Cougar Athletics
30 NAIA National Championships
95 GSAC Championships
...and counting

Monterio Witherspoon is in his first season on Victor Santa Cruz’s staff. He works with the Cougar running backs.

Witherspoon comes to Azusa Pacific after spending the past 2 seasons at Canyon Country (Calif.) High where he coached the offensive and defensive lines.

Witherspoon began his coaching career in 2002 at his alma mater Dorsey High in Los Angeles where he coached the offensive line. The Dons qualified for the L.A. City playoffs all 3 years of Witherspoon’s coaching tenure, which included an appearance in the 2004 city championship game vs. Birmingham High.

Witherspoon has coached in 3 straight CIF championship games, the 2004 L.A. City game wth Dorsey and then the 2005 CIF Southern Section Division II and 2006 Division I championship games with Canyon Country, which the Cowboys won both years.

Collegiately, Witherspoon was an offensnive lineman at NAIA-member Langston (Okla.) University from where he graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in corrections. While at Langston, he earned All-Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference second team as a senior and was named all-academic by the universtiy.

Prior to his stint at Langston, he played 2 seasons at West L.A. Junior College with former Dorsey teammate and eventual NFL star Keyshawn Johnson.

Witherspoon is a 1992 graduate of Dorsey High where he earned all-conference second team recognition as an offensive lineman. He started for the Dons’ 1991 L.A. City championship team that featured eventual UCLA and NFL running back Karim Abdul Jabar.

Witherspoon works as a recovery specialist at the Phoenix House of Lakeview Terrace, Calif., a drug and alcohol treatment center.

Monterio, 33, and his wife, Zanetta, live in Lancaster, Calif., with their 5 children, Corin (13), Joshua (9), Erin (7), E’Maya (4) and Eris (2).