Bellarmine football: What’s next after storied program’s first 0-10 season?

First in a two-part series Part II coming Wednesday SAN JOSE What has changed for Bellarmine football since last fall It is the question that has been on the minds of interested observers since the Bells completed the first - season in school history last November Bellarmine is clearly a long way away from returning to the heights that the storied effort once called home For decades the Bells were perched at the top of the West Catholic Athletic League and Bay Area high school football at large winning section and regional championships and sending players to college and in various cases the NFL One of those players former Super Bowl champion David Diaz-Infante is entering his third season as head coach He is trying to pull Bellarmine out of the doldrums and into the modern era of high school football How close is he to bringing the Bells back There s not a lot of us Diaz-Infante observed at the conclusion of a modern a m practice We re not real big But the guys are working hard We re getting there As Bellarmine looks ahead to the next limited years getting players will be a big part of the future success Since the end of last season the activity s former head coach Jalal Beauchman has returned to lead the offense and generate interest in the school and football as part of his new position on the faculty Former Bellarmine head coach Jalal Beauchman shown here working with players during practice this month has returned to the undertaking to lead the offense Aric Crabb Bay Area News Group To selected extent the current complication with the effort is a numbers championship Bellarmine finished last season with about healthy players after starting with At the morning practice this month that the Bay Area News Group attended the Bells had varsity players participating Diaz-Infante noted that chosen players were gone and would be back the following week Bellarmine athletic director Kevin Saldivar mentioned the Bells have players on the varsity roster including returners from last year s band and three transfers The numbers are starting to improve at the lower levels Diaz-Infante explained Bellarmine s freshman crew has about players and several look like future contributors We perhaps have the best freshman class we ve had in years Diaz-Infante commented But a brighter future isn t going to happen overnight We re still a year away from being competitive Diaz-Infante announced But we got a lot of young guys that played last year They re moving up so the future s looking better State of affairs Bellarmine football players go through passing drills during a practice this month Aric Crabb Bay Area News Group The Bellarmine ecosystem that Diaz-Infante entered in was far different from the one he remembered as a trainee at the school in the early s We kind of got away a little bit from the role athletics really plays in the overall picture of the school and enhancement of the total person he reported Our academics are constantly strong But when I was here we were state champs of football and state champs of speech and debate So one does not take away from the other One thing Bellarmine can fall back on this season is the return of Beauchman Beauchman a former wide receiver for the Bells under legendary head coach Mike Janda took the reins of the Bellarmine venture in and coached the organization through a run that included an appearance in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals and a CCS Division II championship Beauchman is now Bellarmine s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Diaz-Infante praised the former head coach s ability to lead and teach offense which he believes will be an asset for the Bells For his part Beauchman stated the decision to come back to Bellarmine was multi-faceted When he resigned as head coach he was looking to spend more time on his personal life Life changes While away he got married and had his first child Now a dad he was ready to return to coaching while also accepting a job on campus as Bellarmine s Christian Provision and Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging Associate I have a lot of fond memories of this place when I was a candidate here as a football competitor as a coach Beauchman declared It hurt to be away and it hurt to see what s transpired since I ve left in terms of how the games have been going and not only the impact but just the manner of which we ve been losing So having coach Diaz reach out to me and asking me if I d be interested in coming back it was a no-brainer for me Because I figured I want to be part of the response versus just watching it from the sideline Related Articles Mt Diablo s field set on fire displacing football band days before first challenge Monday Morning Lights What to know as Bay Area teams kick off season RB Jhadis Luckey discusses transfer from California High to Clayton Valley High school football preview West Catholic Athletic League Preseason all-Bay Area News Group high school football Quarterbacks The new union will likely determine whether Bellarmine will sink or swim in the coming years Diaz-Infante emphasized the importance of having coaches like Beauchman on campus full time noting that several other WCAL schools have five or more football coaches on staff in roles beyond coaching Diaz-Infante singled out Serra coach Patrick Walsh and St Francis coach Greg Calcagno as WCAL peers who have been sounding boards for him as he looks to rebuild the Bells back to what they were not too long ago Those two guys they ve been at it a long time and they ve been prosperous Diaz-Infante stated So the formula is there We can t expect to do things differently and yield the same aftermath The footprint s there We ve just got to get back to that and I believe we re headed in the right direction