Former Wildcat Dilley is now school's head football coach

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Whenever high school football returns to Southern California, there is at least one local head coach who will talk to his players about having pride in the uniform they wear.

Zach Dilley knows what he’s talking about when he addresses the Paloma Valley High School players about being pride to be a Wildcat. He knows this from experience.

Dilley, a 2010 graduate of Paloma Valley and an All-CIF lineman, was recently named head coach of the Wildcats. He replaces Tom Tello, who resigned to focus on teaching and his family. Although Dilley only speaks to his players on Zoom calls because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has already begun to thrust his own personal attitude of optimism upon the Wildcats.

“Zach has earned the respect of the athletes and his peers through his dedication and integrity,” said Wildcats athletic director Ryan Sharp in confirming Dilley’s promotion, which hadn’t yet been publicly announced. “We are excited to have Zach take over the program that he helped build and see how high he can take them from the foundation that he was so integral in building.”

Dilley served as head coach of the junior varsity and assistant varsity coach to Tello in the fall of 2019, the last time the Wildcats were able to take the field. After a standout career at San Diego State, the former Wildcats Athlete of the Year returned to his alma mater to begin coaching in 2015. He soon began substitute teaching as well and has been a full-time special education teacher at the school for the last two years.

“By year 3, I figured this [coaching] is something I would do for a while,” Dilley said. “It crossed my mind sometimes that I might be a varsity head coach one day. As a coach, you’re just happy you make an impact, provide the players advice and direction.”

Dilley’s first challenge has been to keep his players positive in the midst of the pandemic. It is still possible that a football season could be held before the end of the school year, but the constant delays have been difficult, he said. In the three weeks since the players was informed of his promotion, Dilley has stressed during a weekly virtual meetings the importance of his players staying optimistic and in top physical shape.

“I check in with the kids and give them their workout for the week,” Dilley said. “The players are a positive as they can be in the situation. They didn’t really know what would happen when they first started conditioning, then they were affected again during another delay. There are a few seniors who, with a good year, come maybe get a [college] opportunity somewhere.”

Dilley remembers how special his senior year was. Playing at guard and tackle, he was named first team ALL-CIF, third team all-State, and was rated the No. 3 offensive tackle prospect in the state by rivals.com. That prepared him for a great career at San Diego State, where he helped lead the Aztecs to their first Mountain West Championship. Sharp said Dilley was the first Wildcat to receive a Division 1 football scholarship.

Dilley doesn’t brag about his personal feats, but he said he talks about his high school career as a reminder to his players of what they can accomplish.

“I try to remind them of that,” Dilley said. “I talk about guys like Phillip Mills [Boise State] and Chance Nolan [Oregon State] who played here.

“Evaluating what we have is a tougher task this year, but we know who we had prior to the pandemic and what they can do. We’ll approach it as a teaching strategy.”