head coach

If you run cross-country or play soccer at Cathedral High, you‘d better be extra polite and respectful around the head coaches. They also happen to be the school president and principal, respectively.

Martin Farfan and Arturo Lopez continue to hold dual roles, which probably makes Cathedral the only school in the state with such an arrangement.

Despite all the time and responsibilities required to coach and help run Cathedral, they seem to make it work. This past week, while school was closed for the holidays, both held practices Monday. Farfan took his usual jog around the neighborhood after practice and ended up on the field while Lopez held a soccer practice.

Both believe in the importance of academics and the lessons learned in sports to help prepare students for the future.

Their players, however, know with the school’s two big wigs also wearing coaching hats, they always need to be on their best behavior.

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Turns out that retreating from head coach to offensive coordinator wasn’t a great fit for Chip Kelly. At least not in the NFL.

The Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday fired the former UCLA coach moments after they were defeated by the Cleveland Browns, 24-10, falling to a 2-9 record. Kelly’s stint as offensive coordinator was an abject failure: Among 32 NFL teams, Las Vegas is tied for last at 15.0 points per game and is 30th with 268.9 in total yards per game.

Kelly bolted from UCLA in 2023 after six overwhelmingly mediocre seasons as head coach to become offensive coordinator at Ohio State, which won the NCAA national championship in 2024.

Another opportunity arose immediately thereafter when Pete Carroll became the Raiders’ head coach and invited Kelly to run the offense.

Although Kelly’s NFL experience was limited to failed head coaching stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, he jumped at the opportunity, saying on a podcast that “the one thing about the NFL that I love is it’s the ultimate level of competition. It’s football at the highest level.”

Carroll, who is struggling to find traction with the Raiders at age 74 after a decorated career as coach of the Seattle Seahawks and USC, swiftly learned that Kelly wasn’t up to the task despite being paid $6 million this season, double any other offensive coordinator in the NFL.

“I spoke with Chip Kelly earlier this evening and informed him of his release as offensive coordinator of the Raiders,” Carroll said in a statement. “I would like to thank Chip for his service and wish him all the best in the future.”

Carroll became enamored by Kelly’s ability to put points on the scoreboard 16 years ago. USC was handed its worst loss in Carroll’s nine-year tenure when Oregon — coached by Kelly — pounded the Trojans, 47-20.

If Carroll wondered if he’d ever get payback, it came Sunday. But the dismal state of the Raiders falls on him as head coach.

“I am grateful for the opportunity with the Raiders, bottom line in this league you have to win,” Kelly told NFL reporter Jay Glazer. “I really loved those players, But hey, we gotta win. I get it.”

It’s difficult to see where Kelly will turn next. A return to the college ranks as a head coach seems a stretch. His abrupt departure from UCLA in February of 2024 put the Bruins in a difficult position. Most high school recruits had been signed and top transfers gone.

The Times’ Bill Plaschke wrote that Kelly was clearly uncomfortable with the way college football was evolving, with NIL player pay, the transfer portal creating roster uncertainty and cozying up to 17-year-old high school players as important as ever.

And the timing and manner in which he left made him appear selfish. “With him, it was Chip first, Chip all day, Chip every day, and he didn’t care who knew it,” Plaschke wrote.

Dean Herrington said he has been let go as football coach at St. Francis after five seasons during which his teams won three league championships and made two Southern Section finals.

The team went 2-8 this season and failed to make the playoffs in a season in which there were numerous injuries at the quarterback position. St. Francis ended the regular season with a stunning 28-21 win over Cathedral.

Herrington also enjoyed success as head coach at Bishop Alemany and Paraclete. He said Wednesday night, “It was shocking but maybe a good parting of ways.” The school told him there were concerns about culture and morale issues.

Herrington should be quick to pick up offers from other high schools and junior colleges. He has been known for developing top quarterbacks.

He took over at St. Francis for his good friend and former Hart player, the late Jim Bonds.