Velez takes over Aragon baseball program

"Jesse has a great background and track record," said Aragon athletic director Steve Sell. "But more importantly, he's shown that he can mold young men and give them a better opportunity in life."

Velez, 60, served as the Burlingame frosh-soph coach the past six seasons. This will be Velez's second go-around as a varsity head coach. He served in that capacity at Capuchino in 1994 and 1995. Since then, however, he has bided his time waiting for the right varsity opportunity to open up locally.

After leaving Capuchino, he served as Terra Nova's frosh-soph coach for three years before taking over at Burlingame.

"When I applied (at Aragon) a lot of people were behind me," Velez said. "They say I was one of the top Peninsula frosh-soph coaches and I should have been a varsity coach a long time ago."

Velez, who was born in San Francisco and attended Galileo High, has been coaching baseball since he was 27 and served as an assistant coach at University of San Francisco under Dante Bendetti from 1970 to 1975. He also coached at City College of San Francisco and spent years coaching youth baseball and in San Francisco's semi-pro leagues.

Velez has also been a very successful coach at every stop. He has won the frosh-soph Bay Division championship five of six years at Burlingame to go along with two championships at Terra Nova and two more at Capuchino.

Yet despite all the success, Velez wondered if he would ever get another shot at guiding a varsity program.

"[Getting the job at Aragon] means a lot. When you're a frosh-soph coach and you're one for such a long time, you start to wonder if (high school athletic directors) know who you are," Velez said. "When I was at Cap, I knew how important frosh-soph coaches are."