Fresno City College taps homegrown leaders to replace coaching legends

Fresno City College chose two former Rams to carry two of its most visible programs into a new era, betting that homegrown leadership can preserve a winning identity after Tony Caviglia and Eric Solberg stepped aside. The college introduced Josh Brown as head football coach and Dr. David Santesteban as head men’s soccer coach at a 3 p.m. press conference on May 26 on the soccer field.

The move mattered far beyond a routine coaching change. Caviglia retired after 27 years and left as the winningest coach in Fresno City College history, a standard that has shaped Ram football for decades. Brown inherits a program that FCC said was beginning its 78th football season in 2025 and was set up for Caviglia’s 26th year at the helm, with the final home game scheduled for Nov. 1, 2025 against College of the Sequoias at Ratcliffe Stadium and the chance at a 200th career win. Brown said he kept Caviglia’s staff intact and did not lose a single player to another junior college, giving the Rams an immediate measure of continuity as he takes over. He also pointed to Fresno-area recruiting as a selling point, saying local players arrive tough physically and mentally.

Santesteban’s promotion carries a similar institutional weight. He played soccer at Fresno City before transferring to Fresno State, then spent years in the Valley sports landscape, including time as athletic director at Reedley College. He replaced Eric Solberg, who coached men’s soccer for 27 years after starting at FCC as Ron Scott’s assistant in 1989. Solberg’s résumé helped define the program’s reputation: United Soccer Coaches national coach of the year in 2016, state titles in 2017 and 2019, and a national staff of the year honor in 2019.

Athletic director Derrick Johnson framed both hires as more than sentimental reunions, calling them proven leaders with strong values and a passion for mentoring student-athletes. That matters at a college that fields 21 intercollegiate teams and describes itself as the first community college established in California. With Denise Whisenhunt as the institution’s 13th president, FCC is using two familiar faces to protect two of its clearest pipelines, from local high schools into junior college competition and, for some athletes, on to Fresno State and beyond.