REFS BEWARE: AD Godinez Returns to Sidelines

by Cerwin D Haynes

(image courtesy of @ELAC_Football)

It wasn't exactly how he drew it up. Heck, it wasn't even planned.

Yet, East Los Angeles College Athletic Director Bobby Godinez has resumed the reigns of the football program effective last week.

Typically, this kind of coaching change with preseason right around the corner would hint that somethinghas gone horribly wrong with the outgoing coach. Thankfully, that's far from the case in this instance.

Arnie Robles, who served as interim head coach last season and won the job outright back in January, was offered a golden assistant coaching opportunity with Northern Illinois University Football, an NCAA Division-1 program that's a little over an hour west of Chicago.

Robles, who played for Godinez at ELAC back in 2016, had been in the running for a spot on NIU's coaching staff since early summer. While he was initially hesitant to leave his ELAC family and coaches behind, Godinez communicated the belief that everyone in the department had once NIU made their offer official...

"There's no way he could've turn that down," said Godinez. "Arnie has an opportunity to coach and learn at the D-1 level while expanding his network of contacts. And they're paying his graduate school tuition as well. Those opportunities are rare for young coaches."

Godinez and his staff were ecstatic for Robles, but that also meant that East LA was left without a head football coach.

"It's extremely difficult to get someone qualified to take on a head coaching job right before the season starts," Godinez explained. "You have no offseason to recruit or select your own coaching staff. And you have to lead a team of student-athletes who have already built rapport with the former coach."

Thus, after discussing the situation with his confidants and with ELAC President Monty Perez, the Huskies AD decided to put the headsets back on for one more season. "Not exactly the easiest pivot," commented Godinez, "but I'm all about giving our student-athletes the best chance to succeed on and off the field."

The Huskies open the 2025 campaign by hosting a scrimmage with LA Southwest College in just four weeks on August 21. They'll begin the regular season at perennial playoff-contender San Diego Mesa College on August 30. It'll be interesting to see how quickly Godinez can get back up to speed with all coaching aspects of the position - including dealing with referees on game day.

"We'll see," Godinez smirked.

View the full team schedule here.

HUSKY BITS

• Godinez expects his return to last only one season. He is still set to coach the inaugural season of ELAC Women's Flag Football in Spring 2026.
• Speaking of NIU Football, the program gained major national attention last year when they upset Notre Dame on the road early in the season. The Fighting Irish were ranked #5 in the country at the time and was thought to be a national title favorite. It was NIU's biggest win in program history.