Redwood High School football defensive backs coach Brandon Dodson expects the best from his players.
That means they need to give 100% effort, hustle, pay attention to the small details, and perform to the best of their abilities.
So when his players last season heard that Dodson had previously been a contestant on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior,” they wondered why their coach, who preached consistency, hard work, and getting better every day, had gone half a decade without appearing on the show.
His answer?
He didn’t meet the application deadline.
That didn’t sit well with his players.
So nearly every day during spring ball and summer workouts, then-seniors Luke Sanchez, a safety, and cornerback Troy Harris kept bugging Dodson: “Coach, did you submit your application yet?”
The next day, they had a similar statement: “Coach, don’t forget to complete your application.”
It was much of the same the day after: “Man, you need to go out there and do it already.”
That went on for weeks until Dodson officially turned in his application, which required a life update, the completion of a 20-page questionnaire, and a training video.
He officially heard back from TV show reps later that summer when he was in his classroom at Sundale Union Elementary School in Tulare, where he is a fourth-grade teacher.
When Dodson got the news that he had been chosen to be a contestant for the 18th season of “American Ninja Warrior,” he couldn’t wait to tell his players because without their motivation and support, he likely would not have submitted his application.
“It was good, man,” Dodson said. “Those boys checked in on me every day, especially when it started to get near, and it was starting, ‘You better go be doing something. You’d better be working out, preparing. Stay ready.’ I was like, ‘I’m good. Don’t even worry about it.’ “
Dodson’s run on this season’s “American Ninja Warrior” was filmed in September 2025.
His family, team, and players held two watch parties, one at Dodson’s home and the other at Sanchez’s place, which was organized by his parents, including dad, Manny Sanchez, a former Lindsay and Fresno State football standout.
With his family and team watching live, Dodson delivered a career-best performance, advancing to the fourth leg of the “American Ninja Warrior” obstacle course, but missed the landing on the final arm swing and jump, plunging into the water.
“It was exciting,” said Dodson, who made his fifth appearance on the show after a six-year hiatus, which aired on June 8. “I felt like I was a lot more relaxed. I had definitely missed the environment. For me, it was good seeing old friends and different producers I have known throughout the years. Stepping back out there, stepping out on the course, it was awesome. I’m a competitor, so there’s nothing like that feeling of competing.”
Dodson is no stranger to athletics.
A 2006 Tulare Union grad, he played for section championship coach Darren Bennett and was a teammate of future NFL tight end Virgil Green and record-setting quarterback Emmanuel Lewis.
Dodson was the leading rusher on the 2005 Tulare Union squad that reached the Central Section Division II championship game. That team finished with a 12-1 record and is regarded by Bennett as the best Tulare Union football team to not win a section title.
Listed at 5-foot-8, Dodson would go on to play cornerback at College of the Sequoias under head coach Curtis Allen, who is now the Redwood skipper, and compete at the NCAA Division I level with the University of Montana. He was a college teammate of current Porterville football coach Keith Thompson.
Despite having a highly successful football playing career, Dodson did not step on the gridiron as a coach until last season when Allen took over the head coaching duties at Visalia’s largest high school.
Throughout the years, numerous high school head coaches and assistants, and even COS coaches, approached Dodson to coach, but he turned down their offers every time.
Why?
He wanted to concentrate on teaching and coaching the youth at Sundale while also spending quality time with his own family, including his three daughters, Camila, Zara, and Naya.
That changed, though, when Allen became the Redwood head coach.
When Allen was assembling his staff, Dodson was one of his main targets as an assistant.
“It’s awesome, man,” Dodson said. “I love being able to give what I know back to these kids. I absolutely love football, which is one of the reasons I stayed away from it for so long, because it’s tough to get back out there, but talking to Coach Allen, when he got the job, one of the first things he spoke to me about was family. We talked about family time and things like that, and how he needed me to come back, and I couldn’t say no. That’s why he has the coaching staff that he has over here.
“It was the family atmosphere. It was, ‘We want to do things right. We want to teach them the right way.’ He loved what I do with my mentorship with these boys and how I interact with these kids. And every reason why I said, ‘No’ he took the ‘Nos’ away. I couldn’t resist.”
Dodson’s impact on his position group showed up right away.
In Redwood’s 2025 season opener at Centennial, a team the Rangers had not beaten in nearly two decades, the Rangers picked off a school-record five passes in a 41-20 rout in Bakersfield, receiving interceptions from Sanchez, Harris, Enrique Segura, Brody Preisendorf (two), and London Butler. Four of those five interceptions came from Dodson’s defensive backs.
Butler’s pick was returned for a touchdown.
“That game was crazy,” Dodson said. “I was super excited for them. I knew all the hard work the kids had put in. Every week, our goal was to get better than the week prior. Whatever mistakes we made, we tried to learn on them, work on on those areas, where it was, ‘We didn’t do a good job tracking the ball this week. Alright, cool. Let’s go get it. Let’s go work on that on Monday.’ That unit that I had last year and this year, asks so many awesome questions, that as a coach, it’s great to hear.”
That success didn’t stop there.
With Dodson mentoring the defense’s secondary, Redwood finished with 15 interceptions. The Rangers went 9-3 last season and won their first playoff game in six years, beating San Luis Obispo 54-0 to advance to the Central Section Division II semifinals.
Dodson, 37, has been an inspiration for his community, too, especially his players.
Under Dodson, junior safety Jairus Brooks had a breakout season during his sophomore year in 2025, registering two interceptions, one of which he returned 49 yards for a touchdown in a 28-15 win over Hanford.
“He makes us want to work harder, seeing him competing at that age, and us being a lot younger, we should definitely be able to put in more work than he can,” Brooks said of Dodson. “Him showing us that he can do that, it definitely makes us want to work harder at practice.”
Dodson has also played a big role in Brooks’ growth as a player.
“He’s helped me develop a lot,” Brooks said. “Before he came, I wasn’t too good at my read steps and reading the field. He’s definitely helped me improve on that and knock it down. My read steps are better. He’s helped me read the field, read the QB, read all that. It’s been a huge advantage for me getting picks and stuff now.”
Dodson credited his return to the TV screen to his own community as well.
“My Redwood boys, my Redwood family, my Sundale family, they all inspired me to continue and go back and compete,” Dodson said. “Not just this season, but this upcoming season as well. The application process is coming up, and my boys are already on me, ‘ You better make sure you’re on it. You were right there. You’d better go finish the job now.’ “
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Redwood football coach inspires with American Ninja Warrior appearance
Reporting by Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta | USA TODAY Network
