Column: Two area stars get big head coaching gigs, accolades pour in for Sac State
Bouncing around the football regions: Dinwiddie in the snow, Arroyo in the desert, Thomson on J Street and Vanderdoes on the loose in Texas...
Elk Grove’s Dinwiddie in the CFL
Ryan Dinwiddie of Elk Grove fame has been hired as head coach for the Toronto Argonauts in the land of 3-down football north of the border.
Dinwiddie, 39, played quarterback in the Canadian Football League and was brought into the CFL coaching fold in 2013 by current UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins when Hawk was head coach of Montreal.
Able to pass and run, Dinwiddie was the triggerman for the area’s greatest high school team that didn’t wear Folsom colors. Elk Grove in 1997 and ’98 went a combined 27-1, with two Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championships. When Boise State coaches stopped by campus came to pick his brain during recruiting visits, Dinwiddie dazzled them by breaking down plays on film and the white board, and then did it on the field as a three-year starter for the Broncos, setting NCAA passing efficiency rating records.
Toronto has fielded just three winning seasons since 2007, and Dinwiddie has never been afraid to work, so time to roll the sleeves up to the shoulder pads.
“It’s always been in my blood,” Dinwiddie said of coaching during his introductory news conference. “I didn’t know how fast it was going to happen. I wasn’t rushing to be a head coach but when the right opportunity showed up, I jumped at it.”
Colfax’s Arroyo gets some heat
Marcus Arroyo has coached in searing conditions before, such as play caller in Tampa Bay in the NFL. Now the Colfax High graduate is the head man in the heat of Las Vegas, hired last week to coach UNLV, where a sleeping giant needs a jolt.
Arroyo, 39, was the first all-state quarterback at Colfax in 1998, set passing records at San Jose State and bounced across the country calling plays, including recent seasons at Oregon as offensive coordinator.
Now his greatest challenge looms. He said at his new conference that, “This is a place that wants to be great.”
He said of his new team, “I have to hear their trust and re-recruit the ones who are here and recruit our tails off for the ones who aren’t. That’s the beauty of it all — the process of doing something amazing together.”
UNLV has just two winning records since 1995 and five since 1986. Said the new coach, “We will win. We will win at a really high level.”
Sac State’s Thomson an All-American
Sacramento State quarterback Kevin Thomson was named to the HERO Sports FCS All-American team with running back teammate Elijah Dotson earning second-team honors.
Thomson of late also earned Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors after the junior amassed 3,835 yards of total offense and 39 touchdowns. Dotson led the Hornets with 742 yards rushing and had a team-best 70 catches and had 1,445 all-purpose yards.
The other Hornets over the decades to win first-team FCS All-American honors included running Charles Roberts in 1998 and ’99, receiver Fred Otis Amey in 2004, defensive lineman Zack Nash in 2011, receiver DeAndre Carter in 2014 and linebacker Darnell Sankey in 2015.
Placer’s Vanderdoes makes Texans roster
Eddie Vanderdoes waited 700 games to suit up in an NFL game.
The Placer product earlier this month was elevated by the Houston Texans off their practice squad and is now running second string at defensive tackle for a team that leads the AFC South standings at 9-5. It’s a remarkable recovery for Vanderdoes, who missed the 2018 season to rehabilitate a torn knee ligament. He was released by the Raiders on Oct. 2.
Vanderdoes, his personality as big as his ability, is only 25.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 5:54 AM.