Mater Dei head coach Raul Lara is trying to stop from getting a bucket dropped on him as the Monarchs were about to win the CIF Southern Section D1 title against their rivals from St. John Bosco of Bellflower. Photo: Scott Kurtz / Cal-Hi Sports.
First-year head coaches hardly ever get consideration for this honor, but Mater Dei’s Raul Lara isn’t just any first-year head coach. He joined the Monarchs after many years coaching at other schools, including a run of 13 seasons at Long Beach Poly in which he was almost State Coach of the Year before. Lara received credit for focusing on building character and brotherhood on a team with the most talented roster in the nation.
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Since no one can be State Football Coach of the Year more than once in the more than 40-year history of the award, there’s always a group of very successful coaches from around the state who are thought of as strong candidates who have not been placed on the all-time list of honorees before.
Raul Lara has been among that group for many years and when he became the head coach at national powerhouse Mater Dei of Santa Ana last summer, the opportunity to get him the top honor also became a strong possibility. For a coach to get the top honor also requires his team to win a major championship. Lara’s team did just that by winning the CIF Open Division state title, finishing unbeaten and No. 1 in every legitimate national ranking. He’s now being honored as the 2024 State Coach of the Year.
The man who is credited with building the Mater Dei program into national prominence, former head coach Bruce Rollinson, was State Coach of the Year for 1994. He retired after the 2022 season and last season the Monarchs were led by head coach Frank McManus. Lara was hired to help bring more character-building, brotherhood and mental focus to a super-talented core of players. By all accounts, from players we talked to and those in the media, he was successful in those efforts.
“It’s always been there in the background, but (Coach Lara) really emphasized it,” said senior running back Jordon Davison when asked after the last game about the team’s brotherhood. “The whole team thought he did a great job.”
Mater Dei head coach Raul Lara accepts CIF Open Division state title trophy, which is his first as a head coach. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Another three-year starter, senior defensive end Nasir Wyatt, echoed those comments.
“Coach Lara was a phenomenal addition,” Wyatt said. “There was a lot of stuff lacking before and he did a great job making sure all of the players were involved in their community.”
The most recent State Coach of the Year from Orange County was Dave White from Edison of Huntington Beach in 2016. He’s retired but still coaching at Edison under current head coach Jeff Grady and the Chargers won this year’s CIF D1-A state title. Before that, one has to go back to Bob Johnson of Mission Viejo for an Orange County winner for the 2001 season when his team ended 14-0. Johnson, like Rollinson, is one of the top four winningest coaches in state history.
“Thank you very much,” Lara said on Monday when informed he was receiving the honor. “Obviously when we started and walk in the door they were the No. 1 team in the nation and that is a task in itself. But we just harped about getting better each day and not worried about the future.”
That 2001 season also was extremely important for Lara. That was his first season as the new head coach at Long Beach Poly, his alma-mater, which at the time was battling Mater Dei at the top of the CIF Southern Section. He was taking over an absolutely loaded squad that had gone 14-0 the year before under previous head coach Jerry Jaso and was No. 2 in the state behind De La Salle of Concord, which was in the midst of its national record 151-game win streak and at the time needed to get beat before ever dropping from the state’s No. 1 ranking. The Jackrabbits and Spartans set up a game for 2001 that became the first-ever matchup of national No. 1 and No. 2 teams. De La Salle won, 29-15, but Lara’s team came back to win the CIFSS top division title and despite that loss is still regarded as one of the greatest teams in CIFSS history. It was the first team ever to have five Parade All-Americans. DLS won again in a rematch the following season at Cal, so when this year’s Monarchs topped the Spartans, 37-15, in their final game that seemed to add a bit more juice for Lara in the post-game celebration.
Lara went on to win four more CIFSS titles at Long Beach Poly. The CIF state championships didn’t exist until 2006 so the first time that the Jackrabbits had a chance to win a CIF state title was in 2008, but they were upset in the Open Division championship by Grant of Sacramento. We were even more seriously looking at Lara to be State Coach of the Year after the 2012 season, but Poly was again upset in a CIF state final, this time by Granite Bay.
After the 2013 season, Lara left Poly and decided to take over a struggling program at Warren of Downey. In the three seasons prior to Raul coming in, the Bears had gone 1-28-1. They didn’t start winning championships, but in Lara’s five seasons leading the program the squad posted a 29-23-1 record.
Head coach Raul Lara of Long Beach Poly holds up one of the five CIF Southern Section titles that he won while leading the program (including 2008). Photo: Mark Tennis.
Before coming to Mater Dei, Lara was coaching at St. Anthony of Long Beach, which plays at what one would call the small school level in the CIF Southern Section. The president of the school there are the time was Michael Brennan, who later moved to Mater Dei. The Saints had a 9-3 record in 2023 and were 3-6 and 9-5 in the previous two seasons. Lara also had a hint of coaching in the Trinity League when he took one season to help as an assistant coach during the COVID season of 2021 at Servite of Anaheim. Counting the 13-0 mark for the Monarchs this season and his 142-30 record for his years at Poly and then 29 wins at Warren and 21 more for St. Anthony, Lara won his 200th game this season and will start the 2025 season with a reported combined record of 205-68-1. That will put his name onto the all-time state list when it gets updated later this week.
