Fresno State Athletics
Trading Places
12/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
By Jennifer Smith, Fresno State cross country team member
When one door closes, another door opens somewhere.
It was Friday that Joe Gonzales heard he was being replaced as cross country and track and field coach at Exeter High School.
"I heard I was being replaced because I was an off-campus coach and an on-campus teacher wanted the job."
A 10-year coaching era, in which he captured a total of seven league championships and one section championship, came to an end.
What was Gonzales to do? Exeter High School was home to so many memories. It was where Gonzales met his wife of 26 years, Shelia. It was also where he competed in the 800 meters, called the half-mile back then, and still holds the school record with a time of 1:53.7.
Gonzales's greatest coaching moment so far also happened at Exeter, when his girls team won the 1995 CIF Central Section Division III cross country championships, on which his oldest daughter, Jennie, was a member. It wasn't going to be easy to let go and move on.
A door closed on Gonzales on that Friday. But as life works in mysterious ways, another door opened for him the next Monday.
"I definitely knew the definition of flabbergast," he said. "I was just walking down the hall (at Fresno State). Coach Fraley called me into his office. He sat me down and asked if I wanted a job."
Gonzales was hired that day as the head's men cross country coach and assistant track and field coach handling men's distance. It hadn't even been three full days after being let go at Exeter High School.
"The biggest thing Coach Fraley liked about me was that I was always trying to learn. When you're green, you're growing. When you're ripe, you're rotting," Gonzales said.
In part of the agreement to be hired, Gonzales had one year to get his degree that he never finished. Gonzales went back to school, just as Rodney Dangerfield did in the 1980s movie, Back to School. He graduated in June 2001 with his liberal studies degree.
The one personal accomplishment that stands out for Gonzales is "the fact that I got my degree. In high school, I told kids that you got to do it now [when you are young], not when you're my age."
And Gonzales not only has great advice for academics, but for athletics too.
Gonzales advice for success in running is simple - "listen to your coach, you have to have 100 percent faith in coach." Gonzales says if you give him 100 percent, he will give you back 150 percent.
"My favorite part of coaching is seeing the kids improve and the success they have especially when they don't think they could do that well. Maybe the most important part of coaching though is teaching athletes something besides the fact. Stuff they will take to the real world like being on time, teamwork, and respect for their teammates."
And it seems that a contributor to Gonzales philosophy is none other than Billy Mills, the 1964 Olympic gold Medallist in the 10,000 meters.
Gonzales met Mills at a track meet. He was signing autographs and Gonzales was waiting in the line with he youngest daughter, Christie, for an autograph. When it was finally his turn, Mills remarked that Christie looked like his daughter. And they pretty much hit it off from there. They exchanged phone numbers. Gonzales even made a special trip up to Mills's home to see his house and talk.
What did Gonzales take from his friend?
"It was more his philosophy of life. If you truly believe you could do something, you can. It's the way he wants to give back. He gives back 100 times more than received."
Gonzales just recently concluded his second season as head cross-country coach. He hopes to be coaching at least 20 more years. And who would have thought this. Just a regular old guy from Exeter, California, being at the right place, at the right time.
