Legendary Hall of Fame high school coach.
After 50 years of coaching, Randy Blankenship stands as one of the most respected and
accomplished high school football coaches in California history. During his 14 influential years
at Aptos High School, and throughout his half-century on the sidelines, he has built programs,
shaped young men, and elevated every community he served.
How do you measure the success of a high school football program? How do you measure a
coach’s impact on his players and his school? How do you measure an individual’s impact on his
community?
Let’s first look at the most obvious, W’s & L’s. Randy Blankenship (hereinafter Coach B) is the winningest football coach in Aptos High andSanta Cruz County history. In 14 years as our head coach, his teams won nine league championships and four CCS championships, including, in 2018, a CCS Championship in the
prestigious Open Division.
Coach B always scheduled up, never down. We played the Big Dogs, the powerhouses,
anywhere, anytime. Giants like Bellarmine, Archbishop Mitty, St. Ignatius, Oakdale, Clovis East,
Del Campo, Granite Bay, Campolindo, Capitol Christian, Templeton, Newport Harbor, and
Encinal, to name just a few. League champs, section champs, and state champs, we never backed
down. Our players learned to not fear anyone.
Home games saw overflowing stands, and away games saw long caravans of supporters
travelling all over the freeways, highways, and back roads of northern California, often turning
away sites into home games. Aptos football games created its own community, enthusiastic,
supportive, and loud.
Along the way, his teams set too many school records to count, including Most Wins, Most
Playoff Appearances, Most Playoff Wins, Most League & Section Championships, Most Yards
Gained in both a game and a season, Most Points Scored in both a game and a season, the
Longest Winning Streak, and many, many more. In 2018, his Mariners became the first-ever
Santa Cruz County team to reach the state playoffs.
In 2021, Coach B became only the 12th football coach in California high school history to win
300 games. To put that in perspective, high school football has been played in California since
1873, that’s over 150 years ago, and there are over 1000 high schools in California playing
football. He was the 12th.
His final tally was 319 wins.
But Coach B’s legacy is much more than wins and losses. His impact on his players and their
lives reaches beyond the field, past the last whistle. He was tough. He could be hard. If he taught
a skill or an assignment, and a player missed it, Coach B would correct it. If he missed it again
and again, Coach B would call him on it. No corners were cut. No lapses went unnoticed. No
mistakes were overlooked. Details mattered. And it made no difference if you were on the
1st-team, the 3rd-team, or the scout team. You were all going to be coached. Why?!
Because these were life lessons he was imparting.
Dr. Paul Zak, a neuroscientist at Claremont University, whose research focuses on the science of
trust and confidence, especially in sports, says that to build trust and confidence, you must assign
individuals difficult but achievable jobs. People generally do not know what they are capable of,
so they often need a coach who is willing to make them uncomfortable, a coach who will
challenge them.
Coach B didn’t care how big, fast, or strong the opponent was. You’re not sure what you can do?
Coach B says that you can catch that pass. You can block that lineman. You can outrun that defender. You can tackle that running back. Yes, our opponents often outmatched us physically, but Coach B wouldn’t let you give-up. Don’t be afraid. Don’t overthink. Don’t hesitate. You’ve been given skills and strategies to help you succeed. Use them. Be confident. Rise to the challenge. Trust.
And what about accountability, that ogre lurking in the shadows that too many people try to
avoid.
If you were supposed to fill the A gap, why did you fill B instead? If you were supposed to block
down, why did you block out? If your English paper is due on Wednesday, why did you turn it in
on Friday? If your Mom asks you to be home by 8:00 pm, why did you come home at midnight?
These were some of the issues Coach B addressed, the lessons he stressed. Everyday. He
constantly coached his players on accountability and responsibility.
I have lost count of his former players from 15, 20, 35 years past who’d stand on the sidelines
during our games, and who’d address our team after practices. Here is a small sampling of what
they told our players:
“He didn’t let me cut corners.” / “He held me accountable.” / “He helped me see my potential on
the field and off.” / “He pushed me when I needed pushing, and comforted me when I needed
comforting.” / “He saved me when I needed help.” / “He told me the truth.” Coach B coached more than football.
How about joy and respect? On their birthdays, our players would stand in front of the team at
the end of practice and sing a song, with their teammates laughing and often singing along. On
certain practice days, we held competitions between the skill groups, between the o-line and the
DB’s and the receivers and the running backs, etc., rotating in groups from drill to drill, and the
competitions were full of spirit and energy and unique cheers. Each week, a Scout Team player
was honored with the Rock Award, so that non-starters knew they were valued and their efforts
recognized. And during games, you couldn’t miss it, after a touchdown, the entire team
enthusiastically celebrated and high-fived the scorer.
The farewell line on the field after the last game of each season, when the seniors walked the
tunnel of their underclass teammates and coaches, saying goodbye, was full of tears, embraces,
memories, and thanks. Once a week or so, our hard-as-steel head coach would often break down
in tears before the team telling them about important people or events, past and future, sharing
his insights, hopes, and vulnerability.
And his highlight films were generally hours long (okay, I exaggerate…a little) to make sure that
every player was recognized and appreciated. Football was a tool, a means to an end, for Coach B. He used football to craft responsible,respectful, hard-working, fearless, and courageous young men. He used football to teach our future adults the importance of teamwork, how to bounce back from failure, and how to appreciate success with honor. Yes, Coach B won a lot of football games, but he won much more than that. He won the shared love and respect of hundreds and hundreds of successful young men.
To one of the greatest coaches by any metric, congrats Coach B.