Sunday Morning Chat: Miami Jackson’s Julio Mendoza

This morning, HSBN Senior Editor Rick Duteau sits down with one of the youngest managers in Miami-Dade County history, 21-year-old, first-year Miami Jackson Manager Julio Mendoza.

Rick: Let’s begin with last summer. Take us through the events that led up to you taking over as the Jackson manager.

Coach Mendoza: It’s funny, it’s a bit of a roller-coaster ride. I had actually spent most of the summer with a friend of mine who actually put in for a couple of the open jobs that were out there in Dade County. And fortunately, but at the time it didn’t seem so fortunate, he didn’t get the jobs. It was one of those things where nothing was going good. Then, a lot of the kids here at Jackson didn’t have a coach and I was an assistant coach last year. A lot of the kids were telling me that I should come out here. I decided to do it. I put in for the job. I didn’t think much of it because I’m a 21 year-old kid, I didn’t think much of it. I had fun with it. They called me in for an interview, I came in and I did very, very well on my interview. A day later they called me and I had the job. Over the summer with all the things that happened it didn’t look too good, but now looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a thing ‘cause now I’m the head coach at Miami Jackson Senior High.

Rick: Take me through the process it takes. You said you looked in and applied for the job. Where do you begin? How does that get initiated?

Coach Mendoza: Well I was an assistant coach here last year so knew a couple of people in the building. More specifically the Athletic Director, Ms. Zoe Madison. So I contacted her via e-mail and I basically sent her my resume with the email letting her know, “Ms. Madison, I’m really interested. A lot of the kids really want me.” And actually, I later found out that there was a petition going around at the school that the kids came up with themselves which, they had more kids sign the petition that were even on the team last year. They signed it and turned it into the principal saying that they want me to be the coach.

Rick: What’s that feel like?

Coach Mendoza: It was amazing. That’s why I did it! I felt like they really wanted me to do it. I was here last year with these kids, very good kids. Unfortunately they’ve never had a coach who’s been here long enough. Last year they had a good coach, and he was actually here for two years. But, you know he left for bigger and better things. I wanted to step in and be here for them. I didn’t want them to be left with someone who is not qualified for the job. They really wanted me to be here. So I interviewed and I did very well on my interview. They called me the next day and told me I got the job. And a week later I found out what the kids did; they were ecstatic. They were so happy and the rest is history, pretty much.

Rick: Did you think going into that interview that you realistically had a chance to get hired? What were you thinking going into the interview?

Coach Mendoza: You know, to be honest with you, I think in the back of my head I didn’t really think I would get it…

Rick: Because of your age?

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, because of my age. But I put on an act. I went in there with the mentality like, I’m the front-runner, like I’m the man for the job. Which I believe that I was the guy for the job. I went in there with that attitude. With that attitude, my athletic director jokes around with me all the time, she tells me and other people that I nailed the interview, that I earned it with the interview. I went there, I was fronting. I was putting on a bit of an act, telling myself that I’m the guy for the job and I went in there and I guess it helped because I went in there and I acted like that.

Rick: Seems like you’ve almost created a persona that you’ve now grown into.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly, I’ve grown into it. You couldn’t have said it any better.

Rick: How’s your relationship with the athletic director? She’s probably feeling good about herself for hiring you.

Coach Mendoza: She is without a doubt the best athletic director in Dade County. She is awesome. Jackson runs so smooth, athletic-wise, because of her. I can’t imagine her being any better at her job. That says it all. She’s really good, really good. She is very supportive of every sport and she’s excited. It’s funny because, football has a new coach, basketball has a new coach, baseball has a new coach. Football made it to states this year. I believe it was state, I know for a fact it was the state semi-finals. Basketball went from winning I think two games last year and two games the year before to being over .500. So everything is looking bright.

Rick: So you guys are part of a big revival here athletic-wise at this school.

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, and baseball as of right now as I told you, we started off slow but hopefully at the end of the day when we look back we were .500, which is something they haven’t done here in a very long time. Not only that but just the way these kids are walking around. I think we had two kids go to college for baseball last year. Before that I don’t think a kid has gone to college for baseball in a long time. This year, we have five seniors and four of them have already verbally committed. So, we have guys going to college. We have a bunch of guys where their grades have gone from mediocre to good and from really bad to at least mediocre. So everything is being turned around. The only thing that’s left is for the wins and losses to be where they’re supposed to be. Everything else, we’ve fund-raised more money this year than has probably ever been fund-raised at Jackson. She did a very good job at picking her coaching because every sport in this school is exceeding expectations, and more.

