State championship coach Mason Hughes steps down at CVC, joins COS staff
The architect behind Visalia’s first CIF State high school football championship has stepped down after 15 seasons with Central Valley Christian.
Mason Hughes confirmed that decision Tuesday night with the Times-Delta. He will join head coach Travis Burkett’s staff at College of the Sequoias as a defensive assistant and will continue his administrator duties at CVC as the school’s dean of student life — a position he took over before the 2022-23 school year.
In December, Hughes helped guide the Cavaliers to the 2023 CIF State Division 2-AA title. CVC defeated Los Gatos 45-42 in the state championship game to cap off a 15-1 season. His son, Tyler, was a senior on the state championship team, starting the past three years on the offensive line at guard and will move on to play college football later this year at Dordt University in Iowa.
More: One last hurrah: CVC's Hughes family rides off to state championship game
CVC’s 15 wins this fall also established a new Visalia city record for most victories in a single season.
Hughes transformed CVC from a small-school club competing in the Division V playoffs into one of the section’s elite programs, regardless of division.
Excluding the COVID-19-impacted season, under Hughes’ leadership, CVC played for a Central Section championship in six straight seasons while winning it all in 2018 (Division IV), 2021 (Division III) and 2023 (Division II).
During that stretch, the Cavaliers have won a combined 70 games with three consecutive seasons of double-digit victories.
According to Central Section historian Bob Barnett, Hughes culminated his CVC coaching tenure with a 114-65 overall record.
Hughes began his head coaching career at CVC in 2009.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: State championship coach Mason Hughes steps down at CVC, joins COS
