LJ FB: Roach and flag football

Viking Head Coach Tyler Roach (left) runs players
through a drill in blocking punts during
Spring practice Fri., May 17.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

Tyler Roach's announcement that he is going to be commissioner of a new FNA ("Football in America") flag football league for youth based at La Jolla High in the fall is good news for Viking student athletes and families, and the community in general.

This further indicates the La Jolla High head football coach's plans to stay around for the long run, with his investment beyond just the LJHS football program now to include a feeder league for kids who can grow up into the high school program.

Roach, who has made an effort to "include the community", a mantra of his, ever since he took over the head coaching position two seasons ago, is a graduate of University City High School. And though he previously served as Offensive Coordinator of the Vikings, one had to have in mind the case of Matt Morrison, who led the LJHS football program for one year before accepting his dream job at his alma mater, Francis Parker.

But all of that was understandable in Morrison's case: He was offered a full-time faculty position at Parker, even though he doesn't hold a teaching credential (he wouldn't have been hireable for an on-campus position at La Jolla without one). He had the opportunity to return the school where he was an All-CIF quarterback. And, he could employ his father, John, on his staff of assistants in an almost movie-script situation--the retired coach who had been Matt's own mentor and coach.

UCHS is in good hands with Ryan Price, enjoying a sort of "golden era" of Centurion football that the school had not previously experienced. Now, the likelihood that Roach would step down from La Jolla to accept the UC position if he were offered it becomes that much more remote.

When Roach was named head coach in early 2017, he was the third Viking head football coach within 14 months or so. Morrison was a late choice after his predecessor (Jason Carter) abruptly resigned after the turn of the year. Then, Matt was offered the position at his alma mater soon after his one season at the helm. It was a dizzying period for La Jolla High football fans, settled only by the stability that the former Viking assistant coach brought. (He was just coming off a season as Defensive Coordinator at Country Day.)

There had been looming a real question about whether the Viking football program would remain viable, as the number of players going out for the sport dropped from the Dave Ponsford years, through Rey Hernandez (a great guy but not an on-campus teacher), then Carter quickly through Morrison.

"When I took the position (at LJHS), I wanted to make the school the place to be on Friday nights," Roach told me this week. Now, with the flag football league--in an organization founded by New Orleans Saints future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees--already taking signups for the fall, Saturday will also be a time to be on the campus. Tyler said the hopes are for "a couple of hundred" kids participating in year one.

With more and more documentation of the dangers of brain injury in football, and parents' resulting concern over their sons' involvement in the sport, as reflected by declining participation in high school football in the United States, the new way to go for football promoters seems to be flag.

As Roach said, this way children still get exposed to the sport and learn some of its strategy--"fall in love with football"--so that when they hit ninth grade and high school football, they already have a foundation of skills.

Thus, football can be a "football-plus" option--athletes can still play football, while also participating in soccer, lacrosse, and other popular sports.

He, and Brees apparently, see this as a way to go for the future of football.