Rick: We hit on this a little bit but, was there ever point in the hiring process where you thought, “ I might not get this job?”

Coach Mendoza: Honestly, I didn’t have enough time to think about it. Because really, when I contacted Ms. Madison via email telling her that I’m interested in the job, it was like three days later that they were actually starting the interview process. So, it didn’t give me enough time. It was so surreal. I’m actually going to interview for this? It didn’t really give me enough time. After my interview, I knew I nailed the interview. From there I was confident. I thought I’d get the job.

Rick: Did you think not having any time to prepare, did that maybe work to your advantage?

Coach Mendoza: I think it did, honestly, it didn’t give me any time to think about it. I put on an act and I didn’t have time to convince myself otherwise, you know? [laughing]

Rick: You are one of the youngest managers in Florida high school baseball history at 21 years-old. What is it like to have the responsibility to mentor the young athletes at your age?

Coach Mendoza: It means a lot and to do it as successfully as I’ve done it to this point is exciting. Because, like I said, a lot of these programs in inner-city schools don’t have… they have coaches that are guys that take over last minute. They usually have a different coach every year. With the exception of some schools, like Ken Litman at North Miami and the guys at Booker T. Washington, who are definitely qualified. It means a lot to be able to come in here and do that and do it successfully. Like I told you, we have a lot of guys that would have never imagined playing baseball at the next level and now they’re trying to prepare for their move up there. We have a lot of guys here that have mediocre or 1.4 or 1.5 GPAs and never thought—forget college, they didn’t think they would be able to play, and now they have a 2.5 with two years to get it to a 3-point something. So, it means a lot to have that responsibility and to not only have the responsibility but for it to be going good up to this point.

Rick: It seems like you’re focused a lot more on the academics as well the baseball.

Coach Mendoza: That’s what it’s all about. Because at the end of the day you tell people, I won five state championships, and what does that say? You were good at playing a game. It’s just a game. You tell people I got 20 kids into college and now they’re all making 50-60 thousand a year, they are living a good life, and you’ve made a difference. It’s a different thing, it’s more than just a game. It feels good to win, don’t get me wrong! I’m trying to win also— I’m definitely trying to win.

Rick: Have there been any other better coaches that you’ve looked to for guidance in your first season? If so, who are they?

Coach Mendoza: There have definitely a been a couple of guys who I’m going to mention right now that I’ve always looked up even before I got the job, but it’s gone so fast that I haven’t even had a chance to really have a guy to be there and help me all the time. Ernie Padron has been there and he’s a guy… I have a lot of kids that I know from Florida Christian so he’s a guy that I’ve seen very often. I probably went to all of his games last year. He’s definitely one of the best at it and he’s definitely a guy that helps me out a lot. Denis Pujals who’s now at South Miami, he was the head coach here last year and I was his assistant.

Rick: He’s kinda doing the same thing over there right now.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly, he’s turning that around.

Rick: And they’re playing the same kind of passionate, fast-paced baseball as you.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly, and Denis and Angel Posada who were both coaches here last year, they have definitely helped me a lot, more than they even know. Just with me being here last year and watching them, it’s like, they don’t even know how much they’ve helped me. I pick up on everything. I’m a learner, I’m an observer and just watching them, the way that they go about themselves I learned a lot from them. So, Ernie, Denis, Angel, Luis Padron at Westwood Christian and Hernan Adames at TERRA. Luis Padron is another guy, I’ve had about two or three conversations with him before this season and he gave me some advice and he’s definitely one of those veteran coaches that I look up to because he’s doing a heck of a job over there at Westwood. I guess those are pretty much the guys right there.

Rick: And Luis, the last person you mentioned, as we know with him, his biggest focal point with his program is getting kids into college. He takes a lot of pride in that, just as you had mentioned with your team.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly.

Rick: You coach at a school where you not only have to worry about teaching the kids baseball but you also have to make sure that these guys stay in the right circles, to stay clear of the temptations to go down the wrong path. How do they balance those two things?

Coach Mendoza: You know, it’s easier than what it sounds like I guess. At the end of the day, these kids don’t live in the best of neighborhoods but these kids are such good kids. They are such good kids and all they need is someone to help guide them and it comes naturally to them. Because, like I said, they’re good kids. It’s not like those movies that you see where you have to go in there and there’s drugs and everything everywhere, it’s not like that. They’re good kids and when they have something to do, it comes naturally to them to do the right things.