“I have a system and a lot of it is built on the brotherhood,” said Lara, who has been married for 33 years to his wife, Margarita, and has two grown sons and one grown daughter. “I’m a big weight room guy and it all starts there and then it goes to spring ball. You have to be very consistent.”
The Long Beach Poly years also were notable for Lara because of all the NFL players he coached there. It was therefore easier for him to tell the current players at Mater Dei about what it takes to reach the NFL because he coached so many of them. The list includes current players tight end Marcedes Lewis and receiver Juju Smith-Schuster along with others such as receiver DeSean Jackson, defensive tackle Jurrell Casey, linebacker Jayon Brown, fullback Jamize Olowale, receiver Kaelin Clay, offensive tackle Winston Justice, defensive back Darnell Bing, receiver Terrance Austin, linebacker Pago Togafau and defensive lineman Manuel Wright.
“In the beginning, the Mater Dei players didn’t know about all of those guys at Poly and I never mentioned it because my thing was worrying just about them,” Lara said. “But the kids would hear things and did their research and found out that I coached some great guys. In many ways, an athlete now is the same as an athlete then. It’s all of the outside stuff like social media and NIL that the tremendously changed the game.”
Coaching high school football, in fact, has not been Lara’s full-time job for most of his years. He also worked as a probation officer for Los Angeles County. He’s only been retired from that work for three years.
“His career as a coach and probation officer has always emphasized the importance of academic achievement, character development, and community involvement, along with athletic excellence,” Brennan said in a statement when Lara was hired.
There could be something to probation work with young people that can carry over to coaching. The winningest head coach in state history, De La Salle’s Bob Ladoucuer, started out as a probation officer. He retired from coaching in 2012. One of the most successful boys basketball coaches in national history, Bob Hurley from St. Anthony of Newark, N.J., also was a probation officer while he coached.
“It helped tremendously (with coaching),” Lara said of his probation career. “When you’re there, your working with the five percent worst kids. If you can get some of them to turn their lives around, you know you’re dealing with kids in football who are goal-oriented and don’t have some of the same problems.”
Lara may not be on the level of Ladouceur and Hurley for coaching wins, but he’s not done yet, either.
Cal-Hi Sports State Coach of the Year
All-Time Honor Roll
(All selections by CalHiSports.com)
(*2020 season delayed until spring 2021 due to worldwide pandemic)
(Based on research by the late Nelson Tennis, our founder, prior to 1979)
Acalanes head coach Floyd Burnsed poses with his players after CIF D3-AA state championship game. Photo: Mark Tennis.
2024 — Raul Lara (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 13-0
2023 — Floyd Burnsed (Lafayette Acalanes) 11-4
2022 — Bryan Nixon (Bakersfield Liberty) 13-2
2021 — Marlon Gardinera
(Scripps Ranch, San Diego) 12-1
2020 — Patrick Walsh (Serra, San Mateo) 5-0*
2019 — Jason Negro (St. John Bosco, Bellflower)
13-1
2018 — Michael Peters (McClymonds, Oakland)
12-2
2017 — Kris Richardson (Folsom) 16-0
2016 — Dave White (Edison, Huntington Beach)
13-2
2015 — Mike Janda (Bellarmine, San Jose) 13-2
2014 — Kurt Bruich (Redlands East Valley) 15-1
2013 — Ed Croson (Chaminade, West Hills) 14-2
2012 — Ernie Cooper (Granite Bay) 13-3
2011 — Mike Papadopoulos (Vacaville) 13-1
2010 — Earl Hansen (Palo Alto) 14-0
2009 — Jim Benkert (Westlake, Westl. Vill.) 14-0
2008 — Mike Alberghini (Grant, Sac.) 14-0
2007 — Ed Buller (Oak Grove, San Jose) 12-1
2006 — Bob McAllister (Carlsbad) 10-0-2
