Like any good reporter, Paul Gutierrez had many, many stories to tell for our Q&A, and there was not nearly enough space in the newspaper to fit all of them.
Here’s a sampling of some of the stories:

• Paul talked about giving the readers behind the scenes information for extra impact. Well here’s the behind the scenes story behind our interview with Paul.
There were really two interviews with Paul. The first one went well but a recording malfunction (i.e. Matt screwed up) meant it didn’t get recorded. There were plenty of notes taken, but not enough to piece together an entire Q&A. Paul was gracious enough to agree to another interview and delivered even more interesting stories the second time around.

• Paul began talking with Sports Illustrated around the time he was graduating from UNLV in 1995. At one point during the hiring process the magazine called his parents home in Barstow. His mom answered the phone and very nearly hung up on them because she thought they were trying to sell her a subscription.
Guiterrez was taking post-undergrad classes at UNLV when he finally got the job. One of the classes was a television production course.

Q: Were you able to finish those classes?
A: It was funny. (Sports Illustrated) called and offered me the job on a Thursday, and the drop date was on a Friday. It was literally in the middle of the semester. I anchored the newscast that night because we had a weekly student-newcast in Vegas. During my signoff I said ‘This is my last newscast. I’m out of here. I got a job at SI.’ And then I dropped all my classes the next day and moved to New York a couple weeks later.”

Q: What was it like moving to New York?
A: It was a different world. It’s definitely the kind of place I appreciate more now then when I was living there. You are literally living on top of each other, there and you don’t see the stars. That’s the thing about Barstow that I missed — you go outside at night and you see the stars. In New York, not so much. You see building. There was a certain vibe and energy in New York that was really cool to be there at that time in my career. There’s no negatives; it was just a different atmosphere. It took literally about a year just to get used to being there.

• Paul once covered a Dodgers spring training game in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that turned into a Barstow reunion.
“I’m in the press box sitting next to John Olguin, who’s also a Barstow High School graduate and was working for the Dodgers PR department at that time, and down on the field is Dino Ebel,” Paul said. “It was three kids from Barstow in Port St. Lucie for spring training. All we were missing was Del Taco.”

• When asked about his favorite articles, Paul listed two different stories from opposite ends of his career.
He was working on a feature on Angels utility player Brian Downing while freelancing for the Desert Dispatch in 1990. Unbeknownst to him, Brian wasn’t speaking much to the Los Angeles media at the time.
“When I approached him after a game he was sitting at his locker, facing his locker, and when I came up, scared to death and asked, ‘Um, Mr. Downing, do you have a second?’ ” Paul wrote in an e-mail. “And he never looks up and says real low, ‘That depends; where you from?’ Shaking like a leaf, I gulp hard and say, ‘Barstow.’ And he turns, looks at me and his intensity is gone as he smiles and says, ‘Barstow? Well, I guess we’ve all got to start somewhere. Have a seat.’ ”

The other article came recently during his tenure with Sacramento Bee.

In “When baseball worlds collide”, Paul wrote about a subject he could relate to being an American-born Latino. He told the story of those players in Major League Baseball who cross both lines of heritage in a column.

Here’ s a snippet of the article:

“They are the ‘lost tribe’ of major-league baseball — the American-born Latino ballplayer. And — though they are as American as mom, apple pie, baseball and Taco Bell, and seemingly can walk with ease in both worlds to serve as a sort of bridge to the American way of life for their foreign-born brethren across that great cultural divide — they sometimes find they don’t fully fit in on either side.”

Thanks again to Paul for doing the interview twice! You can pick up his book he wrote with Dodgers legend Tommy Davis from Amazon.com.

— Matthew Peters, sports editor

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

“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