Year-round grind leads 5 Sacramento-area football coaches to call it quits. ‘I’m worn out’
The football coaching toll can be a heavy one at the high school level, including in the greater Sacramento region.
The days of practices starting in mid-August, games kicking off in early September and the seasons ending in November are a thing of the distant past. Fall practices now start in July, weeks after the conclusion of the academic year. Scrimmages and games kick off in mid-August. And the best teams are fighting for championships well into December.
And there is year-round weight lifting, fundraising, dealing with parents who don’t understand that not all of their boys are worthy of Ohio State recruitment, and working with student-athletes to ensure that they are OK in the classroom and OK in general.
In recent weeks, five well-known area coaches turned in their whistles to let someone else do the heavy lifting. These aren’t quitters. They have simply had their fill. They are:
▪ Josh Crabtree at Pleasant Grove in Elk Grove.
▪ Jim Gray at Bella Vista in Fair Oaks.
▪ Brad Hunkins at Woodcreek in Roseville.
▪ Kyle Landes at Vista del Lago in Folsom.
▪ Jake Messina at Oakmont in Roseville.
Each had varying degrees of success and none stepped aside because they were forced out. Each outgoing coach expressed to The Sacramento Bee the fatigue that comes with the grueling grind of remaining competitive. Each stressed a desire to spend more time with family, and each said they could get back into coaching as an assistant, or in some role in education-based athletics.
Crabtree climb
Josh Crabtree said that his favorite team isn’t the ones he has coached, it’s the one at home — his wife and two kids.
“I always tell our kids at PG, ‘Keep the main thing the main thing,’” Crabtree said. “My own kids need to be the main thing. I want to see my kids get off to college. There are some things about your own kids that you don’t want to miss.
“My staff has been great, and they’ll say, ‘Coach, we’ll make it work. Miss a game or a practice if you need to.’ But I can’t insist on full effort if I can’t give it.”
Crabtree is a people person who is equal parts humor, big picture discussion and stern gridiron or weight room leadership. Players gravitate to him. He was paramount in Pleasant Grove going from 1-9 in 2022 to a playoff team in 2023 and then a 6-win playoff team in 2024 that included a 3-point loss to Sheldon and a 1-point setback to Delta League champion Monterey Trail.
“I told our kids that sometimes when you take the field, you may not be the best team on the field, but what’s our identity?” said Crabtree, who will remain a teacher on campus. “We have a lot to be proud of. Not because we hung banners or had a parade down Bond Road for winning a state championship, but I saw kids believe in themselves and enjoy small victories. I’m taking the whistle off for now because I know it’s the right thing to do.”
Who takes over? Sam Cole is Pleasant Grove’s defensive coordinator, a teacher on campus, with assistant coaching experience at powerhouse Folsom High and at Sacramento State. He also wants the job.
▪ Another name of note is Chris Nixon, who coached championship teams at Elk Grove High and led Sheldon to three playoff teams. He engaged in a heated exchange with Sheldon athletic director Jason Bumbaca late in the season after parents walked through an unlocked gate to angrily confront Nixon about playing time for their sons. Sheldon’s administration made it clear that it did not want Nixon back, and it became immediately mutual as players and assistant coaches backed their coach.
Gray ended record skid
There are football lifers, and there are grinders such as Jim Gray, who bowed out after righting a sinking ship at Bella Vista and after 38 years of regional coaching across various stops and levels.
His first season with the Broncos of the San Juan Unified School District was the spring season of 2021, when the pandemic canceled school and sports in the fall. Gray went 0-3, and he went 1-9 in his first full season, though he did halt Bella Vista’s Northern California record 48-game, six-year losing streak.
Bella Vista went 5-5 in 2022 and reached the playoffs in 2023 before enduring a winless campaign in 2024 that included a string of close losses. The team used four quarterbacks due to injuries, and the roster went from 47 players at the start of the season to 20 at the end. Each of the 10 teams on BV’s schedule in 2024 made the playoffs.
Assistant coach Jason Ott has been named his replacement, and he said: “I’m excited. We have a great group of kids, and I’m getting great support from the alumni since I’m an alum. I think the change can happen fast as we played a lot of underclass guys because of injuries.”
Said Gray, “It’s been an exciting 38 years coaching both college and high school football. It’s that time to retire as I look forward to spending time with family, grandchildren and vacations. Football gave me a lot of life memories.”
Hunkins led Woodcreek to best seasons
Brad Hunkins is the second youngest coach of this lot who has stepped down, at 37, but the toll was there after 10 seasons in charge, including the first four as co-coach with Kyle Stowers, who has been named as head coach at Woodcreek.
Hunkins went 5-4 in playoff games. He produced a 10-game winner in 2022 and an 11-game winner in 2023 with the program’s first trip to a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section final, a loss to Grant.
As a father and coach of young kids, Hunkins was ready to tap the brakes on a gig that is often all gas and no brakes or breaks.
“It’s just time,” he said. “It wasn’t burnout but that could happen. It’s just a tiring job, and to be good at it, to compete with all those other great programs out there, you have to go nonstop. It’s only fair to the kids and the school. It’s a 12-month job. I’ll get back into it some day but for now, it’s time for my kids.”
Landes kept Vista rolling
Vista del Lago has produced playoff teams almost since the start of its opening in Folsom in 2007, first under Chris Jones and then from 2013 to 2020 under Mike Struebing. Kyle Landes slid over from assistant to head man in 2021 and directed four playoff teams, his best one a 10-2 season in 2023 in which the Eagles won the Capital Athletic League championship.
The 33-year-old Landes stepped down to pursue an administration credential with the aim of someday working for the CIF in some capacity. He said he enjoyed his coaching time and his role, if not the toll.
“This job as a head coach is a lot,” Landes said. “It’s become a 12-months-a-year job, and after 10 years coaching, four as the head guy, I’m worn out and need a break. Expectations of running a program, from the community, parents and even myself, take a lot of energy, and I’m ready to recharge for a bit.”
The Vista job was formally posted this week.
Messina’s moment
Jake Messina rebooted programs before, including in the Bay Area, where he turned a long-suffering Carlmont of San Mateo County program into a winner, and he did that at Oakmont. He said that alone was reason to bow out, to catch his breath and to see his kids off to college.
Messina assumed command of the Vikings program following the 2022 season, and the first two years were a steep climb. Oakmont went 2-8 in 2022 and 0-10 in 2023 with losses of 3, 1 and 6 points sprinkled in. With 20 three-year varsity players back for another go in 2024, the Vikings roared back. They played for the Pioneer Valley League championship, hosted a home playoff game for the first time in 21 years and finished 8-4, a testament to the coach.
“I’m done as a head coach,” Messina said. “I want to see my kids off to college. I’m proud of what we’ve done. Overall, it was an awesome accomplishment by the kids and coaches to have the season that we did. It’s a lot, and it can wear you out.”
Cory Wilson, Oakmont’s junior varsity coach last season, has been named Messina’s replacement.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM.