Josh Garcia has made his way around the Grand Canyon state in his time on the diamond as a player and coach, making stops at several checkpoints in Arizona.

He’s finally found a home at the place where he started.

Garcia took his first head coaching job at Brophy, his high school alma mater on North Central Avenue.

“What ultimately made me come here was coming back to what I felt helped me get as far as I could in baseball,” said Garcia. “Helping these guys not just excel in baseball but also in life.”

Garcia takes on the responsibility of teaching freshman scripture at Brophy as well, which suits perfectly to the religious studies degree he earned in college.

During his condensed time as a high school baseball coach he has noticed some drastic distinctions in the way he has to go about his business with the Broncos players.

“Sometimes in college you’ll get players that don’t need that much coaching, they just need a platform and somewhere for them to showcase their ability,” said Garcia. “Here, our guys need to learn the game and that’s probably been the best thing: me loving to teach and them loving to learn.”

Many of Garcia’s players have already soaked in a large portion of his knowledge and appreciate the job he has done changing the culture.

“Through 11 games he’s done a really good job of making us refuse to be mediocre,” said senior infielder Lucas Grennan. “He wants us to exceed the expectations that people have for us and he just wants us to hate losing as well as be successful now, through the season, and even after the season.”

Added senior pitcher Merrick Martin: “I think the biggest thing is he’s holding us accountable for our losses and that’s really changing our mentality into a winning one.”

Garcia admires his players for buying in to his plan, acknowledging that his blue print cannot be executed without the support of his ballclub.

“I give them credit because it’s completely different from what they’re used to,” said Garcia. “Everything we do is completely different, in fact I’m not sure if there’s one thing that they can say they do the same other than come out to the same field.”

But the Broncos have adjusted and are now motivated when they see Garcia’s drive and focus to win games.

“When the coaches get fired up about us doing well or not doing so well it gives us that extra motivation to want to do well ourselves,” said Grennan.

While the culture has been altered, Garcia isn’t happy with Brophy’s current 5-6 record.

“Personally, I think we’ve underachieved big time,” said Garcia. “I think there’s a lot of games that if we get a base hit here and make a pitch there our record is completely different. Not very happy with where we are with our record, but it’s a year of developing a different type of culture.”

Added senior outfielder Troy Weinstein: “We’ve had some tough losses, but [Garcia] has high standards for us, which is definitely a good thing.”

For Garcia, it is about more than clutch hits and clean defense.

“The biggest thing I’ve been on them about is their courage,” said Garcia. “It takes courage to go up against an opponent that’s better than you and have a chance to win. It takes courage to get a hit with the bases loaded and two outs.”

Brophy has some high-caliber opponents ahead, but Garcia is no stranger to challenge.

After he graduated high school in the colors of red and white as a Brophy Bronco in 2007, he was selected in the 47th round of the MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Garcia ultimately turned down the opportunity and played college ball at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix.

After some time there where he racked up numerous accolades, including All-ACCAC honors, he turned Division I and played at the University of Arizona in 2011 under Hall of Fame head coach Andy Lopez.

There, he had several teammates, who eventually went on to play at the Major League level, including Alex Mejia (St. Louis Cardinals), Rob Refsnyder (Cleveland Indians), Joey Rickard (Baltimore Orioles), Jett Bandy (Milwaukee Brewers), and Steve Selsky (Red Sox).

Garcia however, had some shining moments of his own in Tucson, particularly in the 2010 Fort Worth Regional. He went 5-for-12 in the series along with a home run in a 10-9 win against Baylor in the opener.

Garcia’s final year as a player was 2011 before he transitioned into a coaching role with the Wildcats.

“I did hitting, infielders, and helped with recruiting at the U of A,” said Garcia. “My role has kind of been the same at every school [aside from Brophy].”

Garcia coached first-round draft pick in Kevin Newman at Arizona, who was selected 19th to the Pirates in the first round.

“I was fortunate enough to be around a lot of good players in my time there,” said Garcia.

He also spent some time as a coach at South Mountain before returning home in 2018.