Bobby Sanchez already has much of his plan in place for his first season as New London High School’s head football coach.

Sanchez also has his three-year plan in place.

And a five-year plan.

And a seven-year plan.

Get ready, New London, because Sanchez is really enthusiastic about leading the Whalers.

“I’ve had my John Wooden poster up which is the pyramid of head coaching,” Sanchez said. “All of the things that you’ve got to make sure you have in line as a head coach, and I’ve been working my way through that.”

Sanchez, 38, was hired on Jan. 22. He also accepted a position as a technology teacher at the high school. He’s been an assistant at Valley Regional/Old Lyme (2014-2019), Hamden (2021) and Middletown (2022).

“The mantra going into this year is ‘Row the boat,’” Sanchez said. “I stole it from (University of) Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck. We’re the Whalers. Row the boat. It’s just too fitting not to be our mantra.”

Sanchez has already started a lifting program, established a relationship with the booster club and has his coaching staff in place. He’s retained assistants Kasi Fletcher, Tim Kwochka, Lydell Pemberton and Kysim Thompson. He’s also brought in Valley/Old Lyme assistant Jake Bocian and Phil Cohen, who helped guide the Warriors to the CIAC Class SS title game last fall.

“My biggest concerns going into becoming a head coach were could I get a staff in place because I’m not from here (and) I don’t have a huge coaching network,” Sanchez said. “So, I was a little bit nervous about putting a staff together. And I was a little bit nervous about the booster club situation and the youth program.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate enough to keep on the four coaches that I’ve kept on — Lydell Pemberton, Kasi Fletcher, Kysim Thompson and Tim Kwochka. They each have a tremendous knowledge of the game. They’re all successful former players and they’re all in the building, so I could not have asked for a better situation for the guys I’m retaining. They have a great relationship with the players.

“(Bocian and Cohen) just coached in the state championship (game) and they just went (11-2). As far as a coaching staff is concerned, I couldn’t ask for a better situation. And for me to be able to round out my coaching staff in the first month is huge.”

New London has won an Eastern Connecticut Conference-best five CIAC state championships, its last in 2008, but hasn’t enjoyed that level of success as of late. The Whalers haven’t qualified for the postseason since 2016 and are 21-29 over the past five seasons with just one winning year (6-4, 2021). They finished 2-8 in 2022.

“This New London town, the New London program, the New London school, the fan base, it reminds me so much of the current-day Miami Hurricanes,” Sanchez said. “What I’m talking about is you have a fan base and people that are so desperately wanting for the glory days and they’re so wanting for the program to be back at (that) status.”

Sanchez may be an unknown around New London but he’s been a part of successful programs elsewhere. He’s from Chicago and played at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill. He was a junior when the program won the Illinois High School Association 6A state championship (the state’s largest division) in 2000, the first of five state titles it has won since that time. It’s won six overall, tying it for eighth all-time in Illinois.

Sanchez has also worked under two state championship head coaches — Tim King, the former head coach at Valley Regional/Old Lyme, and Hamden’s Tom Dyer, who previously coached Hillhouse to Class M titles in 2010 and 2012.

“I’m not from this area but I understand (expectations),” Sanchez said. “I’m not scared of them. I’m not worried about them but, at the same time, I really want to embrace the history (of New London).”

Sanchez said that player participation in the conditioning program has been anywhere from the high 20s to low 30s and expects those numbers to go up between the end of the winter season and start of spring sports.

“My aspiration is that I’m going to get this thing rolling,” Sanchez said. “And once we start becoming successful, more-and-more people are going to want to have a part of that success and ultimately it’s going to start to snowball and it’s going to grow into something great. That’s the potential that I see.

“I’ve got my booster club, my five, six mothers that are going to help me with the booster club. I’ve got that settled. Now the next step is to work with the youth program, get involved with them and make sure I have a foundation and a pipeline coming up. It’s all about my five-year plan, my seven-year plan, my nine-year plan which is building this thing up. … build this up to an 80-plus player, student-athlete program. That’s my goal. So I’m trying to lay the groundwork for that the first couple of months.

n.griffen@theday.com