Connecticut basketball head coach Geno Auriemma isn’t the only coach ruling women’s sports at the collegiate level.

Enter Cerritos College women’s soccer head coach Ruben Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has coached his women to four straight state championships and is looking to add to his already rich legacy.

“The way we run our program we start thinking about the next year. I think maybe we should enjoy it a little bit more. When we were on the bus last year after we won the championship, the first thing we talked about was what players we were looking at and what players we had coming in the next season,” he said.

“Winning has become the culture and expectation now,” he added.

There wasn’t always this expectation on Gonzalez as he did not make the jump to Cerritos College until 2005.

Prior to, he was the assistant coach for men’s soccer at Rio Hondo College in 1997.

“In 2002, something happened two games into the season and the [women’s soccer] coaches got let go and they asked me if I could take over the program. I said ‘Women’s?’ I’ve coached club and coached girls but never women,” he said.

Freshman Natalie deLeon played high school soccer at St. Joseph High School where she was rivals with Gonzalez-led Bishop Amat Memorial High School.

“I always thought he was a great coach to begin with and I was excited to play for him. Since he knew of me prior, he knew what I was capable of and pushed me to be an even better player.

“He did that for everyone on the team. He always cared about our team and wanted us to come together as one,” deLeon said.

Gonzalez shared that if he hadn’t taken the position, the team would’ve been forced to forfeit its season.

Following the 2004, season the position was opened to full-time and he was not allowed to retain his coaching job.

At the time he had his bachelor’s degree and was working towards his masters.

Gonzalez is a strong believer in when one door closes another one opens.

“Juan Sanchez, who is now the Mt. San Antonio coach, was [at Cerritos] and he was my college teammate. He told me the coach here, which was Debbie Jensen, at the time wanted me to come over and talk to her.

“So, I came on as a co-head coach in 2005 and she didn’t want to coach anymore so I took over the program in 2006 part-time,” he said.

Gonzalez was just hired full-time two seasons ago.

During the hiring process at Rio Hondo in 2003, one question that he will never forget is being asked was what was his five-year plan.

“I said my five-year plan was in five years to win a championship. 2003,2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, I won a championship. It wasn’t at Rio Hondo but I won a championship,” he said.

Gonzalez would repeat as state champion the following year, before failing to win it all for four consecutive years.

From the start of the 2012 season, Gonzalez’s approach has secured him a 92-3-6 record and more importantly four straight state titles.

“I feel like we can continue to be successful because we know what it takes to do it. As a coaching staff and as a program it’s a culture, when you come in here you expect to win,” he said.

Gonzalez has continued to find success despite having a different team every two years.

Former player Malia Tilton said, “His coaching style changes every year based on the players. The only things that don’t change are trying to keep us disciplined by having 6 a.m. practices and when we travel, we go to sleep early and wake up early for breakfast because he wants us to be healthy at all times.”

He credits his mentor Leonardo Cuellar, former coach for the women’s Mexican national team, for his knowledge and success in the game of soccer.

“He was a big influence on me and still is. I talk to him almost once a week. I was blessed also to go in the summer and I hang out with him at his house and just watch [his teams] so, I was able to continue to learn,” Gonzalez said.

His team is set to embark on its quest for a five-peat. However, Gonzalez is still looking at his next five-year plan.

“To be able to compete for a state championship every year. Five years from now it’s the same thing. If we win it this year that would be a record but every year I want to have our team experience the final four.

“Hopefully five years from now we’re celebrating four or five more championships. Anything’s possible if you believe,” a smiling Gonzalez said.