Photos By Matt Weir / The Collegian
As the latest addition to the Bulldog football family, Pete Alamar has big expectations in the special teams department
Heading into his 26th season coaching, and his first at Fresno State, special teams and tight ends coach Pete Alamar is excited to be a Bulldog.
Before coming to Fresno, Alamar served seven years as an assistant at the University of California where his units finished second and third in the Pac-10 in punting and punt returns respectively in 2009.
Alamar will be replacing John Baxter, who left to USC to become the associate head coach and special teams coordinator.
Under Baxter’s guidance, the special teams unit excelled, having blocked the most kicks in the nation since 2002 with 49. The ‘Dogs have returned 20 punts, eight kickoffs and 11 blocked field goals or punts for a touchdown during Baxter’s 13 years as the special teams coach.
“I have a lot of respect for John and what he’s done,” Alamar said.
Alamar has a tough act to follow, but he doesn’t view it that way.
“I don’t look at it as big shoes,” Alamar said. “I look at it as just an opportunity as the next place to go coach these guys and have some fun with it.
Alamar will look to build on the foundation that Baxter has set for him.
“It’s my job that we continue that tradition and understand that our job is to go out and play well in the kicking game,” Alamar said.
With Alamar’s experience as a player, an offensive coordinator and a head coach, he will hope to add a new mentality to special teams unit.
“Our thing is to out hit, out hustle and out execute,” Alamar said.
Q&A
What do you enjoy about coaching?
The players. Working with the players and having an opportunity to not only help these guys on the field to become as good as they possibly could be, but off the field too. To take a guy, take a team and watch him grow and graduate and see how he just grows and matures as a football player, as a student and as a person. You know, that’s a cool thing.
Are you bringing any new philosophies to the team?
I’m replacing a guy who comes from the same branch of the family tree. We have a lot of really similar philosophies, as far as the kicking game goes. As far as whole big giant, wholesale changes, no. I think that everybody adds their own personality to the deal. There’ll be a little tweaks here, a little tweaks there. You know as far as how we do this or do that.
What’s your favorite thing about football?
The best thing about this game is that it’s the ultimate team sport; there is no team sport like it. It’s the only sport [where] you got 11 guys on every play [that’s] got to work in unison together to find success. That’s what makes this game great.
How do you like Fresno so far?
We love it. It’s great. I try to tell people that there’s absolutely everything in this town that you could want. If you need to buy it you can find it. If you want to go eat it, it’s around. So far it’s been awesome, and the people have been great. Everybody’s been awesome, everyone we meet they’ve been very welcoming. It’s been great. We look forward to it.
What’s your most memorable moment as a coach?
There’s a ton of great memories. I don’t want to shortchange anybody on it. One of the greatest memory is a non-football memory was a player, [after] I moved on to another school, [who] three years later called to tell me that he was graduating the next day and just wanted to say thanks. There have been a lot of great memories.
Are you excited for your upcoming season as a Bulldog?
Absolutely. I think we got a great opportunity for us. We have a lot of guys coming back with experience. I just watch the way they work and go about their business. I think they’re going to work hard this summer. You know, we look forward to the fall. It’s a great non-conference schedule; it’s a challenging non-conference schedule. It’s going to be exciting. I’m excited for it. I wish we were getting ready to go play. We could drop the summer and get to the fall and go do it. I’d be happy with that.