete replaces Robert Kistner, the 2007 All-Sun Coach of the Year, who left to take the head job at brand-new Oak Hills High School. The Scorpions compiled a 21-3 record over the last two seasons under Kistner, including a school-record 11 victories and a Mojave River League title this past season.

“We have a lot of seniors out there who are hungry to keep the MRL title and win “The Key” for a third straight year,” Topete said. “Everyone in the program has high expectations and we feel we have the parts in place to do those things.”

Prior to his stints at Hesperia, Topete served as an assistant at San Dimas High School and Chaffey College. He was a quarterback coach at San Dimas from 1998-2000 before spending a four-year stint at Chaffey — one as a QB coach and three as a running backs coach.

After spending a year at Hesperia, Topete went back to Chaffey as the offensive coordinator in 2006-07, a move he said was important in preparing him for a job like Hesperia’s.

“It was a great opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Topete said of the Chaffey offensive coordinator job. “It really helped me become a better coach and a better teacher. Our main goal is to not only teach kids plays and techniques, but why we run them a specific way.”

Topete said that the Scorpions will be running a lot of the single-back formations that they did under Kistner while looking to free up senior wide receiver Jay Waddell — an all-Sun second-team selection a year ago.

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Topete next Hesperia coach

Had a brief conversation with Jeremy Topete, who confirmed to me that he will be the next head football coach at Hesperia High School pending approval by the Hesperia Unified School District. According to a quick Google search, Topete has been an assistant at Chaffey College.

We’ll have more later.

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