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Set to begin his 11th
year with the Falcon coaching staff, Caines
has done a phenomenal job with the offensive
linemen. In the past seven seasons, 17 of
the 23 sophomore offensive linemen have
earned Division I scholarships. All in all,
he has sent 33 linemen on, with 18 of them
going to Division I schools. Caines came to
Cerritos College with plenty of community
college experience, although he had been the
head coach at Hacienda Heights Wilson High
School for two seasons before coming to
Cerritos College. He spent three years as a
coach at Mt. San Antonio College, where he
handled the inside linebacker duties, and
even produced an All-American. In 1996, he
led Wilson High to the league championship,
as well as the CIF Championship and a 14-0
record. He began his coaching career at
Bishop Amat High School, where he spent
three seasons as their defensive line coach.
Caines, who
was a very good football player in his day,
graduated from Damien High School, where he
was a two-way starter at linebacker and
tight end on their 1982 CIF Championship
team and earned All-CIF honors as a senior.
He then attended Taft Junior College and
earned 2nd Team All-State honors
as the Cougars won the 1984 National
Championship. Caines then received a
scholarship to Long Beach State and led the
49'ers in tackles and was their Captain. In
his senior season (1988), he earned 2nd
Team All-Pacific Coast Athletic Association
honors. The following year, he signed a free
agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
Caines
graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 1989
with a degree in Physical Education and went
on to earn his Master’s degree in Education
from Azusa Pacific University in 1995.
During his
coaching career, Caines has produced several
very good players at both the high school
and community college level, including
former Falcon offensive lineman Tupe Peko,
who was drafted by the New York Jets and is
now with the Green Bay Packers and Anthony
Guerrero, who was a starting guard for the
Florida Gators and is now in the Arena
Football League.
Tom and
his wife of 17 years Stacy, reside in La
Habra and have three children - Justin, who
is 13, while Dillan is eight and Bobby is
seven. |