Cavaliere resigns as football coach at Oak Ridge

Eric Cavaliere has been on a football team either as a player or a coach for 39 of his 52 years, the last 14 as head coach of Oak Ridge's varsity football team. He's been coaching for 26 straight years, 22 at Oak Ridge, and now he needs a break. Cavaliere resigned as head coach at Oak Ridge on Monday. He's not ruling out coaching again, but at the moment has no desire to be a head coach at any level. "I'm done being a head coach," Cavaliere said. "It's time. It's been an awesome ride, but I need a break. I could see myself enjoying another role, but not be a head coach. My job now is to support whoever gets the job in any way possible." After leading the Trojans to a section championship in 2019, he thought that might be his last season, but leaving the team during a pandemic wasn't the right thing to do, so he stuck around for another season. "The kids needed football more in the year they didn't have it, then they did when they did have it," Cavaliere said. "Winning the section championship in 2019 is one of the high marks of my coaching career in terms of results, but this last year, it was just a good solid year of helping kids and I'm proud of that too." In his 14 years as head coach at Oak Ridge, taking over for Chris Jones in 2007, Cavaliere led the Trojans to a 114-51 record, including a 17-12 mark in the playoffs. He reached the section championship game twice in 2012 and 13, losing to Granite Bay and Folsom, respectively, before finally getting that win in 2019 against Monterey Trail, 35-27. "I don't know what I want to do next year," Cavaliere said. "Something like assisting on the freshman team; I like coaching at the lower levels and not having the stress of being a head coach. Then Friday nights I could go enjoy watching a varsity game without the stress." Cavaliere is proud of what he and his staff and players have accomplished at Oak Ridge. "I'm really proud of the culture of the program, the way the kids treat each other and others on campus," Cavaliere said. "We set the bar high in terms of expectations, character, work ethic and competitive drive and we've done things the right way. I'm proud of what we've done, how we've done it and who we've done it with and doing it in a community like El Dorado Hills has been a dream come true." Cavaliere, who teaches physical education and health at Oak Ridge, will keep his teaching job at the school. Cavaliere is married to his wife, Tammy, and they have two kids; Connor, who just finished his freshman year at Sonoma State, and Hannah, who graduated from Northern Arizona University in November.