Coaches
Irvine Football prides itself on having some of the best and longest tenured coaches in Orange County. Combined, this staff has over 200 years of coaching experience and ranges in age from 21 to 75 years old – many with playing experience beyond High School.
Tom Ricci
Head Coach
Offensive Coordinator
Kyle Jaeger
Defensive Coordinator
David Done
Offensive Line
Gary Cordray
Running Backs
Defensive Ends & Special Teams
Doug Moss
Receivers
Passing Game Coordinator
Thomas McLaurin
Linebackers
Tight Ends / Full Backs
Quinn Connolly
Defensive Ends
Receivers
David Delmonico
Defensive Backs
Ethan Whitsell
Quarterbacks
Gary Renteria
Linebackers
Tony Jaimez
Strength & Conditioning
Tom Ricci
Head Coach / Offensive Coordinator
This is Coach Ricci’s sixth year as head coach of our Vaqueros. Previously he has coached at Orange County schools: Villa Park, Foothill, Katella, Ocean View, Bellflower and most recently at Savanna High School where he finished a two-year stint with a 15-8 record and two CIF births. Coach Ricci is also an alum who graduated from Irvine in 1988 and has coached at Irvine in the mid 90’s and mid 2000’s. He is glad to finally be back home! Coach Ricci’s wife and 3 children are alumni as well.
Kyle Jaeger
Defensive Coordinator
Coach Jaeger is in his 7th year coaching at Irvine High School. He is entering his 2nd year as Defensive Coordinator and also coaches Defensive and Offensive Line. Originally from Wisconsin, Coach Jaeger moved to California in 2012 and served 4 years in the United States Navy. He is currently teaching at St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel. Coach Jaeger lives in Irvine with his wife Emma and 3 children.
David Done
Offensive Line
Coach Done is coaching the offensive line this season. This is the 13th season for coach Done at Irvine H.S. His previous experience includes a total of 11 years at Katella H.S. coaching the lines, the QB’s & running backs and as offensive coordinator. Coach Done also coached the offensive line at Fullerton College for 3 years, 4 years at Savanna, as well as Santa Margarita and Marina High Schools. Coach Done has degrees in Political Science and Educational Technology, and is the Social Science department chair and Economics teacher at Gilbert High School. David lives in Lake Forest with his wife Dawn and son Will.
Gary Cordray
Running Backs / D-Ends / Special Teams
Coach Cordray is entering his fifth year of coaching at Irvine High. A graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He will be serving as the Running Back and Defensive Ends coach along with Special Teams Coordinator. For 39 years, Coach Cordray was a teacher and coach at Washington High School and South Gate High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After retiring, he continued his coaching career at Cerritos High, Godinez Fundamental High in Santa Ana, plus Katella High and Savanna High in Anaheim. He has coached many outstanding teams, had memorable players and has been nominated and selected with many honors in his career, while serving in many capacities for different organizations.
The coach is married to his lovely wife Constance for 30 plus years and their family consists of six adult blended children and ten grandchildren.
Doug Moss
Receivers & Passing Game Coordinator
This is Coach Moss’s fifth year coaching Wide Receivers and first year as Passing Game Coordinator for the Vaqueros. Coach Moss has over a decade of experience coaching at the youth level both in Pop Warner and Junior All American. He has been volunteering for the Irvine Football program for the last seven years and we were officially able to bring him on as a coach a few seasons ago. Coach Moss and his wife Sandi have four Irvine Vaqueros, Beck, Drew, Harper and Deacon who is a senior football player this year.
Thomas McLaurin
Tight Ends / Full Backs
Coach Thomas McLaurin comes to Irvine High School for a 3rd season after spending 19 years coaching high school football in the state of Illinois. Coach McLaurin is the father of 4 kids; Kristen, Kayla, Jeremie and Tyler McLaurin. Coach Mclaurin is a graduate of Concordia University Chicago where he was a 3-time first team all-conference defensive player. While there, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Sociology.
Coach Mclaurin’s coaching resume includes time as a Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Coordinator. In his 19 years of coaching, he’s been a part of 9 conference championships and 5 state title appearances.
Quinn Connolly
Running Backs / Defensive Ends
Coach Connolly is in his third year as an assistant coach at Irvine and is a 1988 graduate from Irvine High School and played football all 4 years as a Vaquero. He continued his involvement with the program while attending college locally and coached 4 years of Freshman football at Irvine. He is excited to be back on the field assisting his Teammate For Life, Coach Ricci. Coach Connolly lives in Laguna Niguel with his wife of 28 years Kelleen, and their 19-year-old daughter Skylar.
David Delmonico
Defensive Backs / Receivers
Coach David Delmonico comes to us for a third year from Mission Viejo, where he has lived with his wife Jocelyn for the last 29 years. Coach Delmonico has two daughters Marissa (26) and Madison (23). He attended Laguna Hills High School where he was an accomplished athlete, earning Varsity letters in Football, Soccer and Track & Field. He has coached many sports over the years including little league baseball, AYSO and high school soccer and football.
Ethan Whitsell
Quarterbacks
With 15 years of youth and High School coaching experience Coach Ethan Whitsell brings a wealth of knowledge to the Irvine Football coaching staff. His experience includes private training of Quarterbacks in Orange County, founding/operating a Pop Warner Football Program (as President and Head Coach), Head Coaching a HS 7v7 team, and Varsity Level Coordinating (tackle).
Coach Whitsell is excited to be home to coach at his alumni. With elevated performances, improved leadership, and commitment to the pillars of the Irvine football program Coach Whitsell looks to bring more rich successes to the Vaquero football family, for years to come.
Gary Renteria
Linebackers
Coach Gary Renteria is in his first year coaching at his alma mater, Irvine High school. Coach Renteria was an All-State, All-CIF, All-League Runningback and linebacker in his time playing at Irvine high school. Coach Renteria has spent 5 years coaching running backs and linebackers at the freshman level and he has over 10 years combined coaching football and girls basketball in the city of Irvine. He was a three time team MVP, All CIF, 2 time first team all league, and a part of the only father son MVP duo in program history. He is excited to be back home at Irvine High school and looks forward to a great year.
Tony Jaimez
Strength & Conditioning
Coach Jaimez joins us as our Strength & Conditioning coach this year. Coach Jaimez attended Santiago Canyon College and George Fox University. Tony received his Associate’s Degree in Kinesiology and Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Human Performance. Coach Jaimez played football for Coach Ricci at Katella High School and also played college football at Santa Ana College and George Fox University. Coach Jaimez has coached Varsity Football for 4 years, the first two years were at Irvine with Coach Ricci and now he is back again for his 5th year coaching as the new Strength and Conditioning Coach here at Irvine.