New Farrington football coach Daniel Sanchez comes straight from the Skippa Diaz mold.

Sanchez was named as the Govs’ new head man Wednesday, and he will try to keep the team playing — and studying — the Farrington way.

“The biggest thing we’re going to address is academics,” Sanchez said via cellphone Wednesday afternoon. “We want to be committed to that. With that as the focus, everything else will fall into place easier. I’m excited and honored and blessed to be a part of this, and hopefully we can do some good things on and off the field.”

Sanchez was the offensive coordinator under Randall Okimoto, who left the post in March after 16 seasons.

“I’ve been with Randall for a long time and we’ve coached together in big games,” Sanchez said. “He did a tremendous job and I have a lot of respect for him. The program did very well under him.”

Sanchez also served as the Governors’ JV coach twice during his coaching career. Like Okimoto, he is a Farrington alumnus. He played fullback for Diaz (the late coach who had the school’s new stadium named after him last season) and one of his biggest duties as a senior in the 1990 season was blocking for Okimoto.

“He played that unselfish position in the I formation,” Okimoto said. “And that says a lot about him and the type of team player he is.”

Sanchez did not offer any insights about how he may run things differently than or similarly to Okimoto on offense and defense. But he did not deny that the Govs will be gritty.

“Bite down no matter what, that’s what coach Diaz would tell us,” Sanchez said. “Always bite down and play hard. That’s the Farrington way.”

The Govs went 5-5 in Okimoto’s final year as head coach. Sanchez, a Farrington teacher, will lead the Govs into the first season of the nine-team OIA-ILH Open Division.

“It’s going to be a tough schedule, and every week is going to be a battle and I look forward to the challenge.”