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Rob Wigod grew up in Long Beach, California and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. After high school, Rob matriculated to California State University, Long Beach graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. While at CSULB, Rob began coaching football at Wilson High School and realized he wanted to become an educator. In 1983, he earned his Secondary Schools Teaching Credential and began teaching in the Long Beach Unified School District, first at Herbert Hoover Middle School for one year and then Lakewood Senior High School for 14 years. At Lakewood High School, Rob taught U.S. Government, U.S. History and Criminal/Civil Law, while also coaching Varsity Football, Varsity Baseball and serving as Boys Athletic Director.
In August, 1988, during the time he worked at Lakewood High School, Rob earned his Masters Degree in Education from Azusa Pacific University. After 15 years in the Long Beach Unified School District, Rob accepted the position of Head Baseball Coach and Boys Athletic Director at Los Alamitos High School, where he also taught U.S. Government. In his two years there, the Griffins were Sunset League Baseball Champions both years and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Baseball Playoffs, reaching the Quarterfinals in 1999 and the Semifinals in 2000. In 1999, Rob was selected as Orange County Baseball Coach of the Year by the Orange County Register, and the L.A. Times and was Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team Coach of the Year. Rob was selected as Sunset League Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000. In August, 2000, Rob became an Assistant Commissioner for the CIF Southern Section. Rob worked as an Assistant Commissioner for 11 years, where his primary responsibilities were managing and conducting championships in football, wrestling and baseball, while also working with student eligibility and sports officials. On August 2, 2011, Rob became the 9th Commissioner of Athletics for the CIF Southern Section where he oversees an organization of 567 member high schools that offer 24 sports for Boys and Girls. During the 2012-2013 school year, the CIF Southern Section celebrated their 100th Anniversary as an organization dedicated to promoting education-based athletics for high school students. Rob is also a Professor in the Concordia University Masters Degree Program in Coaching and Athletic Administration, where he was selected as Teacher of the Year for the 2009-2010 school year. Other Awards and Recognitions Los Alamitos High School Baseball Hall of Fame – 2003 National Football Foundation, Riverside County – Contribution to Football – 2011 City of Lakewood Hall of Fame – Outstanding Contribution to Youth Sports – 2011 Southern California Football Coaches – Distinguished Service Award – 2012 Concordia University – Legacy in Sports Award – 2012 Long Beach Wilson High School Athletic Hall of Fame – 2014 Rob and his wife Kelly live in Seal Beach and have two daughters: Hailey, a graduate of the University of Redlands, who works for Shell Oil Company in community relations, and Kate, a 2020 Graduate in Political Science from the University of Mississippi. |
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None of us got rich being public school educators and coaches. It wasn’t about that. You’re paid in so many other ways besides money. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit
Don’t get out of it. Don’t do that. Stay with it because if you don’t, you’re going to miss it. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit The commitment, the motivation, and the dedication that we have in order to get student athletes back out there, doing the things that they love to do, is going to be and always will be our primary focus. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit All options are on the table – all of the potential things that we think can happen so that we can provide the opportunities for young people. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit I don’t want people to believe that we’re gonna give up because we’re not, we’re going to stay with this because we know how important it is, and how valuable it is. That’s the plan going forward. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit None of us know exactly when that will be, but when it is coming back, it will be back with renewed appreciation, renewed understanding, and renewed value for what we are and who we are. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit Don’t be discouraged, keep working with those young people, and keep moving us forward in a positive way, because it’s too much a part of our being in our fiber that this is part of the high school experience. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit There are better days ahead and we’re going to enjoy them together, and we’ve got to stay the course, remain committed to who we know we are committed to, which is first and foremost the young people we are so fortunate to serve. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit Coaches fill many roles in the jobs that they have and are in a position and have the incredible responsibility of being a positive influence on the young people they work with. It’s such a special thing. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit |
I really hope and expect there is going to be a heightened appreciation for what high school athletics is. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit
I’ve never been shy to talk about how special, unique, and how valuable it is for the young people that participate in it, the life lessons that they learn. But I also believe at some point it may have been taken for granted. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit People just assumed school athletics was always there and people were used to it, expected it, and it just went along in a routine. Now that that’s been lost, I really hope that they keep in mind how our coaches, Athletic Director’s, Principals, and Southern Section staff do it, and how much we miss it. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit Our Mission is that we are first academics – it’s Student Athlete. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit We believe that high school athletic programs are classrooms outside the building and it’s a great platform for our teacher coaches to be able to teach the life lessons: getting along, working together, and perseverance.@CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit Part of our Mission is also character education, and that’s our program called Pursuing Victory with Honor – The idea that yes, we want to win. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit There’s nothing wrong with the effort that you want to make to try to win, but in doing so, you do it with honor, you do it with class, with integrity, with respect for you opponent, for officials, for the game itself.@CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit We’re educating that total student. We’re educating them academically, socially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, you name it. And we’re doing it on a variety of ways that are unique to our experiences. It’s teaching, it’s education. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit Win or lose, we want to teach young people how to be good people, and how to have the right character and the right sportsmanship, and to approach everything they do in that spirit. @CIFSS @LIOVirtualAthleticSummit |