The Vaquero football team is following the lead of a new head coach for the 2007 season, and his name is Craig Moropoulos.
To those who follow local gridiron action, the name should sound familiar as Moropoulos’ football roots run deep here in Santa Barbara.
The local native played quarterback at City College in 1979, leading his team to a 16-4 record in a year that saw them take the Western State Conference championship. He also coached the Santa Barbara High School Channel League title winning team in 2001.
“Craig has a vision about where we will be and how we are going to get there,” Athletic Director Mike Warren said of hiring the 46-year-old. “He’s a very positive, optimistic guy. So am I, so that is one of the things that I really like about him.”
Moropoulos has replaced Reggie Bolton, whom he served under as offensive coordinator during last year’s disappointing 3-7 season. Bolton left after four years as head coach at City College to take an assistant coaching job in Bakersfield.
In his first season as a head coach at the college level, Moropoulos faces a difficult journey ahead of him as his roster returns only five starters from each side of the ball while facing a demanding early season schedule that sees the Vaqs play some challenging games on the road.
“There are a lot of programs that are worse off than this program,” Moropoulos said. “Yes, it’s going to be a struggle. To get this program where it needs to be is going to be tough.”
Perhaps the biggest obstacle standing in the way of success for the football program is recruiting. Both Warren and Moropoulos cite the expensive housing in Santa Barbara as the main reason for deterring would-be recruits. Both believe recruiting local talent is vital to the program’s success.
“We have to start here and go outward because the housing prices are so high,” Moropoulos said. “This summer we lost key players because they simply couldn’t afford to live here. I’m not going to use it as an excuse, but it is a stumbling block that we need to get past.”
The impressive resume of Moropoulos includes stints as an offensive coach for schools like Arizona, Texas A&M, Boise State, and San Jose State. This will be his eighth year as a head coach after coaching at Santa Barbara High School for seven years before coming to City College as a coordinator last season.
“We just got to get our guys to believe in themselves and play as hard as they can, in every game we play in, and hopefully we can start to build on that,” Moropoulos said.
Moropoulos and his Vaqueros took their show on the road Saturday and lost big to conference juggernaut College of the Canyons 51-24 in their first league game of the year.
Hunter Easterling caught five passes totaling 105 yards and rushed for a touchdown while being one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise dismal affair for Santa Barbara (1-2, 0-1).
The Vaq defense struggled and gave up a total of 494 offensive yards to the explosive Cougars (2-1, 1-0). Canyons quarterback Andrew Miramontes threw 367 yards on 19 completions despite Vaquero Ferrari Welch’s third interception in the last two games.
The Cougars’ special teams play allowed them to dominate the field position as they put up 451 total return yards, a number that will need to shrink significantly if the Vaqs hope to stay in the running for the Western State Conference.
Things will not get any easier for Santa Barbara as they face another challenging foe on the road when they play Allen Hancock at 7 p.m. Saturday at Righetti High in Santa Maria.
