Born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, Carlos Zubiate has now been a coach at North High School for over 20 years. Zubiate talked about a little about his life before he was a coach at North.

“When I finished my tenure at the university I went to Guadalajara to play for the team over there, and they hired me as a PE teacher at one of the secundarias (middle school),” said Zubiate. “I worked there for seven years. After seven years, I said ‘I’ll see you later’ and came here."

“He’s been here forever,” joked North’s athletic director Ray Pino.

Zubiate first became a coach at North in 1991.

“I got hired as a health teacher and then they gave me the position for soccer.”

He established the soccer program as a club for two years until 1993 when the school started competing against other schools in AIA competition.

In addition to coaching soccer, Zubiate is also a cross country coach and was a track coach as well. He coached those three sports for a span of four years, but eventually left his position on the track team because his schedule was overwhelming

“It took much of my time,” Zubiate added. “Being here every day, I didn’t have time to spend with my family."

For Daniel Valles, a senior on the varsity soccer team, Zubiate is someone he looks up to.

“Coach Zubi is a role model to everybody,” stated Valles. “He won’t let you out. He involves you in everything you do. He’s probably the reason why the team gets stronger and stronger every year.”

Marcelo Cruz, captain of the soccer team, also talked about Zubiate’s impact on him.

“He’s definitely helped me out in and out the field showing us that education is first.”

Despite the many accolades he was won and everything he has accomplished, he cites his desire to “help out the kids” as the driving force behind his tenure at North.

“I like to always be active and coaching, helping those kids to get better in each sport,” Zubiate said. “As a matter of fact, last year one of my runners won state in cross country and now he’s in NAU on an athletic scholarship.”