Granite Bay’s Cattolico wins 200th game. Where does he rank on all-time list?
Joe Cattolico isn’t a dinosaur but he coaches like one, and that’s a compliment of the highest order.
He is old school to the core, the Granite Bay High School football coach preferring a power run game over an all-out passing game. He values the benefits of the pillars of this sport — of blocking and tackling, of cohesion and lasting memories. He is in the minority in that he sees a curious element to the simplicity of the idea of a short postseason, maybe just one game, rather than the 15- or 16-week marathon to reach a CIF State final.
Cattolico is also a rarity in becoming a 200-game winning coach, having achieved that milestone Oct. 4 with a satisfying 14-13 victory over Del Oro in a typical meat-grinder Sierra Foothill League game. And then it became win No. 201 last Friday with a 42-7 effort over Whitney to move his Sacramento Bee-ranked No. 3 Grizzlies to 6-2 on the season.
This is how humble Coach Cat is. Almost no one knows he won his 200th. He does because this reporter chatted about it with him recently. Cattolico did some quick math — he’s a Princeton graduate, for crying out loud — and was surprised to see how close he was. His players still don’t know he’s a 200-game milestone maker.
His father probably knows, and he should, since Butch Cattolico set a standard of coaching with class during his accomplished run as head coach at Los Gatos High School in Santa Clara County, where he won 264 games and nine section crowns, doing so from 1986 to 2012.
Butch has been by his son’s son side with the younger Cattolico since stepping down as coach, including stops at Pleasant Grove and Sheldon in the Elk Grove Unified School District, then briefly at Roseville High and, since 2021, at Granite Bay.
Cattolico has done it the right way, and he’s done it with class. Think about it. Has there ever been an ounce of anything off-kilter at any of his coaching stops, which originated at at Independence High and Overfelt High in San Jose in the late 1990s? A single rumor of undue influence to lure a player to transfer? Any notion of bending rules? No, and more no.
There’s a reason Cattolico has an army of former regional high school head coaches on his staff. He’s a joy to work with, and there’s the old theme that the best gig in coaching is that of an assistant coach.
“I know he saved me,” said former Oakmont Vikings head coach Jake Messina. “I was burning out. I was down. I needed a change, and Joe was there.”
Cattolico remains in this grind, his 25th as a head coach, because he enjoys the sport and especially because it’s an opportunity to help mold young men and teams and to foster relationships that last a lifetime. To be able to do it in recent seasons with his sons as key players and standout students has added to the thrill, including Dominic Cattolico coolly leading the Grizzlies charge at quarterback this season.
Cattolico will reel off more stories of helping a former player with a job recommendation more than securing any big playoff win.
“The bigger part of coaching is all the connections and relationships that come out of it,” Cattolico said. “There are so many guys I’m friends with, families. I tell my sons if we play a game out of town, ‘These are people you don’t know by they know you.’
He added, “It’s seeing guys with their families, getting an education, going on to be a productive part of the community. I got into the profession, No. 1 because of my father, and second, the notion of using football as a carrot to be more successful in school and in life. That’s the most rewarding thing. For most of us, football stops early in our lives. Whether or not you can block and tackle doesn’t matter in life. But whether you can take the habits of what you’ve learned does.”
Other all-timer coaches
Cattolico joined Casey Taylor as the only current 200-game winners locally, though just south of Sacramento in Stockton, Tony Franks of St. Mary’s High has won 239 games and counting.
Who’s closing in? Marlon Blanton of the Jesuit Marauders has 186 career wins, 103 of those with Big Red; and Joey Montoya of the Placer Hillmen has 182 victories.
Taylor has 216 victories, most of those during his championship run at Del Oro to go with his totals from his six seasons at his alma mater of Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills. His double-thrill was winning his 200th, in 2023, with his son, Jackson Taylor.
The winningest coach in the Sacramento region is the late, great Mike Alberghini of Grant, where he won 282 games. Coach Al will forever be a beloved figure in Del Paso Heights for his leadership and results, including helping teenagers navigate through the maze of life more than any of his championships or leading the region in victories in the 1990s and 2000s when he was The Bee’s Coach of the Decade for both eras.
Alberghini died in February at 78.
Max Miller is second on the all-time area list with 264 wins, mostly in two tours at Cordova, and no on could fire up a team, fire off on referees or rally the troops quite like Mad Max.
He is long since retired but still cracks jokes as an ageless wonder when he speaks at football events.
The winningest coach in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history, which includes the Sacramento region, is Roger Canepa. The ever-spirited and fun old coach has 293 victories after stops at Sonora and Calaveras, and, since 2008, with Central Catholic in Modesto. His win total goes back to 1990.
On Friday night in Placer County, Tony Martello found out that he is so revered at Colfax High School that the community dedicated the stadium in his honor. Typical Tony, he downplayed all of it, crediting players, coaches and the community for winning 230 games to go with 23 playoff teams and 16 league crowns — all at his alma mater. How’s that for good living?
Why coaches do it
Coaches get hooked on coaching, and the idea of using football as a vehicle for real life.
Terry Logue was a 251-game winner, most all of it at Bear River High in Lake of the Pines/Grass Valley. He told The Bee several years ago of coaching, “I need this. Coaching is good for us old timers. I’m an old dinosaur, ornery, but I firmly believe that athletics are extremely important to kids. Sports hold kids to a higher standard, and kids need structure and discipline. It’s still a very neat thing.”
Logue knew he was finished with coaching in 2021 when he wanted to commit more time to stashing prizes for his grandkids than to film breakdowns. Said Logue’s longtime co-coach Scott Savoie to The Bee several years ago, “Can you imagine Terry Logue hiding Easter eggs? What a visual!”
Frank Negri retired from head coaching as a 248-game winner, most of those at Foothill High. He is still a lifer, working as an assistant coach at Rio Linda.
Negri said longterm coaching only works if the love of your life is on board. He said having his beloved Marleen backing him sustained him. She died a few years ago, and the old coach said he needs coaching more than ever.
Said Negri to The Bee before he lost Marleen, “If your wife isn’t into sports, it’ll never work. Unless you’re rich as hell, then she won’t leave you.”
Club 200
The Sacramento region’s winningest coaches:
282: Mike Alberghini, Grant, 1991-2020
264: Max Miller, Rio Americano/Johnson/Cordova, 1974-2007
255: Dan Carmazzi, Jesuit/Christian Brothers, 1981-2016
251: Terry Logue, Paradise/Bear River, 1981-2021
248: Frank Negri, Foothill/Natomas, 1965-2011
230: Tony Martello, Colfax, 1996-2021
231: Terry Stark, Mira Loma/Natomas/Inderkum, 1990-2018
216: Casey Taylor, Del Oro/Capital Christian/Oak Ridge, 2001-current
215: Tom Zunino, Vacaville, 1961-1997
211: Ed Lombardi, Lassen/Elk Grove/Clovis West/Sheldon, 1971-2009
211: Geoff Wahl, East Nicolaus, 1964-1998
204: Dave Humphers, Nevada Union/River Valley, 1991-2017
201: Joe Cattolico, Independence/Overfelt/Pleasant Grove/Sheldon/Roseville/Granite Bay, 1997-current
This story was originally published October 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.