SALINAS — Soledad High School alum Arthur Berlanga has been named the new head football coach at Hartnell College.
Berlanga, a former Panthers player, has not coached in Monterey County in four years after serving as an assistant football coach at Hollister High School for two seasons and at Forge Christian High School in Arvada, Colo., for two years.
Last year Berlanga guided the Fury at Forge Christian to the 1A State Championships, where they lost 48-21 to the Eagles of Wray High School.
As a head coach at Gonzales High School, Berlanga led the Spartans to an 11-1 overall record and the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Santa Lucia Division championship in the 2018-19 season. The Spartans defeated Saratoga, 54-49, in the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division V playoffs before losing to Carmel, 57-14, in the semifinals.
Berlanga has served as an assistant coach at Soledad, Seaside, Hollister and Hartnell College, where the 42-year-old has been teaching since the fall semester. He said he is very excited about the opportunity to coach the Panthers team.
King City High School head football coach Mac Villanueva is pleased that Berlanga will be taking over the coaching job at Hartnell.
“It is great for South County players and for Hartnell College,” Villanueva said. “(Berlanga) really knows football and is strong on both sides of the ball. I’m sure our players from South County will feel comfortable having someone that has had success coaching at every level as their college coach.”
Recent Gonzales graduate Ray Blanco was undecided about where he would go to school to study and play football, but was pleased when he heard that Berlanga was hired to coach the Panthers.
“I had come to the decision that I would either go to Hartnell or Cabrillo for school and football,” Blanco said. “A while back I had heard that Coach Berlanga might be applying for the Hartnell job, and then I didn’t hear anything until about three weeks ago that he was hired. My decision was made right then and there to go to Hartnell because he is a good coach, and the drive to Salinas is a lot closer than driving to Santa Cruz. Coach Berlanga motivates you from the minute he steps on the field.”
Berlanga will be taking his motivational and coaching skills to a new level to get the Panthers ready for the upcoming football season.
“I love being out on the practice field where I practiced as a player at Hartnell,” Berlanga said. “More importantly, I am just within a few miles of where my wife Jessica has her business, and close to my son Arthur III and daughter Aimana. No doubt that being close to my family is huge for me. As far as football, our top priority is to continue recruiting freshmen to come out for football, work with the players that are returning, and work on getting stronger, faster and ready for our season.”
The Panthers begin the season on Aug. 30 against Chabot College. Hartnell is a member of the Golden Coast League that includes the Cabrillo Seahawks, the Coalinga Falcons, the De Anza Mountain Lions, the Gavilan Rams and the Merced Blue Devils.
