PARADISE, Calif.-- Paradise Head football Coach Rick Prinz was ready to say goodbye to coaching after 30 years last season. 

"It’s just something you’re doing all the time," said Prinz. "You're offseason you’re here, watching film, looking ahead, talking to players making sure they’re doing well in school.”

Prinz ha sled the Bobcats to a multiple of section and division championships. ESPN even named him Coach of the Year one year. 

"My wife and I decided that last season I was going to retire from coaching, but I just didn’t announce it or anything. I have a grandson now and was just looking toward slowing down a little bit," said Prinz. 

But because of the Camp Fire that ripped through Paradise last year, he decided it wasn't the right time to walk away. 

"We needed to continue the program from how it was and to not start over after such devastation," said Prinz. "I just saw the kids at school, at the airport in Chico and just knew that I needed to be there for them, and I needed them to. I needed to come back…" 

35 kids quickly filled the roster to play the sport they grew up playing together. 

"It just looked like they were home," said Prinz. They may have not been home in Paradise, but they were home on the field with their football family and it just felt good doing something normal with eachother."