Jorge Mendivil is retiring after 23 years as a head coach, 29 overall, after leading San Manuel, Empire and Amphitheater to success throughout his career.
Mendivil, who ends his head coaching career 126-106, announced his retirement via X (Twitter) on Tuesday.
His post: “It’s a bittersweet decision. But after 29 years of roaming the sidelines I have decided to retire from coaching. It was a great run with countless memories and unbelievable kids and coaches. Appreciate you all. Time for the next chapter in my life. Go Panthers!”
It's a bitter sweet decision. But after 29 years of roaming the sidelines I have decided to retire from coaching. It was a great run with countless memories and unbelievable kids and coaches. Appreciate you all. Time for the next chapter in my life. Go Panthers!
— Amphi football (@Amphi_Football) November 26, 2024
Mendivil coached San Manuel to four consecutive postseason appearances (2001 to 2004) when it was a 3A program.
He was hired at Empire to start its program in 2006 and the Ravens experienced immediate success.
They qualified for the playoffs in his third season and went on a run of five consecutive postseason berths before Mendivil left to coach Amphi in 2014.
The Panthers advanced to the postseason in his third year and had non-losing seasons or finishes with winning records in five of the last six seasons at the inner-city school.
Beyond his 10 postseason berths and 126 career victories, Mendivil mentored and coached thousands of young players.
He was part of a Flowing Wells coaching staff under Arizona Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame member John Kashner before taking the position at San Manuel. Also on the Caballeros’ staff with Kashner were Pat Nugent (presently at Mica Mountain), Salpointe coach Pat Ryden and former Catalina and Cholla coach Shawn Wasson.
Mendivil joined Kashner’s staff in 1996 and became one of Nugent’s top assistants after Nugent took over at Flowing Wells in 1997. Mendivil became Flowing Wells’ head coach of the freshman team under Nugent.
The late Warner Smith, a San Manuel legend who went on to excel at Arizona as an offensive lineman, recommended Mendivil for the head coaching position with the Miners.
Nugent offered Mendivil to join him at CDO when he became the head coach of the Dorados in 2000, but Mendivil took Smith’s suggestion to coach at San Manuel because he “wanted to coach teams with kids that had a tougher life,” he said in an interview with the Arizona Republic in 2021.
“I like to go to places that need something extra,” Mendivil added.
Nugent mentioned via text message Tuesday that Mendivil “was never afraid of the difficult situations and was able to win every where he went.”
“Jorge is one of the great coaches who had a lot of success at small schools that always had less than other schools,” Nugent added.
Former CDO coach Dustin Peace, who led the Dorados to two state titles, played for Mendivil at Flowing Wells before advancing to NAU.
“I’m so grateful to have been coached by Coach Mendivil,” Peace stated in a text message. “He was my Spanish teacher, coach and a great mentor to me. I still remember him coming up to watch me play at NAU.
“It was definitely a core memory for me. I was just one of the thousands of young men that was influenced by coach. Tucson football will sure miss coach but his lessons will be unforgettable!”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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