It is hard to imagine that one could have a better highlight to the weekend than winning your first game as head coach at your alma mater. Unless you are Del Oro coach Jeff Walters, who opened last weekend by guiding his Golden Eagles team past the defending CIF 1-AA champions, Cathedral Catholic-San Diego, but then got to witness the birth of his son, Logan, on Sunday.
In the midst of an amazing weekend, the phrase used by Jim Harbaugh during the 49ers’ Super Bowl run seems appropriate – “Who’s got it better than us? Nobody.”
“I’m feeling blessed these days,” Walters said. “There was a ton of excitement and energy on Friday. Surprisingly, I didn’t have many nerves, I was just focused on the moment. But walking out on that field, and looking up in the stands to see that Del Oro crowd, it was surreal.”
Following the 22-12 win over Cathedral, Walters and his staff prepped for a challenge against Timpview-Utah on Saturday, then he and his wife, Lindsey, headed down to Walnut Creek on Sunday. His new insurance has not yet kicked in, so the family needed to head back to the Bay Area for her to give birth. The totality of the weekend’s effort, and the effort of recent years, has not been lost on Walters.
“They don’t make them better than my wife,” the Del Oro alum stated. “I have just been overcome by her, and what an amazing person she is.”
When Walters decided to leave Liberty, where he had been head coach for the previous four years, it was due solely to the chance to return home, for a second chance at glory in a program he grew up in. On Friday, his decision – and the decision of the Del Oro hiring panel to choose him over others with more head coaching experience – was validated with a huge win at home. There were those who expected the Golden Eagles to struggle after losing so many key players, but he never had any doubts from the moment he took the job.
“These kids don’t let the moment get too big for them,” Walters said. “They truly play as a team.”
After the effort on Friday and the prep on Saturday, Walters took his work with him on Sunday, but with an exceptional coaching staff back in Loomis, enjoyed the birth of his first son, and third child. Logan Brice Walters arrived on Sunday at a robust 20 inches, 8 pounds, 1 ounce. He joined his older sisters, Jena and Jayden, as the newest members of the Golden Eagle faithful.
This weekend, Del Oro heads down to Mission Viejo, where it will play Timpview in the Under Armour Brothers in Arms Bowl. And while Walters has enjoyed a couple days basking in the addition of another family member, and the feeling of that first win at home, he has also been communicating with the staff back in Loomis, watching film, and prepping for another big game for the program whose motto is “Anyone, anytime, anywhere.”
Not that the Golden Eagles aren’t in tremendous hands if Walters misses a day or two. The head coach who spent every day of his Spring Break this past school year getting to know his new team has also assembled an outstanding cast of coaches.
Former Davis High head coach Dan Gazzaniga leads the offensive line and coordinates the run game, former Nevada quarterback Mason Magleby coaches his old position, and former NFL running back Josh Parry does the same. Linebacker coach Bill Sherman is another former head high school coach, at River Valley, while defensive line coach Mike Black played for the New York Giants.
The impressive staff continues at nearly every position. Defensive coordinator Steve Birch played at Saint Mary’s College, safeties coach Daryl Rogers played at Saint Mary’s and in the Arena Football League, and both receiver coaches – Kevin Brown and Eric Frazier – played at the next level.
“I am blessed with amazing coaches,” Walters said. “They are all men of character who bust their tails for this program.”
They are all part of the Del Oro family that, as of Sunday, grew by one more member. And no, at this point, nobody has it better than them.
