Nipomo football coach Tony Dodge greets two players Saturday who paid their respects to assistant coach Josh Caldera. A memorial was set up at midfield on Nipomo High’s football stadium to honor Caldera, who died suddenly last Wednesday. Caldera coached at Nipomo High for a decade and also coached the Nipomo Cowboys youth football team.

A memorial was set up at midfield on Nipomo High’s football stadium to honor assistant football coach Josh Caldera, who died suddenly last Wednesday. Caldera coached at Nipomo High for a decade and also coached the Nipomo Cowboys youth football team.

A memorial was set up at midfield on Nipomo High’s football stadium to honor assistant football coach Josh Caldera, who died suddenly last Wednesday. Caldera coached at Nipomo High for a decade and also coached the Nipomo Cowboys youth football team.

Tragedy struck the Nipomo High football program last week.

Longtime assistant coach Josh Caldera died suddenly last Wednesday, Sept. 9. 

Caldera, who played football at Arroyo Grande High, was Nipomo’s defensive line coach and also a coach with the famed youth football team in town, the Nipomo Cowboys. 

From what I’ve gathered, Caldera was a high school football coaching archetype. No glitz or glamour, just a fiery coach who crafts aggressive, intense players. A coach who loves football, no matter the setting. 

Caldera enjoyed coaching at Nipomo so much that he made a habit of painting the Nipomo ‘N’ at midfield on Thursday nights before every home game. 

Nipomo head coach Tony Dodge said Caldera was so dedicated to that task that he had already ordered the paint for the field well before the season was slated to start in January. Dodge knew this because once he learned of Caldera’s passing, he felt the right thing to do would be to paint the ‘N’ at the Titans’ stadium to honor Caldera.

So Dodge went to the hardware store in Nipomo with dim hopes of finding black and crimson paint. Yet, the store had the exact paint Dodge was in need of. Of course, that was because Caldera had ordered the paint as he was waiting for the season to start. Dodge then met with Caldera’s family and also picked up the tools and stencils from Caldera’s home to complete the paint job.

All this in hopes of finding some way to honor the coach Dodge called his right-hand man. 

Meanwhile, Russ Edwards, the Athletic Director at Nipomo High, worked with Lucia Mar Unified to get clearance to hold a low-key memorial at the football stadium on Saturday.