Madera - Love him or hate him, no one can say Randy Blankenship has not made a difference with the Madera High School football program. When Randy came to Madera I supported our former head football coach Mike Anderson.

A group of people lead by the late Mike Young, former chief academic officer for Madera Unified brought Randy to Madera to force out Coach Anderson. Young and others sabotaged Anderson's program and turned student-athletes against the former coach.

I wrote a series of articles defending Anderson and found myself on the opposite side of a Randy Blankenship ass chewing: my mother thinks I should say butt chewing, but she wasn't there. While I do not think Randy had any part in sabotaging Anderson's last year, I told Coach Blankenship this, "You'll go out as you come in". On Friday those words came true when Coach Randy Blankenship's tenure with the Madera High School football program came to an end. 

I once wrote that Randy Blankenship was an acquired taste. Over the last few years parents and players that didn't like Randy have become increasingly vocal. It started with the parents of former quarterback Nick Caraccillo. In 2006 as a sophomore Nick was a backup quarterback to Kenny Paolinelli. As a quarterback Caraccillo didn't have half the talent of Paolinelli or 2003-05 quarterback Nick Bates. In 2007 he ended up quitting the team early in the season. The younger Caraccillo then began an attack on the Blankenship around campus and in the Madera Tribune's Redline.

The Caraccillo parents with other baseball parents complained that their kids were not getting equal time in the weight room during the off season and blamed Coach Blankenship. The dispute was settled by former MHS principal Ron Pisk but the stage was set to a bitter distaste for Blankenship by the Caraccillo's and other parents. Interestingly enough the Caraccillo's also voiced problems with former Madera High baseball coach George Mcwherter to MHS athletic director Shane Riddle. Riddle fired Mcwherter last summer.

Calls from Madera Online have gone unanswered by MHS athletic director Shane Riddle. Could it be that Riddle maybe a little gun shy of Madera Online after he was held to answer for the Mcwherter firing on our "Madera Guy Video Show".

As for Riddle's abilities and experience I'll say the same thing I said last summer, how can this man be athletic director for a division 1 school when he barely shaves once a week? He has very little coaching experience and passed over hiring one of the valley's best baseball coaches (Jim Fergusson) to hire his friend and former coaching buddy.

It will be interesting to see who replaces Blankenship. Will Riddle hire from within the program or look for another of his Clovis friends. Will Riddle allow Clovis West coaches to influence him again? If you ask me this is the best time to reinstate Randy Blankenship as MHS athletic director and send Shane Riddle back to the freshman teams to get some experience.