Manuel Lemus just finished his second season as our Glendale High School football coach, and he has been here since June of 2023. He was born and raised in Hollywood California, and he has been playing football for most of his life. When he was younger, Coach Lemus and his neighbors would play every sport, but one game they liked most was football. He played at a park in a recreational league, but he didn’t actually play organized football until high school.
Coach Lemus first played football at Cathedral High School, and his main positions were linebacker and safety. He even drew up plays for his teammates during his sophomore year.
Coach Lemus graduated in 2001 and transferred to California State University, Northridge that same year. He decided to not play football at CSUN, because he wanted to join the Marines after the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred. However, his plan to join the US Military didn’t work out, so Coach Lemus went to Glendale Community College in 2004 and played football there for one season.
After he left GCC, Coach Lemus decided he wanted to get into coaching, and someone who most inspired him to follow this career path was his own coach in high school. He liked how his coach challenged his players and made sure they were good enough to perform well on the field.
Coach Lemus has now been coaching for over twenty-one years. He started coaching volleyball for four years, but he eventually gave that up and started coaching football, which he’s been doing now for seventeen years.
Coach Lemus’ coaching strategy depends on his players. During practices, he works differently with everyone depending on their abilities. He’s very passionate about the game, and works very intensely with his players.
However, there are a few challenges when it comes to coaching, like how many of our players hadn’t been a part of an organized football program before joining our team. Many of our players have only started playing football since they’ve been in high school, which can affect the way they play.
Another challenge is that many of our students are not interested in joining the team. Senior football captain, Alex Shirvanian, has mentioned in a previous article, that there are several big, strong kids at this school, but they do not want to play for our team. A bigger challenge is not having consecutive successful seasons. Last year, we had a 5-5 season, and this year our team was only able to win one game.
Before each game, Coach Lemus will excite the team by playing hype videos for them. In order to encourage his players, he will also tell them a few quotes, or something his coaches used to tell him. They’ll also do a walk through, where they go over formations and plays. Before the clock hits 6:50, he’ll say a few more encouraging words and they’re off to play.
In Coach Lemus’ coaching career, there is one specific memorable moment that has stayed with him. In 2019, he was coaching a team that was playing in the CIF quarterfinals. The opposing team had scored a touchdown, and they chose to go for a two-point conversion instead of tying the game. Coach Lemus called the defensive play, and his players ended up stopping the play in the back field. They ended up winning the game and advanced to the finals.
As a coach, Coach Lemus has several goals. One of these goals is for himself to be a good coach, and he also wants to help his players as much as he can, to help them grow as a team and as individuals. He also wants to make GHS a school that people look up to and not the school that always loses.
Coach Lemus wants our team to have a different mental state of mind, to attack each day as they would in a game. He also wants his players to always be smart, both academically and on the field.
Overall, Coach Lemus will do great things for our amazing football team. Win or lose, we will always support them. Whether it’s the coaches or players, they’re all trying their best to be winners. If you’d like to join our football team next season, please contact Coach Lemus at [email protected].
