Florence football coach and longtime Mesa school district assistant George De La Torre is expected to be Dobson's new football coach.
Florence principal Chris Knutsen confirmed De La Torre will head to Dobson, pending Mesa Unified School District board approval. The next board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 7.
De La Torre didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment. He would replace Alex Jacobson, who resigned in November after three seasons.
"Their win, our loss," Knutsen wrote in an e-mail. "(De La Torre) has been instrumental in resurrecting our football program this past four years. He will be greatly missed."
De La Torre spent four years at Florence. He took over a then-struggling program in 2008, as the Gophers went 1-9 in De La Torre's first season, but he led the school to the Class 3A/Division III state semifinals for three consecutive seasons (2009-2011). He was 31-19 overall in four seasons at the school.
Before Florence, De La Torre coached three seasons at South Mountain (2005-2007), where he led the Jaguars to the playoffs all three of those seasons.
A longtime assistant within the Mesa school district from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, De La Torre worked as an assistant at Westwood under former coach Jerry Loper, then at Red Mountain under former coach Jim Jones, as well as Skyline.
De La Torre's son, Mike De La Torre is Poston Butte's football coach.
Mark Heller is the East Valley Tribune sports editor. He can be reached at mheller@evtrib.com or (480) 898-6576.
