Mesa College has acquired a new head coach for the 2014 season, Thad Porlas.
Coach Porlas has been an Olympian for eleven seasons now, and in addition to being head coach he will also be the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. Coach Porlas has a very impressive resume that holds his reputation high amongst San Diego football teams and coaches. He started at Point Loma High School where he was the offensive coordinator for 6 years. He has also been a quarterback coach at many prestigious programs such as University of San Diego. There he coached a quarterback to two winning seasons and allowing him to reach the goal of being the top quarterback within his league for both those seasons.
In addition to his impressive credentials, he has coached Cathedral Catholic High School where he led their team to a state title. He has also coached professionally with the San Diego Riptide which was part of the Arena Football League. Previously to Porlas being named head coach here at Mesa, he was an assistant coach since 2009. With his impressive past of coaching he was a suitable fit to the head coaching position here at Mesa College.
After returning to Mesa to be the head coach, Porlas says he loves the diversity that the team brings and even though he’s coached at many places he still loves the Mesa community and everything Mesa has to offer. When asking him what he thinks this athletic program will be in the next 5 years he replied, “the way this college is growing has more talented players coming through here to Mesa college and with the new fitness center coming the program will sell itself to get these kids to be here.”
The impact football has here at school is huge, for the players specifically it makes them come together as a family not just a team, and to persevere through anything together. This year the Olympians will win by being the most conditioned team on the field. They run their practices very differently than most colleges and focus more on the individuals stamina so that they don’t run out of stem during the game and can make the correct in the moment decisions that our beneficial for the entire team.
This year’s club has slightly more potential than the previous couple years. Coach Porlas believes that they will win “by having a strong, disciplined team that can play together not just as a unit but as a family”.
Unfortunately, about the entire starting offensive line is out currently due to injuries, however this team has such a strong defensive line and program this year that it should balance out on the field. A name to look out for this year on the field is Chris Herise. He is a sophomore out of Miami Central High School weighing in at 260, 6-4. He’s a big guy with a lot of power, and will defiantly be one to keep an eye out for as the season begins. Also another top player this year is QB Brandon Diaz also coming out of Miami Central High School who’s got a ton of potential as a freshman and is looking like he might be the starter as a first year here at Mesa.
This football program is all about the growth of the player in the classroom and on the field, with a new fitness center coming soon more and more players will be attracted to Mesa College and hopefully one day will be considered one of the best programs in the state, even Coach Porlas stated “They’ve come a long way since last year.” Mesa’s first game is September 6 against the big team of Los Angeles Valley.