‘Mr. Woodside’ dies at the age of 59

He was 59. A Sequoia High School graduate, he is survived by his wife Cheryl and adult children Stephen and Daniella. Both the Navarrete family and the school are in the initial stages of planning some type of memorial.

“Jose was my best buddy in the coaching ranks. He was a personal friend,” said Burlingame girls’ soccer head coach Philip DeRosa. “is a major blow for soccer itself. He was a great ambassador for the sport. It really upset me to hear this.

“I lost a buddy.”

Affectionately known as “Shorty,” Navarrete turned Woodside into a girls’ soccer power. Taking over the Woodside varsity program ahead of the 200-01 season, Navarrete led the Wildcats to the Ocean Division title in 2003. In 2010, he won the first of his six Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division crowns, including four in row from 2013 to 2016.

2010 was also the first year Navarrete and Woodside appeared in a Central Coast Section championship game, falling 2-0 to St. Francis in the Division I final. It was the first of six CCS finals appearances under Navarrete.

He guided the Wildcats to their first CCS championship in 2013, sharing it with Santa Teresa after a scoreless final. In 2016, the Wildcats won the inaugural CCS Open Division title, beating Mountain View 1-0. Woodside would win another co-championship in 2017, sharing it with Presentation.

In 2020, Navarrete was named the CCS Honor Coach for girls’ soccer.

“He was Mr. Woodside,” said Woodside athletic director Tim Faulkner, who coached the Wildcats’ varsity baseball team for years before taking over as AD.

“He would support our entire athletic department. He went to all the games of the other sports. He was everywhere on campus, even when he wasn’t coaching soccer. He would support all the kids and all the teams.

“He just loved Woodside.”

Faulkner was especially appreciative of Ignacio “Nacho” Navarrete, Jose Navarrete’s younger brother, for stepping up and assuming control of the team this season and assisting tremendously last season as well.

“Nacho has just been amazing,” Faulkner said. “We can’t thank Nacho enough for everything this year. He’s been a rock, being there for the girls, for the team.”

A heart attack in 2015 which led to the insertion of two stents was a precursor to last year, when an ill Navarrete was unable to lead Woodside by himself. Nacho Navarrete came in to run the team day to day and Jose Navarrete would attend games when he could.

Despite not feeling well, doctors could not figure out what was wrong with Navarrete.

“I was worried,” said Sequoia head coach Melissa Schmidt. “He didn’t look well and clearly didn’t feel good.”

DeRosa said he received a phone call from Navarrete on the day of the PAL coaches’ preseason meeting this past October, asking DeRosa to be his proxy in case his brother could not make the meeting.

That’s when DeRosa said Navarrete dropped the bombshell.

“I was kind of taken aback (when he asked me to be his proxy). He had been sick for a year. I said, ‘Jose, what’s going on?’ DeRosa said. “That day, he said to me, ‘Philip, I’m getting my heart replaced.’ I said, ‘Wh-, wh-, what?’”

DeRosa said Navarrete told him he expected to be back on the Woodside sideline, “in a couple weeks.”

“I kept in touch with Nacho,” DeRosa said. “And he kept telling me that [Jose] was dealing with one issue after another.”

Nacho Navarrete said the expectation was that his brother would get back on the field, but various complications muddied the future.

“He had a lot of complications and unfortunately things regressed,” Nacho Navarrete said, adding Jose Navarrete had an additional procedure to remove infections from his lungs.

Jose Navarrete ended up staying in the intensive care unit for the last five months before finally succumbing Wednesday.

Despite his successes on the field, Navarrete was about much more than wins and losses. He was an advocate for soccer in general and girls’ soccer, specifically. He was about uplifting his players and colleagues.

“I met Jose when I first started coaching (at Sequoia),” Schmidt said. “He was always so positive. He encouraged me constantly. I always loved seeing him because he lifted me up. The day we won CCS (last Saturday), I remember thinking, ‘I can’t wait to tell Jose because he’ll be so happy for me.’”

Schmidt said Navarrete was one of the first people to recognize she was turning around the Ravens’ program and it was at Navarrete’s insistence that Sequoia got its shot to play in the Bay Division.

“He championed the smaller programs,” Schmidt said. “When we were fighting to have our chance in the Bay … he finally just said, ‘Let them play! Let them try!’ And I was like, ‘thank you.’

“He had that great balance. He was always out for Woodside. He was out to win, but he was also out for the whole league, too. He really valued girls’ soccer and everyone involved in it.”

Nacho Navarrete echoed that sentiment.

“I think he had a good understanding of the PAL and how competitive it was and how every week was just a battle,” Nacho Navarrete said. “It’s difficult to win a championship in the PAL.”

Given Jose Navarrete’s longtime club coaching career, a majority of which was with Redwood City-based Juventus Academy SV, he was beloved not just in the Woodside community but the Peninsula soccer community as a whole.

“He is such a big Redwood City guy,” Schmidt said.

Added DeRosa: “I lost a friend and the PAL lost a great voice. It’s a loss for everybody.”

As for the nickname “Shorty,” no one really knows from where it came. While not especially diminutive, Navarrete was not the tallest guy in the world. DeRosa said he thought it came from his playing days, but he couldn’t be sure. DeRosa said he never used the nickname. He believed it to be a bit demeaning.

But Navarrete was OK with it. Even his brother wasn’t sure where the name came from. He just knows friends and family have always called him “Shorty.”

“I honestly don’t know. He liked it. A lot of his friends called him ‘Shorty.’ … All of our family called him “Shorty,’” Nacho Navarrete said. “I wish I knew how he got it.”