Capital Christian defending image following sudden departure of popular football coach

In sports, people come and go — athletes, coaches, administrators — and no one Sacramento-area school can identify with this trend more than Capital Christian High School.

The football program has been a powerhouse with 12 playoff showings since 2007 to go with 10 league championships and four CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championships. Six different coaches led the charge, and as the 2023 season looms with an Aug. 18 season opener, a seventh will lead the way in a season of sudden uncertainty and curiosity. The new coach is an old hand in Aaron Garcia, and he has had to ward off a sense of “blood in the water” with area assistant coaches trying to contact and poach Cougars players.

Days before the start of fall practices, popular coach Saul Patu abruptly resigned his posts as the school’s head football coach and director of advancement. This stunned his fellow coaches and stung Cougars players, many of whom started on the 2022 team that overcame a slow start to reach the Division IV section finals, a 10-6 loss to defending champion Vanden at Hughes Stadium.

Garcia, the longtime athletic director and assistant football coach, said his feelings are mixed. An all-time quarterback great from Grant as The Bee’s Player of the Year in 1987, Garcia has aspired to be a head coach before, but not under these circumstances.

“It was a hard year for Saul and for Capital in general, the leadership above him, what he was brought here to do, and it just didn’t align,” Garcia said. “There’s a combination of feelings for me right now. I’ve been through two tough situations as AD here, losing a great coach and a friend in Casey Taylor (laid off along with 20 other staffers in 2020 and now at Oak Ridge), and now losing Saul, a friend and a great coach. It’s part of life, but it’s frustrating. I’m excited to coach these guys, because they’re good kids, but I’m also a little upset that this happened.”

Squashing rumors

Garcia, Patu and Capital Christian principal Chris Orr addressed Capital football parents to answer questions.

“We had to squash rumors,” Garcia said. “There’s blood in the water. Area coaches, whether they’re supposed to or not, reached out to some of our players to sell them dreams. We’re going to stop the bleeding.”

Patu told The Bee he is not sure where he will coach next. Nor does he know where his son, Kayo, a 2022 Bee All-Metro receiver/defensive back who has given a verbal commitment to Arizona, will play as a senior this season. Patu’s other two sons are in the Pac-12 — Orin a defensive lineman at Arizona and Ari a quarterback at Stanford.

Some players have left Capital Christian football because their intent was to continue to play for Patu. Most have remained.

“It’s bitter sweet, always, when you transition,” Patu said. “I wanted to let the kids that are at Capital Christian know that they are in good hands with Aaron, that they have the support they need, even if I’m not there.”

A star football player as a prep in Seattle who started four years on the defensive line for the Oregon Ducks, Patu replaced Taylor just as the pandemic hovered over the country. Capital Christian kept its campus open while most others did not. Patu and his school took a lot of heat for fielding a club football team that included scores of area athletes while the rest of the state shut down sports programs.

The Capital Christian football program was sanctioned by the CIF, the governing body for high school sports in California, in part because games and practices were held at the school. The school took the CIF to court. The compromise of sorts included a one-year playoff ban instead of two.

Garcia ‘saved our program’

But none of that is why Patu left. It was a difference in ideas with the Capital Christian executive branch. Orr stressed to The Bee that Patu did not leave because Capital Christian in June was taken over by Destiny Church of Rocklin.

“There were some executive decisions by Capital that didn’t sit well with Saul — it’s as simple as that,” Orr said. “We know this is bad timing. Clearly, this is not what we anticipated. Aaron stepping in like this was not the plan, but having Aaron, a great coach and leader of young men, has saved our program. The parents love Saul and gave him an ovation.”

Patu said he stepped into “the tornado” when he arrived at Capital Christian. He weathered that storm and believes Garcia will weather this one.

“I started at Capital during the pandemic,” Patu said. “We didn’t close. When everyone else was leaving the building, I was entering the building. I know a lot of people around the country took the year off. I didn’t take that year off and everyone else at Capital didn’t take that year off. That was a decision made, collectively, that families needed us to be open, and we got a lot of pushback. We did what we thought was right.

“I’m always going to do something to help impact kids, whether that’s me being on a board or coaching. Part of me right now needs a break for a minute, detox a little. The last three and a half years, I never stopped, and I need to step away.”

Patu said of Garcia, “He loves kids and he’s a football guy and a good coach. He’s going to do great.”

‘Going in the right direction’

Orr said Capital Christian football is not on the brink of collapse, nor is the school or athletic department on shaky ground despite the changes and declining enrollment in recent years. The softball team in June won its first section championship and then was the only area softball team to win a CIF Northern California regional title under coach Caitlyn Olan. Freshman star Ayla Tuua earned Bee Player of the Year honors. The boys basketball program remains a powerhouse under coach Michael Lorente.

“Football wise, our varsity numbers will be fine,” Orr said. “Losing Saul and his son hurts, and some kids have left. Sometimes with change like this, people start to freak out. We were able to settle that a bit, and there was blood in the water, which is unfortunate because other programs chase down kids like commodities.”

Orr added, “As for Destiny, the folks there have expressed huge support for us academically and athletically. I am very much a believer in the proof is in the pudding, so let’s get after it. We are going in the right direction.”