LATimes.com: A coach making a difference at Garfield January 22, 2012
Too many football coaches are abandoning the City Section, but Lorenzo Hernandez of Garfield is hanging tough, and he's trying to bring along his players by creating opportunities for them to excel.
And one way is by scheduling top nonleague games that will test them.
Just look at the Garfield nonleague schedule for 2012: Ventura St. Bonaventure, Huntington Beach Edison, Dorsey and Venice.
"Expose your kids to the best if you want to be the best" is the philosophy Hernandez is following.
Garfield players should be thankful for having a coach who believes in trying to challenge his players and not just sit back and take a victory against a mediocre team.
LATimes.com: Garfield keeps challenging its players January 26, 2011
There's two ways to build a football program. You can hire a bunch of youth coaches as assistants, hoping they'll convince players to show up at the high school, along with trying to recruit parents to get their sons to show up.
Or you can build the program the old-fashion way, with hard work and challenging the players to get better. That's what Los Angeles Garfield is trying to do under Lorenzo Hernandez.
Hernandez continues to put together nonleague games that force his players to raise their game to be competitive. They haven't necessarily been winning the games, but they play hard and it helps prepare them for City Section competition.
In 2011, the Bulldogs will open with a week zero game against La Puente Bishop Amat, followed by games against Huntington Beach Edison, Dorsey and Santa Fe Springs St. Paul.
Good for the Bulldogs. No one will say they are ducking competition.
LATimes.com: Garfield's Hernandez among CIF Model Coach Award winners February 1, 2011
Football Coach Lorenzo Hernandez from Los Angeles Garfield is one of 13 high school coaches recognized as a winner of the CIF Model Coach Award that is designed to honor coaches who have served as positive role models in their schools and communities.
Other honorees include wresting coach Alan Clinton from Anaheim Servite, basketball-tennis-softball coach Sallie Kane from Bell and softball coach Margaret Neill from Lancaster Paraclete.
"This is the highest and most prestigious award the CIF bestows upon its coaches," CIF Executive Director Marie Ishida said in a statement.
Hernandez has received credit for transforming the stereotype of what an athlete should act like on campus. The football players at Garfield today are known not only by their jerseys, but their positive, courteous and appropriate behavior in the classroom. Hernandez is the key. He leads by example and holds his coaching staff accountable to do the same. His team won the Academic Excellence Award in 2009, earning the highest grade-point average of all football teams in the Los Angeles City Section. On the field, Hernandez has led Garfield to a pair of league titles and an appearance in the Division I playoffs.
LATimes.com: A City Section coach making a difference November 20, 2009
If there's any coach who deserves a 10-year contract, it's Lorenzo Hernandez of Los Angeles Garfield. From his assistant coaches to his players, everyone displays class and respect.
Thanks to his leadership, Garfield has become a competitive City Section Division I team even with its 44-14 loss to Woodland Hills Taft on Thursday. He's the one who chose to put his team in Division I, asking everyone to raise expectations, and slowly the Bulldogs are getting there.
Their lineup was full of juniors, and they just couldn't handle Taft's superior speed. But behind the scenes is what's so impressive.
I sat in the stands next to the Taft press box much of the game, and to see former players and freshman-sophomore players coming up to the assistant coaches, respectfully shaking their hands, and the lack of profanity coming from the fans, was so refreshing.
I can only conclude that Hernandez and his assistants are teaching lessons to last far beyond the football field, and that's someone Garfield needs to keep for years to come.