2005 — Harry Welch (Canyon, Canyon Country) 13-1
2004 — Matt Logan (Centennial, Corona) 13-1
2003 — Steve Grady (Loyola, Los Angeles) 11-3
2002 — Kevin Rooney (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) 14-0
2001 — Bob Johnson (Mission Viejo) 14-0
2000 — Jerry Jaso (Poly, Long Beach) 14-0
1999 — Mike Herrington (Hart, Newhall) 14-0
1998 — Randy Blankenship (Clovis West, Fresno) 12-1
1997 — John Beam (Skyline, Oakland) 12-0
1996 — Dave Silveira (Alhambra, Martinez) 13-0
1995 — Larry Welsh (Atascadero) 14-0
1994 — Bruce Rollinson (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 14-0
1993 — John Barnes (Los Alamitos) 14-0
1992 — Mark Paredes (Bishop Amat, La Puente) 15-0
1991 — Herb Meyer (El Camino, Oceanside) 13-1
1990 — Pat Preston (Bakersfield) 13-0
1989 — Dick Bruich (Fontana) 14-0
1988 — Norm Dow (Live Oak, Morgan Hill) 11-0-1
1987 — Bennie Edens (Point Loma, San Diego) 13-0
1986 — Bob Ladouceur (De La Salle, Concord) 12-0
1985 — Charlie Wedemeyer (Los Gatos) 13-1
1984 — Tim Simons (Clovis) 12-0-1
1983 — Ron Calcagno (St. Francis, Mountain View) 13-0
1982 — Wayne Schneider (Tracy) 12-1
1981 — Marijon Ancich (St. Paul, Santa Fe Springs) 14-0
1980 — Bill Workman (Edison, Huntington Beach) 14-0
1979 — Ron Lancaster (Cordova, Rancho Cordova) 13-0
1978 — Jerry Deuker (Pinole Valley, Pinole) 11-1
1977 — Chris Ferragamo (Banning, Wilmington) 11-1-1
1976 — Benny Pierce (Saratoga) 13-0
1975 — Ed Lloyd (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) 12-0
1974 — Dick Haines (Vista) 13-0
1973 — Dwayne DeSpain (Los Altos, Hacienda Heights) 12-0-1
1972 — Bob Hitchcock (Temple City) 13-0
1971 — Gene Vollnogle (Carson) 12-0
1970 — Jack Neumeier (Granada Hills) 11-1
1969 — Forrest Klein (Alameda) 9-0
1968 — Tom Burt (Los Altos) 9-0
1967 — Clare Van Hoorebeke (Anaheim) 12-1
1966 — Ernie Johnson (El Rancho, Pico Rivera) 13-0
1965 — Dick Coury (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) 12-0-1
1964 — John Hanna (Bellarmine, San Jose) 10-0
1963 — Paul Briggs (Bakersfield) 9-0
1962 — Bob Berry (Willow Glen, San Jose) 9-0
1961 — Joe Marvin (Sequoia, Redwood City) 9-0
1960 — Sam Cathcart (Santa Barbara) 11-1
1959 — Dave Levy (Long Beach Poly) 11-0
1958 — Paul Huebner (Banning, Wilmington) 11-0
1957 — Johnny Johnson (Oroville) 9-0
1956 — Dick Hill (Downey) 12-0-1
1955 — Duane Maley (San Diego) 11-0-1
1954 — Aaron Wade (Centennial, Compton) 10-1-1
1953 — Milt Axt (Poly, San Francisco) 10-0
1952 — Fred Moffett (Berkeley) 9-0
1951 — Hod Ray (Palo Alto) 8-0
1950 — Ernie Busch (Merced) 11-0
1949 — Bob Patterson (Vallejo) 10-0
1948 — Harry Edelson (Fremont, Los Angeles) 9-0-1
1947 — Jim Sutherland (Santa Monica) 12-0
1946 — George Hobbs (Alhambra) 12-0
1945 — Colon Kilby (Vallejo) 10-0
1944 — Bert LaBrucherie (Los Angeles) 7-0
1943 — Larry Siemering (Stockton) 10-0
1942 — Brick Johnson (Piedmont) 7-0
1941 — Roy Richert (Castlemont, Oakland) 5-0-1
1940 — Clarence Schutte (Santa Barbara) 9-1
1939 — Palmer Muhl (Woodland) 8-0
1938 — Ras Johnson (Galileo, San Francisco) 8-0-1
1937 — Jim Blewett (Manual Arts, Los Angeles) 8-0
1936 — Harlan Lee (Red Bluff) 7-0-1
1935 — Paul Hungerford (Poly, San Francisco) 9-0
1934 — Orian Landreth (Long Beach Poly, Long Beach) 12-1
1933 — Dick Arnett (Inglewood) 8-2-1
1932 — Harry Shipkey (Salinas) 11-0
1931 — Tex Oliver (Santa Ana) 13-0
1930 — John Price (Bonita, La Verne) 10-0
1929 — Lourence Janssen (Sacramento) 9-0
1928 — Paul Perrin (Lodi) 9-0
1927 — Mike Voyne (San Francisco Lowell) 13-0
1926 — Brick Mitchell (San Mateo) 9-1-1
1925 — Wallace Newman (Covina) 12-1
1924 — Jimmy Hole (Berkeley) 11-0
1923 — Dave Cox (San Francisco Polytechnic) 11-0
1922 — Dwight “Goldie” Griffith (Bakersfield) 10-0-1
1921 — Thomas Kennedy (Santa Clara Prep) 7-0
1920 — Freddie Rodgers (Salinas) 5-0
List continues back to 1896 in CalHiSports.com State Record Book & Almanac.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
