The athletic department announced Feb. 26 via Twitter that Paul Doherty will be the new varsity football head coach.

“It is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life because whenever I do something I am invested 100 percent. With the relationships I had with those kids [leaving] was tuff. But, I was really looking for a place where I could belong to a community where things could be more streamlined and things could be more efficient with the time spent on campus. I am having a baby in four weeks, so being in a community like this will allow me be able to have a balance in my life where I can be a father, I can be a husband and I can be a coach,” Doherty said.

Doherty was the varsity football coach at Sacramento High School. He lead the team there to five playoffs and the 2013 section title game. His record became 42-18 while he was there.

Athletic Director Jason Feuerbach felt that Doherty was the perfect man to take over for Giminez.

“He’s an energetic guy, he’s passionate, he’s an intense guy, those were more like the bonus traits that I would like to see in the coach. Regarding the X’s and knows like football knowledge he’s very dialed. He produced a packet with some stuff [regarding football] in it that was very obviously from the booklet a very type A personality very organized from there he had experience. [He took] a program that had only been to the playoffs once in like 80 something years he came in and is he rebuilt,” Feuerbach said.The football players attended a lunch meeting on Friday to meet and get a chance to talk to the new coach. It was there that he announced the new practice schedule that would start Sunday.

“I didn’t formally meet him, but I did see him. With the amount of time he expects us to put in, plus how much he seems devoted and invested in the program, I’m expecting a better outcome and a higher chance at making playoffs,” varsity football player Antonio Cassidy said.

The Whitney spirit, Feuerbach said, is something that Doherty already has.

“Just in my conversations with him, he wants to be here. He’s had other schools pursue him for the past couple years, some top notch schools in the central valley, and he has turned them down. We are the only school he has applied at and he was waiting. He wanted to be here; he felt it was the right job at the right time with the right opening with the right community. He felt that all of things he wanted to get out of as a coach was here, so I think that being said he is a perfect fit with our staff, with the students and the football players so I think he truly embodies what we are all about,” Feuerbach said.

Although never Doherty has never experienced Whitney’s spirit in person, he said he is excited about it.

“I hear about it. I don’t really know what it is all about, but I am going to be here everyday to get the full experience of it when it is, wherever it is,” Doherty said.

Cassidy believes that the key the coach being great is the relationships he builds.

“A good coach is measured by how much he connects and is involved in each player on the team, but also how he uses every single one of them to help in winning a game. He also can’t really play favorites and must be realistic in every way on the team,” Cassidy said.

Doherty said he wants to start building those relationships immediately.

“I got offered the job on Wednesday, and I here today and we are starting right away. My commitment is to be here every single day of the week and to work with these kids as much as possible. I believe in the value of practice, I believe in the invested time in the weight room to get the kids committed to everything in the fall. I think kids naturally buy into things that are fun. Yeah, it is a lot of work, it’s year round, it’s everyday but we are here because we want to be here. I want to create an environment that they want to be in,” Doherty said.

Feuerbach’s goal for the new head coach is to get him involved with the campus.

“As we start rolling into the fall just want to see him start putting those pieces of the puzzle together. All of the pieces of the puzzle are here, from equipment, to facilities, kids, to parent support and community support,” Feuerbach said.

Doherty said his goals are all toward building a better team, but he has one big goal.

He said, “[My goal is] to have a lot of fun and you know how you spell fun: W-I-N.”

by ARIELLA APPLEBY