Rick: It seems like they almost have incubated themselves from those elements.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly, they enjoy it. They bother me everyday, “What are we going to do in the summer?” They love baseball. They get along with all of their coaches, including myself and Roy Cao, the other coach. They get along with us. They get along with themselves. I mean, the chemistry on this team… I’m only 21, don’t get me wrong, but of all the teams I’ve ever coached, there’s more chemistry here than ever. These guys get along so well. Like any team, like any brothers do, they argue sometimes but man, the next day it’s like nothing happened. They have so much fun. We do so much stuff off the field. We go out to eat as a team. I told them if we go 2-0 this week we’ll have karaoke night Saturday and food you know. Those are the little things that we enjoy. We have so much fun, these guys they’ll see the batting things over there and they’ll go around and ask, “Who does this belong to?” That part of it, going on the right path, being good people, good citizens, it’s why I’m doing this and not only that, but it comes naturally to them because they are good kids. They really are good kids.

Rick: It seems like in this case you guys have helped restore the pride in the program or pride in themselves and they’re eating that up. They are sucking it up and following through.

Coach Mendoza: Yeah well, Denis Pujals and Angel started that two years ago. Last year and the year before. But I like to think, and I think most of the guys on the team would agree that we’ve taken it to a different level, which is what you want. Which is what they would want, someone to come in here and just keep it going. Keep it going and take it even further. And I think I’ve done that. I really do think we’ve done that.

Rick: What was the one thing you thought would be easier about being manager?

Coach Mendoza: Well, actually, I think my hair is falling out already this year [laughing]. I didn’t think it would be so stressful. You know, baseball is something… I’ve played and I started coaching at 15 at a local park, Tamiami Park. And it’s so different managing the game and being involved in the game when it’s your job. And I didn’t realize that until we were 2-9. Until we were really down in the gutter, it’s something that I expected from the get-go. Until we were at that point it didn’t hit me. Now it hit me, this is my job. At the end of the day, this is my job. I’ve got to go out there and win some games. That’s what’s different. That’s something I didn’t think about. It’s different. Coaching when it’s just for fun and then coaching when you are paid to do it and it’s your job… It’s a little bit more stressful. I really do have hair falling out, I’m not even joking. [laughing]

Rick: On the flip side, what has been the easiest things for you in your first year.

Coach Mendoza: You know, getting kids to college. I thought it would be a little bit harder and it’s really not. We have I’m pretty sure it’s four out of five seniors verbally committed and I think we’re going to end the year five out of five. I would say that that’s it right there. You know, getting the team to be a team and play together, that’s something that I’ve always been good at and like I said, it’s so much easier now because of the leaders I have to get that done. So I never thought that would be a challenge. But all this paperwork I have to go through on a daily basis, that’s definitely hard. And that’s pretty much it.

Rick: We have talked several times and you have a strong desire to make Miami Jackson a competitive program in the future. How do you think such a tall task can be accomplished?

Coach Mendoza: Playing good baseball and getting kids to college. Having the word spread that Jackson is a good program and there’s exciting things going on and I think when that happens, a lot of kids that belong to Jackson are going to come back Jackson. Because right now the way it works is, all of the kids that are good baseball players that belong here at Jackson and live blocks away, they don’t come to Jackson. I’m not going to say what schools they go to but they go to other schools that are nearby. And then the guys that are in the middle, that are good, maybe not the best, but good, they go to other schools that are also nearby. This year we’ve been successful getting, I want to say it’s been seven kids that transferred in that belong here. That transferred in and I was like, “Where did you play last year?” and they tell me a school and I’m like, “Did you move?” The’re like, “No, I didn’t move.” You know, they come back to their home school. And I think that’s going to be the key. Winning games, getting kids to college, the word spreads that this is a real program. So those kids could come back, because man, there’s talent around. There’s talent around here.

Rick: Are there times that it’s tough to get kids to respect you because of your age?

Coach Mendoza: Nope.

Rick: Or do you think it helps that you’re only a few years older than some of the players?

Coach Mendoza: Nope, I think that some of the people in this building are actually surprised about it. The fact that I’m 21. That’s one of the things… Ms. Madison, she’s the best at what she does and she’s also very motherly to her coaches and I guess more, me because I’m very young. And that’s one of the things that she told me right when I got here, basically telling me, don’t let these kids walk all over you. And I never had a problem with that.

Rick: I don’t see that in the dugout at all!

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, I say “Listen up!” and I don’t even finish saying it and they all stop what they’re doing and look at me. This discipline and the respect at Jackson baseball right now in this program is second-to-none. That’s a fact.

