Poly is more than a century old and has won more CIF-Southern Section football titles than any other school in California. And yet in January its scope as a place to be was hiked to a higher level.
A former NFL player was hired as head coach; a former NFL player who has a Super Bowl ring; a former NFL player who since retiring also as been a commentator at ESPN.
There are major colleges that don’t have the wherewithal to land an ex-pro linebacker as its head coach, and they pay a lot more than the modest stipend Antonio Pierce will receive as the successor to Raul Lara at Poly.
Pierce wanted the job because he’s a 35-year-old former athlete with ambition and the fearlessness to start at the high school level, and at a school with an insatiable fan base.
Nothing came easy for Pierce as a football player, and that’s a beneficial lesson for his players.
The nine-year NFL veteran grew up in Compton, where dreams start deep in your own territory. He played at Paramount for Ken Sutch, a program without Poly’s reach but a CIF champion nonetheless.
He spent two years at Mt. SAC and has a story to tell players about the need to go to class. He was a standout at Arizona but went undrafted in 2001. He then made himself a NFL standout, becoming the New York Giants’ defensive captain and winning a Super Bowl in 2007.
“This takes you back. It’s humbling,” Pierce said from his office at Poly. “But the best part is that you get to teach, can implement your knowledge and pass things on to the kids.
“They want to go where you’ve been, and I know the path. And this is a school that thrives on (pressure). The expectations are there.”
Indeed. Raul Lara won five CIF titles and 142 of 172 games and still heard chirping from fans. He decided it was time to go after the 2013 season and now starts fresh at Warren High, which is 0-20 in the past two seasons.
Lara’s predecessor, Jerry Jaso, set the standards that Lara followed, and he chose to leave the school for a junior college job because of the feedback.
Poly has had several eras of success. Pierce stands apart as a break in successful continuity that existed for 35 years. Dave Barnett was hired in 1980 and won a title; Jaso was a former player who joined Barnett’s staff, and won titles; Lara was a former player who was on Jaso’s staff and won titles.
Pierce was around the program the past two seasons with his son Deandre as a Poly student-athlete, now a junior defensive back.
“I’ve been a Poly parent for two years and I heard all the chatter,” he said. “You would think Raul Lara was the worst coach the program ever had. He did things no one else did at Poly. The way he took the 2012 team to the title when no one expected it was a great coaching job.
“I sense the expectations, and I love the challenge.”
Watching Poly’s practice is like watching a NCAA Division I program’s practice – only bigger. Pierce said there are 185 kids in the program, at all levels, and they all were packed onto the baseball field, where Poly practices, neatly separated into groups that were already running drills.
Despite that depth, he has no plans to pack the sidelines every week in a show of numbers. He already has raised the academic bar by requiring a 2.5 GPA for everyone on the varsity and JV. He wants to maintain the ultimate sign of success for a high school program: getting as many seniors college scholarships as possible.
“I’d love to win 16 games,” he said. “If we just win eight but 16 seniors get scholarships, I’ll take that.”
One thing clearly will be different. Poly’s offense will join the 21st century and run some variation of the spread.
Poly always has been a running team, to the degree that it has produced just one high-end quarterback since, well, football teams began throwing the ball.
Returning starter Josh Love threw for 968 yards last season, with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions. The switch already has led a few younger quarterbacks to transfer in, including sophomore Matt McDonald from Corona Centennial.
“We have more quarterbacks than we need,” Pierce said.
Lara left behind a solid nucleus. Besides Love, the running tandem of Jeremy Calhoun (1,135 yards) and James Brook (812) returns. Juju Smith is gone, but Iman Marshall (15 catches) – considered the top cornerback prospect in the nation but also a fine receiver – and John Rucker (19) and Jack Jones will benefit from the offensive switch.
Marshall, Jones and Justin Calhoun provide an earnest secondary, Joseph Wicker had 75 tackles and five sacks last season and linebacker/end Omari Lyles has been a team leader since he was a sophomore in 2012.
Poly will play City powers Crenshaw and Narbonne, Corona Centennial and Westlake before getting to league play. It isn’t a schedule any first-year coach would request – but then Pierce isn’t your typical first-year coach.
Contact the writer: bkeisser@lbregister.com
