Evan Jimenez is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Higley High School for AZPreps365.com

GILBERT, Ariz. — For Higley Knights head football coach Eddy Zubey, football has always been about more than winning games.

Growing up in California, Zubey played football at De La Salle High School, where he was part of one of the most successful high school football programs in the country. Zubey was part of De La Salle's historic 151-game winning streak, which began during his sophomore season. However, some of the most important lessons he learned came from the relationships he built with his coaches and teammates.

Zubey's father was the freshman offensive line coach at De La Salle before he passed away from cancer when he was young. Following his father's death, De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur became an important figure in his life.

"He taught me how to tie a tie, other things than just football," Zubey said.

That relationship helped shape the type of coach Zubey wanted to become. Now in his 16th season at Higley, Zubey uses lessons from his playing career and early coaching experiences to teach his players the importance of accountability, teamwork and preparing for life after football.

Zubey was part of De La Salle's historic 151-game winning streak, which began during his sophomore season. Despite being surrounded by success, he said the biggest lessons were not about the final score.

"It laid the foundation for the rest of my life," Zubey said. "Just being a part of something bigger than yourself and being selfless and doing things for others. It was never really the outcome of the games. It was more of the process, holding yourself accountable, holding others accountable. 

“That is what I still try to instill in our own program at Higley."

Those lessons followed Zubey when he continued his football career at Arizona State University.

After transferring from Los Medanos College, Zubey joined the Sun Devils as a linebacker, where he was teammates with Pat Tillman. He was also part of Arizona State's 1997 Sun Bowl championship team, contributing as a backup linebacker and scout-team player.

His role at ASU was different from what he had experienced earlier in his football career.

"It was humbling, to be honest with you," Zubey said. "When I got there, I didn't know if I belonged or not."

Instead of being one of the players receiving attention on game days, Zubey helped prepare his teammates for their upcoming opponents.

"I was there to get everybody else ready,” Zubey said. “That wasn't the goal going into it. That's just where my athletic level took me. I had to find the joy in that process and try to make myself better as well."

The experience taught Zubey to accept his role and understand that every player contributes to a team's success, even if they are not the ones making plays on game day.

"I had to show up every day," Zubey said. "I was a grunt, a cog in the wheel. I wasn't anything special, which is OK. I had to understand that and know my role and be the best I could at it."

After finishing his playing career, Zubey returned to ASU as a graduate assistant under head coach Bruce Snyder before working with Dirk Koetter.

Working under Koetter gave Zubey an opportunity to see how a college football program is built under a new coaching staff.

"I worked with him for three years, so I got to see how you instill a culture, you install an offense, install a defense, weightlifting, everything. I got a crash course in a lot of that," Zubey said. "When I got to De La Salle or even Los Medanos, those coaches had been there for 15-plus years. You walk in and the standard and expectations are set, and I learned from coach Koetter how to install that stuff because it wasn't already built."

A conversation with former ASU assistant and special teams coach Tom Osborne helped Zubey realize he wanted to coach at the high school level.

Osborne told Zubey that his son had played 28 Little League baseball games, but because of his responsibilities as a college coach, he had only attended two.

The conversation made Zubey think about his future and the type of father he wanted to become.

"I felt like I could help mold or influence high school kids easier or better than I could college kids," Zubey said. "Coach Ladouceur being my biggest role model, knowing that I want to be a dad because my dad never saw me play sports. It was one of my personal goals. Just being in the high school landscape allowed me to do all that type of stuff."

With those priorities in mind, Zubey decided to pursue high school coaching rather than continue working at the college level.

After leaving ASU, Zubey was hired as the defensive coordinator at McClintock High School by former Sun Devils teammate Steve Campbell, who is now the head football coach at Higley's rival, Williams Field High School.

Zubey later became the head coach at Westwood for two years and St. Mary for three years before eventually taking over Higley's football program.

At Higley, he has helped turn the Knights into one of the more successful football programs in Arizona.

During his time at Higley, Zubey has led the Knights to back-to-back 5A state championships in 2022 and 2023.

Higley athletic director Aaron Dille described Zubey's impact on the program as transformative and innovative.

"He's turned us into a well-respected, multi-time state champion program with players at the collegiate and NFL level," Dille said. "That's due to his impact. It's as strong as one can get."

For Dille, Zubey's success goes beyond the championships he's brought to Higley.

"He is always looking for ways to improve,” Dille said.“He's had success, but he doesn't rest on that. Any advantage he can find, he wants to study up on it and see how it can help his program."

During the football season, Zubey is already discussing plans for the following offseason and preparing for the next year.

Dille believes Zubey's experience playing at ASU has helped him prepare athletes who want to continue their football careers after high school.

"He wants to give them a taste of what it's like at that next level," Dille said. "He's extremely well versed on what it takes to play at that level. He'll leave no stone unturned in finding a kid an opportunity to play if they want to."

Whether a player is pursuing a Division I program or a smaller college, Zubey works to help them continue playing.

"He'll call 15 NAIA coaches if they'll give a kid a chance," Dille said. "If you want to play at the next level, he'll go above and beyond finding a way for you to play."

Former Higley standout Quinn Bailey went on to play offensive tackle at Arizona State before reaching the NFL with the Denver Broncos.

Zubey's influence has also extended to his own family. His son, Andrew Zubey, continued his football career at Northern Arizona University, where he plays long snapper.

Beyond helping players pursue opportunities at the collegiate level, Dille believes Zubey's emphasis on character is what makes the program different.

"Coach Zubey runs a tight ship and he's strict about the rules they have, but the most important thing to him is culture," Dille said. "He calls character and culture his 'secret sauce,' and that's the difference between good teams and bad teams."

That emphasis on character is also part of Higley's weekly practice routine.

"If you're ever lucky enough to be around on a Monday practice, that's when he does his character theme of the week," Dille said. "Whether it's integrity, selflessness, service, it's always something along those lines, and it's inspiring. I wish we could bottle it up and share it with everybody because it's truly the secret sauce."

Higley defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Rand Baker has worked alongside Zubey for 12 years and has seen those values become part of the program.

Baker said Zubey's coaching philosophy focuses on putting players in situations where they can learn and improve, both on and off the field.

During practice, the coaching staff challenges players by placing them in difficult situations and seeing how they respond. 

“We are very focused on putting them in a position to be successful,” Baker said. “It’s not about just calling plays, it’s about you being successful, not just now, but in life. We talk about being comfortable in the chaos. We'll put them in bad spots. How do you react to that? Then we coach them up.” 

More importantly, Zubey hopes the lessons he teaches through football stay with his players long after they graduate.

"If you are a good person and you do things the right way, work hard, and you're not worried about the credit, the outcome takes care of itself," Zubey said. "We get to use football as the vehicle to teach this.”

"These guys are gonna be fathers, husbands, CEOs, grunt workers. There's gonna be a lot of different aspects that these guys hopefully will be able to rely on these things that we talk about in the game of football.” Years after Ladouceur helped guide him through difficult moments in his own life, Zubey hopes to provide that same support for the next generation of football players at Higley.