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Joe DuPaix, center, is a former college football coach who has taken over the American Leadership Academy program.

Courtesy Naval Academy Athletics

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Joe DuPaix, former head coach at Division III Southern Virginia, has taken over the program at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork.

Courtesy Southern Virginia Athletics

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Joe DuPaix, right, poses for a photo with former Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo.

Courtesy photo, Joe DuPaix

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Joe DuPaix, right, talks to a Navy player as an assistant coach.

Courtesy Naval Academy Athletics

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Joe DuPaix, in black, gets ready to lead the Southern Virginia football team onto the field.

Courtesy Southern Virginia Athletics

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A long coaching journey has brought Joe DuPaix back home to the Beehive State.

DuPaix — most recently the head football coach at Division III Southern Virginia — said it was time to return to Utah after being away for over two decades in various roles. In June, he accepted the head coaching job at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork, one of eight new varsity head coaches in the Utah Valley.

“The biggest thing is we’ve been coaching college football for 23 years but we’ve only been in Utah for a couple of those years,” DuPaix said. “Over two decades being out of the state and always having the desire to get home, getting back to Utah or BYU or Southern Utah, or just somewhere in Utah is something we kind of wanted to do.”

The “we” part of the previous quote is attributed to DuPaix’s wife, Monica. Both have family in Utah and she is an integral part of the decision-making process.

“She’s such a powerful woman,” DuPaix said. “She’s independent, she can run the family without me and that’s how it’s kind of worked at times with my career. With college football (coaching), it’s so hard on families. Without her and her continual love and support and just being independent and having the ability to run things, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

The DuPaix name is definitely well known in Utah’s gridiron circles. DuPaix’s father, Roger, won eight state titles at Skyline, the very first when Joe was the quarterback.

Joe DuPaix played at Snow College and then finished his career at Southern Utah which both provided him with memorable moments as a player.

“Winning the Real Dairy Bowl and beating Ricks College twice when they still had a football program was definitely a highlight. We beat them at their place on Homecoming and then in the Real Dairy Bowl,” DuPaix related. “Then at Southern Utah, I set the national record for the most rushing yards at quarterback.”

Those moments still stand below winning a state title at Skyline with his own father as a coach. Joe DuPaix’s son, Cooper, is just a sophomore who will be battling to be the Eagle starting quarterback. Joe DuPaix would love to repeat that kind of an experience with his own son.

Still, molding ALA into a championship contender will be a lot of work. The charter school seems committed to getting their football program, as well as the other athletic teams, to the next level. The school is undergoing a huge renovation including the addition of a large indoor athletic facility.

In DuPaix’s third year in his second stint as head coach at Southern Virginia, the moribund Knight program had posted just its second winning season in school history. But even with Southern Virginia turning the corner, the draw to come back to his roots was just too much to pass up.

“When I heard about the things ALA was doing to make that commitment to athletics, I was intrigued,” DuPaix said. “And then when I started doing the math with Monica being in Utah and getting her here, and having the opportunity to coach the great kids that are here along with that commitment, it really came down to that and getting my kids closer to their relatives.”

DuPaix definitely wants to settle down, his youngest son just nine years old. So he plans on being at ALA for the long haul.

DuPaix’s journey is pretty typical of a lot of college coaches with several stops along the way. He started his coaching career at Division II Missouri-Rolla as a quarterback and receiver coach, then came back to Utah at Riverton High School under Rick Bojak, who like his father is a Hall of Fame coach. Then from 2001-2007, he coached at FCS Cal Poly, spending some time as the offensive coordinator.

DuPaix then had his first stint at Navy, coaching the slot receivers from 2008-2010. After that he was hired at BYU as the running backs coach for two years before being dismissed by then head coach Bronco Mendenhall in 2012.

After sitting out one year, DuPaix took over the Timpanogos High School football program but then went back to the college ranks with two years as head coach Southern Virginia. A second chance to coach at Navy opened up and DuPaix was a slot receiver coach under Ken Niumatalolo. When Niumatalolo was fired, DuPaix went back to Southern Virginia for three seasons.

Though he was fired by Mendenhall, he has no ill will toward him or BYU. In fact, he considers Mendenhall a friend and a huge coaching mentor and communicates with the current Utah State head coach frequently. Mendenhall’s organizational skills were one thing DuPaix took away from his two-year experience with the Cougar program.

“With Bronco, it’s systems,” DuPaix said. “You better have your systems in place. One owner per one process or otherwise we will have failure. I look at Bronco and all the systems. Great coach with great success. I have zero grudges against Bronco or BYU.”

Coaching at Navy was truly a special experience for DuPaix. A big coaching highlight there was beating Notre Dame twice — and, of course, working with Niumatalolo.

“I was with Kenny for eight years and his mentorship was really loving the team and loving the coaches and having a real genuine interest in his players and having a real family atmosphere with the program,” DuPaix said. “Being at Navy was so unbelievable. You have the best of the best with their heart and their mind. They are so committed and so bonded with each other. I’m just so grateful those men and women are serving our country and defending us because they are all in. They are all in and willing to do what it takes.”

And certainly DuPaix recognized the significance of the Army-Navy game.

“That game means so much to the players and the institutions. Every player lays it on the line. It’s a game you can’t miss.”

DuPaix said his coaching style will include blending the aspects of the game he learned from Mendenhall and Niumatalolo, along with what he learned from his father: That a football program is more than just Xs and Os. A big part of DuPaix’s philosophy will be organization and accountability, along with building a culture of love and brotherhood which he hopes will take the ALA Eagles to new heights.