Rick: From my point of view, it almost seems because of the short distance in age that they respect you so much more.

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, I mean, I think they respect me because of the way I carry myself. But you know, the difference in age being so close, it helps out a lot because these kids talk to me about things that they don’t talk to anybody about. It helps them with that because they actually have someone to talk to that’s been there and done that, just recently. They talk to me about certain things and I feel like I give them good advice because I was just there. It’s little things like that. I think my age helps me with that. I’m very youthful and like you saw at today’s game, very youthful…

Rick: Very passionate.

Coach Mendoza: Very energetic and it helps them, they get going. With my age, being very animated, that’s the word, animated.

Rick: What is something that people on the outside would not know about Miami Jackson baseball these days just from seeing your team play?

Coach Mendoza: Well, I think the word is spreading. I think the word is spreading from the very first good game we had against Pace that we know was a loss but it was… it felt like it was a one-run game the whole game. So, from that get-go I think the word had spread that it’s a little bit different at Jackson now than it was before.

Rick: Turn some heads after you didn’t get mercy-ruled by Pace?

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, you know we’ve turned heads. Beating a regional team today 11-2. We beat Miami Christian, another regional team, I think it was 14-3. So I think it would be unfair to say that people don’t know that Jackson is turning it around. I don’t think the word has gone around to everybody, but I think more people than you would expect know it already. Other than that, we’re very open with… people ask, we talk. Anything they want to know, they know it.

Rick: Do you have a time-frame in mind of how quickly you think you can get things turned around?

Coach Mendoza: This year! We’re going to regionals this year!

Rick: That’s the only attitude to have! I love it!

Coach Mendoza: We’re going to regionals this year. Anything short of that, anything less than that is not good. Is a bad year for us. We’re expecting to do that and we’ve expected to do that the minute I walked in before we even stepped on a field I told them, this is how it’s going to go. And in the regular season, this is how we’re gonna end up. So far, we’re right on time with everything.

Rick: The kids are responding?

Coach Mendoza: Yeah, they’re responding. The first half was tough but we played good baseball. The second half is looking promising. We played Archbishop Carroll very tough game the second time.

Rick: Yeah, your district games are over. So for you guys I guess it would be to just play your best baseball and take that momentum.

Coach Mendoza: Exactly. You know, Archbishop Carroll, they have very good coaching. The guys that are over there right now…

Rick: Yeah, he’s also turned that program in the right direction this year.

Coach Mendoza: What those coaches have done over there now, it’s really good. They’ve gotten a couple of new guys but not just that. The kids are just so well coached. They’re a really talented team and it’s not just talented, it’s a well-coached talented team. But at Jackson, we think we can beat anybody. So…

Rick: Some coaches have already commented on your team as more competitive than in past years. How does that make you feel to know you’re making a difference?

Coach Mendoza: It’s good. It feels great. It feels great. I guess that’s where my success could be measured; to see that I’m being successful up until this point it’s everything. That’s what you’re doing it for, right? That’s everything.

Rick: And what’s the single most important thing that needs to be done to insure that Jackson continues to go in the direction you’re planning?

Coach Mendoza: Discipline and respect needs to stay top priority.

Rick: I think you said you’ve got five seniors. What’s the future beyond this year look with the guys now that you’ve started to establish what the program is? How do you look to those younger guys to help to keep it there and raise it up from there as you go?

Coach Mendoza: You know I would have to give the credit to the seniors that we have this year for leading by example. They go out there, they carry themselves the right way on and off the field with the books and on the field at practice. I think some of the younger guys, (we’re filled with younger guys) they notice. They notice that and they are great examples. The seniors are great examples for them. Next year a lot of them, they’re going to be the seniors; they’re going to be the leaders. Well, actually next year we’re going to have two seniors but we’re going to be loaded with juniors. There’s only so much you can do as a coach. You have to rely on some of these guys. The seniors we have Ibrahim, Jomilson, really all of our seniors lead by example exceptionally well. I think they deserve the credit for that and that’s what you need to keep it going. That’s what you need, for seniors to lead by example and it’s important because we have a lot of young guys.

Rick: Alright, we kinda already hit on this but my final question is: My first season will be a success if…

Coach Mendoza: All of my seniors go to college and we make it to the regionals.

Rick: Well Coach, thank you very much for taking the time sit down with us today and we wish you not only the best of luck the rest of the year but moving forward beyond that as well.

Coach Mendoza: You got it Rick. Thank you. I appreciate everything you do and everything that the website does. It’s really good. It’s exciting actually! I look at it everyday, all the new stuff.

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