Clovis North finds football coach inside district. And he has lots of varsity experience
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Three years after walking away from the Buchanan High football sideline, Mike Jacot is back as a varsity head coach — at Clovis North.
It’s another rebuilding job.
“This opportunity presented itself,” Jacot said. “During the break, I was doing some thinking and felt like it was a good time to kind of jump back in there and do this again.”
Jacot spent the past three seasons as an assistant at Clovis East. He said another head coaching gig is “an opportunity to kind of go back and do some things a little differently.”
Jacot went 11-23 in three years at Buchanan, but his last team was 7-4 for the Bears’ first winning football season in five years, an ascent that continued the past three seasons under Matt Giordano.
Now Jacot is asked to help restore success at Clovis North, which hasn’t finished above .500 since 2015 when Tim Simons led the Broncos to a 7-5 record. Jacot – pronounced JAY-caught – replaces Benny Martinez, who went 4-17 in his two seasons.
Besides the legendary Simons, who had 249 wins in a 30-year career, Clovis North had Casey Quinn for a season and Cory Hall for three, including the program’s only two Central Section championships.
“They all instilled something in that program that’s still there and positive,” Jacot said. “To have now the opportunity to kind of put another mark on the program is what excited me to pursue this.”
Felder sets mark
Hanford coach Brad Felder is now the winnigest boys basketball coach in Central Section history, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
Felder, who also coached at Washington Union, is at 516 career wins after Hanford’s 57-32 victory over Golden West on Tuesday. Tulare Union coach Mark Hatten is third with 508, and retired Bakersfield coach Mark Hutson (Fresno State basketball coach Tim Hutson’s dad) is second with 512.
More milestones
Two superstars put notches in the section history books kept by Barnett:
▪ Clovis West senior Madison Campbell set a school record for 3-pointers in a game with eight in a game against Montverde Academy at the Florida Prospects Holiday Classic in December.
The USC signee became the school’s career scoring leader earlier this month. She has 1,658 points and on Thursday was named as one of 64 nominees for the McDonald’s All American Games. The rosters will be announced Jan. 24.
The Golden Eagles will host Clovis North in a Tri-River Athletic Conference showdown on Friday. The teams are ranked Nos. 1-2 in The Bee’s section Top 10.
▪ San Joaquin Memorial junior Jalen Green reached 2,007 career points in Tuesday’s 86-63 victory over Madera. He’s on a remarkable scoring run of 120 points in his last three games.
Wrestling: The ‘Big One’
Wrestling rivals Buchanan and Clovis will meet in the annual “Big One” Thursday night at Buchanan.
Doors open at 3:30 p.m., with the undercard beginning at 4 p.m., followed by the main event at 6;30 p.m.
Admission is $5, $2 for children.
Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, agalaviz_TheBee
This story was originally published January 16, 2019 at 11:25 PM.
