Prep football: Granite Bay’s coach steps down; Grizzlies reload with star replacement
In high school football coaching, it has often been said the best gig is assistant coach.
Focus on your position group and let someone else carry the load of running the entire program, including scheduling, grade checks, eligibility updates, strength and conditioning, fundraising, dealing with parents — and coaching up a team amid a pandemic with COVID-19 testing and last-minute scheduling the sudden exhaustive norm.
With a smoother pace in mind, Jeff Evans has stepped down as the Granite Bay head coach. He led the Grizzlies’ charge since 2015, a run that includes playoff berths and a Sac-Joaquin Section crown in 2017.
One regional big football name is now suddenly replaced by another.
Joe Cattolico, a championship program builder wherever he’s been and widely regarded as one of the best coaches in California, on Friday afternoon formally took command of one of the most successful programs in Northern California. The Granite Bay football resume includes a section-leading 22 consecutive playoff berths. Cattolico intends to keep Evans on board in some capacity as a valuable resource as coaches remind that one is only as good as his staff.
Cattolico doesn’t have to rebuild the Grizzlies, certainly. He aims to maintain momentum with his simple approach on offense and defense and surrounding himself with capable coaches, traits that rewarded him and his programs well over the years, be it in San Jose, Elk Grove or in Roseville. He can also speak of the joys and fatigue of head coaching, and the lightened load of an assistant. He prefers to be a head coach.
“There’s the notion that we’re given opportunities to brighten the world up,” he said. “You can do that as an assistant coach, certainly, and as a head. The best thing for me at all my stops was I was able to surround myself with really good assistants, some who were head coaches, and they know it was a great gig as an assistant. They were smart enough to realize the assistant gig is a pretty darn good one!”
He added, “We’re in a day and age where the football challenges are there, more than ever. I’m excited. It’ll be fun. Granite Bay is in excellent shape with the coaches and players they’ve had.”
Cattolico won a Central Section championship with Overfelt High in San Jose in 1998 as a 24-year-old coach with Princeton education. The son of 266-game winning Los Gatos High coach Butch Cattolico, Cattolico started the Pleasant Grove program from scratch when that school opened in the Elk Grove Unified School District in 2005.
In quick order, Cattolico won four league championships, a section Division I banner in 2010, and a section finals showing in 2011. His 2011 Pleasant Grove team remains the last to hand Folsom a league loss. Granite Bay and Folsom are members of the Sierra Foothill League, a stacked league that also includes Grant, Del Oro, Oak Ridge, Rocklin and Whitney. The challenge of winning the SFL certainly appeals to Cattolico, who called it, “a great mountain to climb.”
At Sheldon, also within the EGUSD, Cattolico produced seasons of 8-4, 9-3 and 10-2 before he dialed down and accepted an assistant-coaching gig at Roseville High before the 2019 season. This followed a family move to Placer County, where he and English-teaching wife Natasha are raising three sons. Cattolico wound up as Roseville’s interim coach for the 2019 season, guiding the Tigers to the playoffs after a three-win season in 2018, and then gladly became an assistant when Adam Reinking was named head coach.
The Granite Bay gig intrigued Cattolico for some time. Evans worked to make that happen. Evans in 2015 replaced the hugely successful Ernie Cooper, who stepped down after winning five section banners as the program’s founding coach (the school opened in 1996) to run the weight room and later coach the freshman program.
Evans joked that outgoing Oak Ridge coach Eric Cavaliere stole his thunder when Cavaliere told The Bee this week that he would be glad to remain in the program if the new coach so desires but he doesn’t want to be a head varsity coach any more. Evans has had his fill as being a head coach.
“I am staying on in a behind-the-scenes role to whatever capacity Joe needs,” Evans said. “I am not saying I will never be on the sideline again, but I will take this year to allow room for Joe to establish himself. You know, it’s not going to take him long!”
He added, “When I took over for Cooper, I had two goals: maintain the character and integrity of the great program and find the next great head coach for Granite Bay football. Over the past few years, (our administration) identified Joe as a great candidate. We have been working on this for a few years and we were able to make the timing work now. Joe has always been a person and coach I have a lot of admiration for.”
Evans said he and Cattolico speak the same language of coaching. They are sons of lifelong teachers and coaches, and both have Bay Area roots. Butch Cattolico has helped his son coach in this section, as has Evans’ father Lee at Granite Bay. Cattolico’s Overfelt High teams regularly faced Evans’ teams.
“Like Eric at Oak Ridge, I am not burned out or sick of coaching,” Evans said. “I am excited to be able to remain a part of the program. There is some sadness, but there are more feelings of gratitude for the opportunity. I look forward to being able to take a step back and resume the role I feel best about, which is being Granite Bay’s No. 1 football fan.”