Discipline and toughness: New coach Don Arax brings hard-nosed mentality to CVC

When Don Arax was fired as the Bullard High School head football coach a few games into last season, he knew he wanted to coach again right away.

After the 2023 season, Nick Papagni, a good friend and Bullard alum, alerted Arax that there weren't many solid available job opportunities, at least in the Central San Joaquin Valley, so he was unsure if he would coach in 2024.

But in late January, Mason Hughes stepped down as the Central Valley Chrisitan head coach to join the College of the Sequoias' coaching staff and an opportunity arose.

Papagni, who is known by the football community as "PagMeter" for his involvement with the local high school sports scene, passed along Hughes' information to Arax after speaking to the state championship coach.

The two connected, Arax applied, met with the CVC administration and officially interviewed for the job. He impressed and was named the Cavaliers' new head football coach in April.

Arax will also teach physical education at the Visalia private school.

"When I got fired at Bullard, it was something that just completely turned my life around," Arax said. "I knew I wasn't done coaching. When you're looking for your next job, there's a limited amount of really good jobs out there. To get this one, I'm really fortunate. If you were to take all, I don't know how many teams are in the Central Section, 120-plus or whatever, this is one of those five to 10 jobs you would want to have. I feel very fortunate that I got this."

Arax is one of the Central Section's active winningest head coaches.

With Bullard, he compiled a 178-128-1 overall record.

In 24 seasons leading the Knights, he won seven league championships with two section titles, including the 2009 Central Section Division I title. His 2021 Central Section Division II championship squad played for the CIF State Division 2-AA crown.

That's a big reason why the Cavaliers are rolling into this season with confidence despite having a new head coach.

CVC is coming off a historic season.

The Cavaliers won the 2023 Tri-County Conference, Central Section Division II and CIF State Division 2-A championships, becoming the first Visalia team to win a state title in football.

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CVC has a solid corps returning from that memorable run anchoring the team this season:

• Gunnar Piepgrass, receiver
• Micah Paden, running back
• Caden Ritchie, receiver/safety
• Griffin Dunn, linebacker/tight end
• Ryan Lewis, receiver/defensive back
• Karter Oliver, offensive tackle
• Jacobus DeGroot, offensive tackle
• Kelan Turner, defensive end/tight end

Arax isn't reinventing the wheel at CVC. His goal is to continue the tradition that Hughes set during his tenure.

Hughes won over 100 games in his Visalia reign, including three Central Section titles (2018, 2021, 2023).

"It's really a unique situation," Arax said. "The culture has been established and it's such a good culture. I'm going to maintain as much of the culture as I can."

What can Tulare County football fans expect from an Arax-coached team?

"My teams have always been about discipline and toughness," Arax said. "That's why it's ideal to land here is, the discipline is, the school is about discipline. It's a Christian-based school. It got harder and harder at the last school, you know, with all the issues that are going on in some of the public schools, not all of them, the discipline model. We were always known at Bullard for being disciplined and tough but that got tougher as the school changed. Those are the two things.

"No team I will ever coach will be undisciplined and they won't be soft. We're going to be tough, and the third most important thing is fundamentally based. I'm really big on teaching the fundamentals of football. I think that's a lost art amongst maybe some of the younger generation. They're more scheme-based. Scheme is, obviously, important but I'm really big on the fundamentals."

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Nick Richardson returns as the team's offensive coordinator — a role he has flourished for a decade.

Under Richardson, CVC has been one of the most explosive teams in Visalia. Last season, the Cavaliers averaged nearly 44 points per game and scored 97 touchdowns.

Richardson will be running the same offense under Arax that he did with Hughes.

"Nick is definitely one of the top five offensive coordinators in the Valley," Arax said. "He's very, very good. The way Nick and I work is, he'll continue to run his offense. There's some suggestions I'll make but he's secured in what he does, and we make a few adjustments, 'What if we did it this way?' We're pretty much sticking to what we've done and that fits in with me because what he does offensively is what I'm accustomed to doing. I've been coaching the offensive line the last eight weeks. It's gapped-based with a lot of trapping and double teams and that's what I'm really good at."

