Menlo School head coach David Trujillo has two CIF Central Coast Section titles and one NorCal title in just three seasons. Photo: menloknights / Instagram.com.
FOR MORE ON STATE COACH OF THE YEAR ANDY ROJO, CLICK HERE.
FOR THIS YEAR’S FINAL STATE BASEBALL RANKINGS ACCORDING TO FIVE DIVISIONS, CLICK HERE.
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MEDIUM SCHOOLS STATE
COACH OF THE YEAR
Michael Kunipo-Aguirre (Carson)
Choosing a medium schools state coach of the year from the CIF L.A. City Section is not a unique situation as it was just two years ago that Matt Mowry of Birmingham (Lake Balboa) got the nod. Medium schools coaches of the year from the South Bay area of L.A. County also isn’t that rare, either, as we show honorees from Redondo, Torrance and Serra of Gardena since 2009.
Carson head coach Michael Kunipo-Aguirre happens to be an alum of the school in which he led the baseball team to its first-ever L.A. City Section title. Photo: @Carson_ColtsBB / X.com.
What became irresistible about Kunipo-Aguirre, however, is that his team at Carson became the first-ever L.A. City title team from the school in its history, which dates back to 1963. He also happens to be a Carson High grad himself (Class of 2017).
Most of those considered for the medium and small schools honors in coaching for this year have limited numbers of years of being a head coach. Kunipo-Aguirre is the same as he’s just in his second year of being Carson’s head coach. According to his Linked In page, despite his young age, he’s a graduate of Cal State Dominguez Hills and has a master’s degree in coaching/athletic administration from Concordia University in Irvine.
Carson’s historic L.A. City title certainly wasn’t expected early in the season as the Colts only won one of their first 10 games. They needed extra innings to win in the D1 semifinals, 4-2, over Taft of Waodland Hills and came from a 1-0 deficit going to the seventh inning to win in the title game, 3-1, over their arch-rivals from Banning of Wilmington.
After tying the score 1-1 in the top of the inning, Juno Carrillo hit a two-run single for the lead. Banning didn’t score in the bottom of the inning.
“We have been resilient all season,” Kunipo-Aguirre told the South Bay Daily Breeze. “The toughest team to beat is one that doesn’t give up. We stayed in it today, played all 21 outs and got the big hit.”
Carson (19-13), which also broke an eight-game losing streak in L.A. City Section title games, opted out of the CIF SoCal regional playoffs. Banning went on and was placed in D4 where it went to the final and lost to Ridgeview (Bakersfield). Some of the teams the CIF placed in D4 are considered medium schools and not small for postseason honors and Carson, Banning and Ridgeview are three of them. Carson has an enrollment of more than 1,400 students (not exactly small school).
Kunipo-Aguirre was the Daily Breeze Coach of the Year last season, which was his first at his alma mater. That team won the Marine League title, but lost in the L.A. City Section playoffs in the semifinals to Birmingham. This year’s team did even more so Michael’s coach of the year honor was a bit more as well.
Recent State Medium Schools Coaches of the Year: 2024 – Paul Martinez (Roseville Oakmont); 2023 – Matt Mowry (Lake Balboa Birmingham); 2022 – Tony Nieto (Las Flores Tesoro); 2021 – Daniel Maye (Simi Valley Royal); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Pat Fuentes (Los Banos); 2018 – Ken Arnerich (Alameda); 2017 – Rich Henning (Christian Brothers, Sacramento); 2016 – Jeff Baumback (Redondo Beach Redondo Union); 2015 – Mike Mitchell (El Cajon Christian); 2014 – Ollie Turner (Torrance); 2013 – Wilmer Aaron (Gardena Serra); 2012 – Steve Vickery (Lakeside El Capitan); 2011 – Gary Remiker (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); 2010 – Rich Sciutto (Burlingame); 2009 – Bob Anderson (Lake Shasta Central Valley).
SMALL SCHOOLS STATE
COACH OF THE YEAR
David Trujillo (Menlo School, Atherton)
There were some high expectation for the Menlo School baseball program three years ago when Trujillo came on board. He had been a baseball coach at nearby Menlo-Atherton of Atherton (larger public school) for seven years, including three as the Bears’ head coach. His last team there also won a league title.
In Trujillo’s second season at Menlo last year, the Knights won the CIF Central Coast Section D6 championship with a win over Lincoln of San Jose and then went to the CIF NorCal regional playoffs where they lost in the D5 title game to Woodland Christian.
The third season this year was even better. Menlo won the CCS D5 title with a victory vs Monterey (which has the winningest head coach in CCS history with longtime leader Michael Groves). Then in the CIF NorCal playoffs despite being in a higher division the Knights won the title and did it first by beating Woodland Christian on the road in the semifinals, 15-11, and then defeating Santa Clara (won the next highest CCS divisional title), 2-1, in the regional final.
In that NorCal final, Menlo topped a Bruins’ squad that also was on a 20-game win streak. The Knights didn’t have that long of a win streak, but they did finish with 21 wins in their last 22 games.
Coach Trujillo was a standout in college in the early 2000s at UNLV. He later played as a pro with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League and Chico Outlaws for the Golden Baseball League. He started his coaching and teaching career about 20 years ago and had taught P.E. and coached at Menlo in its middle school previously before going to M-A. Trujillo also has coached various travel teams in the Bay Area.
The last State Small Schools Coach of the Year from the CCS was Greg Mugg of The King’s Academy (Sunnyvale) in 2019. Menlo has had its own previous State Small Schools Coach of the Year before as well with Craig Schoof on the list for the 2011 season.
Recent State Small Schools Coaches of the Year: 2024 – Scott Neal (Delano Chavez); 2023 – Stewart Peterson (Sutter); 2022 – Kurt Takahashi (Sacramento Bradshaw Christian); 2021 – Eric Lay (Colusa); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Greg Mugg (Sunnyvale The King’s Academy); 2018 – Mack Paciorek (Pasadena Poly); 2017 – Jim Cleveland (San Lorenzo Redwood Christian); 2016 – Troy Ghisetti (Arcata); 2015 – Nelson Randolph (Sacramento Capital Christian); 2014 – Jay Preuss (Kerman); 2013 – Gil Ruiz (Pacific Grove); 2012 – Greg Largent (Escalon); 2011 – Craig Schoof (Atherton Menlo School); 2010 – Glen Prater (Riverside Woodcrest Christian); 2009 – Brad Gunter (Roseville Valley Christian).
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