MADERA – Thirteen years ago a tall kid with a silly grin took the football field at Memorial Stadium for his senior year. He was the quarterback. He was the kicker with one ugly white shoe. By the end of his senior year he was the student athlete of the year for the Madera High School class of 2007. Thursday evening at a press conference at his Alma mater Kenny Paolinelli will be named the new varsity football coach for the Madera Coyotes.
Following in the footsteps of Randy Blankenship, Dennis Fink, Andy Beaks and Bill Sparks, Paolinelli will inherit a rather successful Coyote squad from former Madera High Coach Yosef Fares. Fares resigned last year to accept a position as co-coach for the Bullard Knights in Fresno.
Kenny is one of the best athletes to come out of Madera High School and one of a select few to have played in four All-Star games his senior year; baseball, basketball, and football in the North/South Rotary Game and the City/County All Star Game.
The new coach, who turns 30-years old early next month, played two seasons at Reedley College as the kicker, wide receiver, quarterback, fullback and tight end. While at Reedley College a chance meeting with the UTEP (University of Texas El Paso) coach allowed Paolinelli the chance to fulfill his dream of playing Division 1 football.
Paolinelli played one season for UTEP. He tore his meniscus cartilage before the season started and played on it for the whole season. After his season at UTEP he received a scholarship to play at Western Montana University where he injured himself again and decided to end his college career.
He returned home from Montana in 2010 and began coaching for the Coyotes football and baseball programs. He took an EMT course at Madera Adult Education and started doing prerequisites in the family business, nursing. His mother Karen Paolinelli is the CEO at the Madera Community Hospital and a nurse practitioner. His brother Kirk is the director of nurses at a skilled facility and his sister is a trauma nurse at Community Regional Medical Center.
He applied for the position of Madera High head coach after the removal of Bonner Cunnings and was second to Coach Fares. Kenny went on to take coaching position at Clovis West while working in the ER at Madera Community Hospital. Former Madera High Principal Alan Hollman, wanting to keep Paolinelli in Madera, called Kenny into his office one day and with the help of Sheryl Sisil, MUSD Assistant Superintendent, put Kenny on track to receive his designated credential from Fresno Pacific College. So then he became an ROP/CTE medical careers and medical terminology teacher at Madera High School.
Coach Fares asked Paolinelli to come on board and coach with him. So then he began coaching the quarterbacks and helping with the offense. Through Fares, Kenny has also learned the defense to become an even more rounded coach.
Paolinelli is one of the few coaches at Madera High that can, if he is ever questioned by his students as to whether he ever knew the pains of being a student athlete, point to the wall in the Joe Flores Gym where his name is proudly hanging as the 2007 Madera High School Senior Athlete of the Year.
Congratulations Kenny. This Coyote Community is very proud of you.
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All Photos by Jack W Porter, Jr.