Defensively, the Cavaliers will operate Hughes' 3-4 scheme.

Noel Piepgrass, Gunnar's dad, is the team's new defensive coordinator. He has previous coaching experience at CVC having also spent time under Hughes as an assistant and was also once the school's varsity head baseball coach.

CVC is expected to be led by its defense this year.

Dunn, a senior linebacker, led CVC in tackles last season with 116 stops.

Ritchie returns for his senior season as one of the premier safeties in Tulare County. He finished with 81 tackles in 2023 while also leading the Cavaliers with six interceptions.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Turner will anchor the trenches at defensive end. He racked up 36 tackles during his junior year despite missing six games with an injury.

Gunnar Piepgrass will lead the charge on offense fresh off a 1,000-yard receiving season.

DeGroot and Oliver are the pillars of the offensive line. The 6-foot-4 DeGroot will protect the quarterback's blind side at left tackle. Oliver, a right tackle, also has imposing size at 6-foot-6.

"I really like our offensive line," Arax said. "It's really good. Those two tackles that we have are both two guys that can play at the next level."

What are the expectations for CVC this season?

"When we had our retreat the other day, one of the things I talked to the kids about is, 'Finishing strong,'" Arax said. "I don't go into a season talking about how many wins we're going to have or whether we're going to win a league or a Valley. We're going to have to play our best football at the end of the season. That's priority No. 1."

CVC opens the 2024 season at Clovis on Aug. 23 at Lamonica Stadium.

The Cavaliers have won four straight season openers.

Will that streak extend to five under Arax?

"He gets people really fired up," Gunnar Piepgrass said. "It's fun to listen to him. He has a lot of passion. He just has a lot of energy even for someone that is on the older side of coaching and who's been doing it for so long. He could have just easily hung it up after Bullard but he was born to come here. He's doing a good job. We're all really fired up about him. We just want to do our best for him. I'll run through a brick wall for him."

Central Valley Christian Cavaliers

Head coach: Don Arax, first season

Coaching staff: Nick Richardson (offensive coordinator), Noel Piepgrass (defensive coordinator), Dane Nelson (offensive line), Jeremy Eurgubian (offensive line), Nicholas Jones (quarterbacks), Hayden Houtsma (defensive line), Celso Villagomez (defensive backs), Nigel Unrau (chaplain), Chase Hansen (quality control)

Roster size: 36

Offense: Multiple/3-4

2023 record: 15-1 (Central Section Division II champions, CIF State Division 2-A champions)

Impact players: WR Gunnar Piepgrass, RB Micah Paden, WR/S Caden Ritchie, LB/TE Griffin Dunn, WR/DB Ryan Lewis, OT Karter Oliver, OT Jacobus DeGroot, DE/TE Kelan Turner

Projected starting lineup

Offense

• QB: Nathan Peters or Christian Jones
• RB: Micah Padden
• WR: Gunnar Piepgrass
• WR: Ryan Lewis
• WR: Teague Brandenburg
• TE: Griffin Dunn or Kelan Turner
• LT: Jacobus DeGroot
• LG: Gunnar Gist
• C: Jentzen Dunn
• RG: Vince Bragg
• RT: Karter Oliver

Defense

• DE: Will Salisbury
• NG: Grant Shannon
• DE: Kelan Turner
• ILB: Kaden Saltzman
• ILB: Griffin Dunn
• OLB: Jared Griffith
• OLB: Ezra Schuyler
• CB: Micah Padden
• CB: Teague Brandenburg
• S: Caden Ritchie
• S: Gunnar Piepgrass or Ryan Lewis

Special teams

• K: Teague Brandenburg
• P: Austin Reed

Schedule

• Aug. 23: at Clovis, 7:30 p.m.
• Aug. 30: Tulare Western, 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 6: at Bakersfield Christian, 7 p.m.
• Sept. 13: at Clovis North, 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 27: at Mission Prep-San Luis Obispo, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 4: Kerman, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 11: at Kingsburg, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 18: Immanuel, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 25: at Washington Union, 7:30 p.m.
• Nov. 1: Reedley, 7:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Discipline and toughness: New coach Don Arax brings hard-nosed mentality to CVC