David Cruz named head football coach at John Glenn

NORWALK – John Glenn High School has recently chosen David Cruz as head football coach after 14 years as an assistant.

Cruz, who graduated from El Rancho in 1985, has mostly coached the defense, in particular, defensive backs for John Glenn over the years.

Cruz, 53, who is currently the assistant athletic director, will replace Vince Lobendahn, who was the football coach for the last seven years from 2013-19.

Cruz becomes the ninth coach in the last 20 years for the Eagles.

“This has been my dream job for many years here at John Glenn High,” said Cruz, who has been at the school for 18 years.

“I always wanted to be a head football coach, but I just started coaching other sports and assisting with the football team for all of these years.”

After many years of no post-season appearances while in the Suburban League, Glenn has qualified for the CIF-Southern Section D12 playoffs the last two seasons while in the 605 League.

“I’m really excited for him,” said 2020 graduate and former running back Edwin Udengwu, who had a 2,000-yard season in his junior year. “He brings a lot of new leadership and he was an amazing mentor to me.

“He was one of the first persons I came in contact with at the school.”

Edwin, who has a younger brother Mikel coming in as a freshman and will play football, finished with a 4.0 GPA in school and will be playing at Fullerton College this season.

“He (Cruz) was really supportive of me and I’m really excited for him to be a coach,” Mikel Udengwu said. “I’m excited and nervous and it’ll be awhile to get back into shape. I can learn from him.”

Cruz played football, basketball and volleyball at El Rancho, then went on to Cerritos College for football, and finished up his final two years at Whittier College playing football.

“After my playing days, I entered the Army and served from 1991 through 1997, mainly stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma,” said Cruz, where he met his future wife, Shannon. “During those years, I coached (football) at Cameron University in Lawton, OK for a year and four years at Empire HS.”

After working for Uncle Sam, Cruz worked five years as a Medical Lab Technician for Duncan Regional Hospital in Duncan, Ok.

In 2002, Cruz and his now wife Shanon, came together to John Glenn.

“We came as a package deal,” he joked. Shanon was hired as a math teacher and David had the opportunity to teach a health class. Twelve years later David Cruz got the opportunity to teach PE. Along the way, Shanon received the prestigious Teacher of the Year Award for the 2007-08 school year in the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

“She is now my boss,” said David, referring to her Vice Principal position.

“We are very excited to have Dave step in as our head coach for the upcoming season,” John Glenn Athletic Director Linda Parra said. “He has always been a dedicated coach and has a huge heart for the Athletes in the program. I have witnessed him give countless hours and days up to coach our athletes.

“When our previous head coach (Vince Lobendahn) resigned, it was important for us to find a coach who understood our athletes and could step right in and continue the growing success of the football program. Dave is also a teacher on campus and that’s a huge bonus!”

Cruz has been a part of the JG coaching staff since the 2002-03 school year.

Cruz, like most high school football coaches right now, isn’t even sure when the 2020 season will begin due to the current situation.

One of the first items on his agenda will be waiting to see the decision that CIF State will announce this coming Monday, July 20 on all Fall sports.

JG debuted its brand new football stadium on campus last season and Cruz hopes there will be a season sometime.

“At the beginning of the summer I had all of these plans,” Cruz said. “As the weeks went by I kind of lost contact with them.

“I’m still excited. It’s an empty slate right now and I’m able to put forth what I think the kids need to know. We have plenty of time, so I’m excited.

“I’m excited about the future. Football will come back, whether or not it’s this season, weather or not it’s in January or next season. I feel like my kids will be prepared and we’ll have some success.”

Asked how it could affect his team by not getting a chance to start conditioning recently as some teams in the area have been doing, Cruz said, ”......All of the schools are going to be dealing with it at some point or another. We just happen to be going through it (not practicing) right now. Everything is going to equal out. ’'I’m ok with it.”

When and if the season gets underway, only four teams make up the 605 League - Cerritos, Pioneer, Artesia and Glenn. Glenn won its first league title in years with a 3-0 record last season.

No longer does Glenn have to compete against La Mirada or Mayfair.

Cruz is a man on an island right now with no team to coach, as the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District is holding off on team conditioning as of now.

Asked about his involvement in the sports at JG, Cruz simply said, “.....I want to say I’ve coached at least one game in almost every sport that we have. They say I’m the guy that never says no to an assignment or a job.”

How true that statement is.

Cruz has coached wrestling, tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball.

Of those sports, he has been the head coach for baseball, softball and volleyball. And now he can add football to his growing resume. Not that he is ever going anywhere!

“The kids, I love the kids,” Cruz added. “I want to see them improve, get better and have some success. I like working, I’m a worker bee.”

Along with his coaching and teaching duties, he was the Athletic Director for 10 years.

On his coaching staff for the coming season are a couple of new additions: Ernie Gutierrez (Tight End coach) and Chaz Sanders (Defensive Backs).

Returning coaches for Cruz are: Eric Richardson (Offensive Coordinator), Rico Robertson (Defensive Coordinator), Armando Salceda (Wide Receivers), Ric Ornelas (Linebackers) and Che Johnson (Running Backs).

With the season seemingly a ways off now, Cruz was asked what his mental goal for the team will be. After a short pause, he said, “I guess to have the kids accept where they are right now with the Covid-19 and some of the setbacks that we’ve had this season. For them to understand that it’s not about one individual, it’s the community. That would probably be my mental goal for this year.”

Cruz, who has waited for years for this opportunity, unfortunately will have to wait a little bit longer for kickoff. But those athletes that will now have that chance to play under him should cherish the time with someone with all the experience he has given to John Glenn High through the years.