Barstow Sports Blog

Zach Niusulu was a little wary of playing for a coach who never recruited him. Dirk Koetter was fired as the head football coach at Arizona State and replaced by Dennis Erickson in early 2007. Niusulu, a redshirt sophomore and Barstow native, had his fears eased once he got to talking with Erickson during spring practices. Erickson looked at his roster and noticed Niusulu was from Barstow and remembered one of his other players who once shared the 92311 zip code — T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“He figured out T.J. was from Barstow, and that’s how we connected,” Zach said. “That was a nice little ice breaker with my head coach.”

Erickson coached T.J. and Bengals teammate Chad Johnson at Oregon State in 2000 when the Beavers finished ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll.

“He told me about T.J. I told him, I remember watching T.J. play growing up, but I never really knew who he was because he wasn’t that type of receiver in high school. That kind of helped out the process of me taking in the process of my coach getting fired.”

Look later in the week for more questions and answers from Zach.

Q: What Foothill conference games are you looking forward to?
A: All conference games are important. We never overlook any conference opponent. The big four — you’ve got your Antelope Valley, your Mt. San Jacinto, Chaffey and your San Bernardino. You always know those four teams are going to come to play.

Q: What’s your coaching philosophy?
A: Primarily, I have a positive approach. I seek the positive and the good in what’s going on. It’s important and it’s necessary. That’s why I’ve got coach Woods and Johnson because they make up for where I lack. My whole positive, happy-go-lucky approach — they kind of help see the reality of the situation.

Q: Are there any coaches that you have learned from?
A: I was an assistant at the university of Utah. I worked under Elaine Elliott for three years. She was the best Xs and Os coach that I’ve ever been around. I learned a lot from her. I worked a lot of camps.I learned from my assistant coaches too. It’s not just big-name people that you learn from. I don’t have an over-weighing ego where I can’t expect input form other people. That’s a lot of my approach to the game.

Q: How did you get into coaching?
A: In college, I had a career-ending spinal cord injury. I couldn’t walk for like two years. My career-ending spinal cord injury in college led me into coaching. I just missed it so bad. You know who people go through losing a loved one? When I lost basketball as a player, there was just a total void there, and coaching made up for it. I’ve only spent one year away from it since I played in junior high.

Q: Is there anything that’s different now from when you played?
A: The game is just more athletic. The kids are more athletic. They are smarter. They are faster. When I played we had those 1980s shorts right to here. I was watching an old film the other day. The shorts were to here, and you had one or two great people on every team that could play, but that was back in the 80s. I played in the 80s. These guys are athletic. The position work — you know — big people can handle the ball and shoot 3s. Little people go post up. I mean, it is a different game.

We reported about Derrick Jones and his long road to play professional football last week. He has almost made it through the first three weeks of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp. The Silver Valley and Victor Valley Community College grad is fighting for a spot on the team as a defensive lineman. As an undrafted free agent, the odds are against him, but Derrick has been impressive so far, according to several accounts.

He got some significant playing time during Sunday’s preseason opener against the Saints. Derrick started out on special teams in the first half and played the entire fourth quarter on defense. However, Derrick was added to the team’s injury list on Tuesday.

He’s got some of the Pittsburgh-area media talking though. Here’s what they have said …

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Derrick recently impressed special teams coach Bob Ligashesky during drills.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ed Bouchette said in an online chat that Derrick has shown “some pass rush ability”

The Tribune Democrat in Johnstown, Pa. reported Derrick is a part of the Steelers future plans and might have moved ahead of Shaun Nua, seventh round pick from 2005.

AOL Sports blogger J.J. Cooper described Derrick as being “pretty active with a non-stop motor” but isn’t sure if that will ensure him a roster spot.

There was also quite a bit of information left out of the feature story on the former Trojan. Here are some of quotes that didn’t make it in the story.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it in the NFL or if he works for a Fortune 500 company.”— Grand Valley State defensive line coach Matt Yoches

“He’s a good young man. He works his butt off, and he’s done all that I asked. It’s just a matter of time. … He pays attention, asks questions and asks very intelligent questions.” — Steelers defensive line coach John Mitchell

“The first practice was a big eye-opener. The size of the lineman, the speed, the practice tempo. It’s a whole different world just being in the locker room. Pretty much, they are all men at that level.” — Derrick, on attending Steelers minicamp

“It’s so gratifying for kids like that to be successful. Derrick Jones is an absolute blessing to our program. He’s a quality human being. You can’t do a lot better than that.” — VVCC coach Dave Hoover

“Don’t listen to people who tell you because you’re from Silver Valley you can’t be successful.” — Lucerne Valley coach Doug South, on not letting your school size determine success

— Matthew Peters, sports editor

I tried to contact former Barstow High School baseball coach John DeForge while working on my story about Frank Maldonado, but DeForge was catching up on some golf in Silver Lakes and wasn’t able to get a hold me until after the article ran. However, he did have some interesting things to say about Maldonado, the former Barstow Community College assistant coach who has won back-to-back Division II World Series with the University of Tampa

“He was one of the really, really special players I’ve coached,” DeForge said. “You don’t get very many Frank Maldonados in your career.”

DeForge coached the Aztecs from 1990-1996 and currently coaches baseball at Centennial High School in Corona. He got a call from Maldonado about a half hour after the won it’s second consecutive Division II and still talks to him regularly.

Maldonado wasn’t a player with loads of athletic ability, DeForge said. He wasn’t big, and he wasn’t naturally strong. Maldonado, who played as a middle infielder, had a strong work ethic, though. DeForge worked with Maldonado on his hitting stroke, averaging between 200 and 300 swings in a day.

“He stayed late and got there early,” DeForge said. “He was a sponge. I’ll tell you, he just soaked everything up. He just wanted to learn.”

Maldonado began laying his coaching foundation while playing for the Aztecs. Although he still had stops at Victor Valley Community College and Cal Lutheran as a player, DeForge saw a coach in the making. The two share some hitting philosophies that Maldonado uses for players today, and DeForge said he feels proud to have contributed to Maldonado’s career.

“He was a coach on the field when I was there,” DeForge said. “He was practically coaching when he was a high school player.

“The really, really special ones make the players around them better. He’s an awful special player.”

— Matthew Peters