Ethan Troll is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Edge for AZPreps365.com. 

Mike Mendoza is strengthening Desert Edge’s competitive culture in softball beyond its limits.

Desert Edge’s new softball head coach has proven to be the next man up to keep the winning culture strong in the school’s softball program. His team currently has a 6-1 record due to very competitive discipline and situational awareness.

Mendoza has coached in multiple sports from club to high school since 1999, carrying over many years of experience into his position as head coach for Desert Edge softball.

“I started in 1999,” Mendoza said. “I started out at Tolleson high school and I got my first opportunity at coaching baseball. I worked under coach Richardson over there. The start of 2013 is when I got into softball coaching my daughter. I just really fell in love with softball and I’ve been coaching softball ever since.”

It hasn’t been a perfect pathway to get to where Mendoza is now, however. He has had to overcome adversity and had to take a step away from softball. With that being said, he still has so much drive to coach and be there for his staff and players.

“I took a couple of years off to tend to my dad who was battling cancer,” Mendoza said. “I was still involved as much as I could, but overall, I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years and this is my first head coaching job for softball at the high school level. It’s a little bit different from coaching club, but I’m enjoying it.”

Mendoza is a coach that really doesn’t take much credit for what he has been able to shape this team into and even though he knows that his squad and coaching staff give him credit, he never takes any for himself and puts his players and staff first.

“I give credit to the kids,” Mendoza said. “I came in this year and some of them were familiar with my coaching style and some of them weren’t. I’ve just asked them to be more accountable for their actions and I’m really big on having our kids play for one another. I think what’s helped is I’ve shared my visions with the rest of the staff and they’ve been great at helping me make sure that the kids are doing the right things. We’ve put together a great staff and they’ve helped me enforce the work.”

Assistant coach Gary Rivera has been around Mendoza for a while and loves how great of a coach he has become already and loves being by his side.

“His mentality, his personality, and the way that he carries himself shows and goes without saying,” Rivera said. “He changed the culture and he’s pushing us in a different direction. What I’m really impressed with about him is that he believes in the girls on a whole other level. His charisma, swagger, and love for the game just oozes out of him.”

There is something that Rivera sees in Mendoza that makes him stand out amongst other coaches. It’s something that has really helped the team become who they are.

“Mike will tell you that he’s a student of the game,” Rivera said. “He’ll say ‘he’s not the best coach.’ He wants to know what we think. He’s always wanting to learn. He’s always trying to coach us and we have that conversation all the time. He allows us to do our thing as well and allows us to shine. His love for what he does is second to none. He makes me want to push more for him and everything that he does is with pure love.”

Ely Rivera also had many great things to say about Mendoza as well and feels his energy and shift in not only the team, but in herself as well.

“I view him as an amazing person in general,” Ely said. “He’s such a good mentor. You can go to him and ask him any question. Just having him here makes me feel really good to know that I have a coach who cares about what we want to do not only on the field, but off the field, too. He’s here for us no matter what.”

With Mendoza as head coach, there is more drive than ever before to go after something bigger than just a winning record for the program.

“He’s instilled this new hunger in us to play,” Ely said. “This hunger to want to win and want to play for each other. Even after some girls leave and new ones come in, he’s still going to be here and have that hungry mindset to become better.”

For this being his first time as head coach, Mendoza’s bright personality has made an impressive impact on his team and its culture.