Trana to coach in junior college Triumphant Bowl

SANDPOINT - The odds of Sandpoint assistant football coach John Trana coaching a future NFL running back or two next week are pretty high, considering the wealth of talent that will be playing in the National Junior College All-American Game in Chandler, Arizona on Dec. 13.

Trana, 37, was invited to coach the running backs for Team California, which will face Team USA as the top 85 junior college football players meet in Arizona for the Triumphant Sports Bowl at Chandler High School.

For Trana, who has been coaching football for eight years, it's another chance to get his foot in the door, meet new people, and further his passion for coaching football. It's also a chance to get an up close and personal view of some of the best athletes in the country.

"Over half of the players there are already signed at BCS conference schools," explained Trana, who leaves for Arizona on Monday for a week of practice. "I'm excited to see the talent level and how fast the game is played."

Isaac Bruce, Jeremy Shockey, Chad Johnson and Seahawks stalwart offensive lineman Walter Jones are but a few of the hundreds of NFL players to come up through the junior college ranks. It's a safe assumption that many of this year's junior college crop will end up playing on Sundays as well.

Trana, who was born and raised in North Dakota, never played in college, jumping straight into what he called "corporate America" after graduating college. After seven years of climbing that ladder, he said he just felt like something was missing. So he decided to try coaching the sport he'd always loved, going so far as to tell his boss he needed afternoons off in the fall and that he was prepared to quit to make it happen. Luckily he kept his job, and a fervent love of coaching was born as he climbs a somewhat different ladder.

For the past eight years, four of which were spent in Colorado and the last four at Sandpoint, Trana has attended the American Football Coaches Association's national clinics, where he's made countless contacts including the ones that led to this current coaching gig. He hopes to eventually become a high school head coach, or perhaps even higher, his passion for the game continually growing.

"I love the relationship with the kids, seeing them grow and mature, seeing them do things they couldn't do last year," said Trana, who mostly coaches wide receivers at Sandpoint. "It's just a passion and it mirrors life so much. The skills, teamwork, how it all relates to how the world works."

Trana counts himself lucky to work with the likes of Bulldogs head coach Mike Mitchell, who was a junior college head coach in California for 15 years before taking the Sandpoint job. Trana has learned first hand some of the advanced offensive philosophies and game plans put together by Mitchell. He just put nearly 100 hours into making the 2008 SHS season highlight video, joking that his wife Heather was even sick of hearing the video's music.

Trana will continue his coaching odyssey this week when he jumps up into the collegiate ranks for the first time. Like always, he'll be a sponge for expanding his coaching IQ, saying that most coaches don't invent, they steal.

"I'm always trying to find a way to do something better," he said. "I try to spend as much time as I can with college coaches and learn and get better every year.

"Otherwise, what are we doing here?"